YOUR LETTERS

摘要

I am not a great one for tit-for-tat letters, but Captain Mike Oxmells' and Captain Ron Skinner's replies/Pilots, Not Managers'and 'Handling Experience' (The Log Aug/Sep 2012), cannot go unchallenged. First, Mike Oxmells"interesting facts', in which my 18,000 hours is decreased to 540.1 flew Twin Otters, none of which had an autopilot,for 1,500 hours; the 1,000 hours glider towing was mostly done without even a radio (or, sometimes, a compass) and certainly no autopilot. The Tiger Moth had a compass, but I still had to hand fly it for 300 hours. Most of the 2,500 hours of light piston twin was done with some pretty grotty and unreliable autopilots that meant I hand flew at least 50 per cent of the time (and for all of the pipe inspection flying).