Driving a Truck like Flying a Plane ...
 

I noticed recently in a few post that some newbie drivers are also pilots with various experiences like myself. There have been some excellent posts in my opinion talking about how the two skills relate.

:?: So what skills do you think are related between driving the two modes of transportation :?:

:?: For newbies that started with flying experience -- Did the skills transfer :?:

Which transportation mode is harder to master?

For those of you that think the answer is obvious -- I mastered flying an instrument landing system approach to 200' & 1/2 mile visibility in about 2 hours. I have made 5 approaches with no sweat in those (200' & 1/2 mile visibility) real conditions. I am not quite sure that there are not backing challenges out there awaiting me after I spend a year on the road that I just might have to say; "I need a little help here .." :oops:


I am going to have my own opinion in about 4 weeks. I am starting out believing that truck driving has much more challenges than flying a single engine airplane. For example, Airports and approaches are all standardized using a manual called TERPS. I can plan way ahead for contingencies and exactly how I will land. Loading docks and freight yards have no such guidance. I never know what to expect before I get there.

Thoughts?

less traffic in the air and less DOT guys hassling you

Flying a helo is harder then learning to grab gears and backing a truck absolutly no compairison if its fix wing or roter One must have physics and calc to really grasp the consept of flight. and understand the limits of the craft. not in trucking some in trucking can't even grasp basic math. or have the higher education to do better. you crash while learning to fly it might just be the last time you ever do anything. Crash in a truck there is hope of waliking a way.

I've driven forever-Now i want to get a pilots license

Flying is fun safe if done right. anyone coming over from flying will I feel have a leg up on most drivers
1 safety
2 far more adapt to making sure things are OK and constantly checking, again safety.
3. pilots are more mechanically inclined or more in tune to what the motor is sounding like. again safety.

I wish you would have given the poll a third option I dont know. I have only learned to drive truck don't know a damn thing about how to fly a plane.

Response: Less Traffic and Less DOT
 

Well I have not the experience yet of how intrusive the DOT is in Trucking ... yet .. but they can be quite intrusive into a pilots life. Ramp Checks, and if they violate you .. you are guilty until ... well you are guilty .. whatever it takes. It took a year to clear a violation of flying an unworthy aircraft. The Annual Sticker had not been added to the airframe logbook but I had a receipt from an authorized repair station the annual had been done. Meanwhile .. my life had changed.

I think the government is the government and once provoked goes into action.

Fly into any Class B Airspace like LA, Phoenix, Atlanta and you find lots of traffic but it is far more controlled. Fly around some uncontrolled airports and I would rather be in a truck any day. I have the following Posting of a near mid-air a few years ago:

http://www.forpilots.com/archive/rec.../7/msg7661.htm

What does this have to do with Newbies ??? It seems that other jobs are golden compared to your job .. just like flying .. but they have troubles too ..

Truckin Ranger .. I do not know a damn thing about driving trucks .. but I know how to fly an airplane. :) However .. I think it is interesting what peoples perceptions are .. like Highway man thought pilots had it made in the shade and that it takes a lot more skill to fly an airplane. I am personally right now just in the training phase can state emphatically I learned to fly an airplane in 40 hours. I soloed in 6 hours. Funny how we all have our own perceptions. I have a lot of respect for all of the newbie tales in this forum and I can only hope I can catch on as quickly.

VERY intrusive in trucking and getting worse by the day-But I'm sure it's the same or worse with flying and the FAA

Some things about trucking remind me of when I was flight training, such as the pre-trip inspection. I told my friend a couple of days ago, trucking could be the next best thing to flying. Although they really are two completely different things.

There are many similarities about the two. Such as pre-flight, pre-trip inspection, etc. One of the primary differences are the ways in which you find your way around. You have a Rand McNally with a truck. Sight and a compass are your two best friends in flight. You can make a mistake in a truck and probably walk away from it. In an airplane, maybe not. You can survive a broken leaf spring, perhaps not a nick out of a propeller. There is definitely a thrill with them both. :D