Articles by John E. McLain
Prior to his retirement as a career flight instructor, John McLain accrued over 18,000 flight hours of which more than 13,000 were dual given. He has conducted over 4000 flight tests in his twenty-five years as a designated pilot examiner. These articles first appeared in The Southern Aviator and are reprinted with John's permission.
In my flying career, I have seen tremendous strides forward in almost every aspect of aviation. Many are obvious, such as turbine engines, and pressurized light twins and single engine airplanes. In general aviation, the biggest improvement has come in navigation capabilities. The move from Four Course Ranges, to VOR, to VOR/DME to Loran and [...]
The inspiration for this article comes from you, the readers. My articles on Rudder, Yaw, Spins, Slips, and Skids elicited more reader response than anything else I had written in my “literary career.” I am happy to say the responses were, for the most part, complimentary. To all of you, I say “Thanks.”
I looked for [...]
My two articles concerning yaw, its effects and its control seem to have aroused considerable interest among our readers. I have received quite a few e-mail messages and telephone calls regarding them. While I have responded to each inquiry, the questions indicate a need for a follow-up article on some of the concerns and desires [...]
If they can pass the tests, they get the certificate.
That seems to be the mentality of management people in the field of education today. SATs, standardized student level test, and the like seem to be the ruler by which a school, teacher, educator or, in our case, the flight instructor is measured. If the instructor’s [...]
