The Instructor’s Nightmare
Jim Davis has a passion for instructing. He has been training civil and military pilots, in the air and on the ground for 50 years. His other passion is writing, which he studied at Curtin University in Perth. You can see, and buy, his two pilot text books PPL and Flight Tests at www.jimdavis.com.au
Unfortunately my logbook only reminds me of what happened, and when it happened. It doesn’t tell me why. And scratch the turnip as I may, I can’t remember how I came to part with Bert and the wonderful time I had in Kimberley.
What I do remember is that sometime after I left, the accountants at Potgieter’s Motors were ordering unusually large quantities of red ink, and the company eventually closed its doors. I think Bert probably overshot his toys budget. Meanwhile, Old Piet and Zingi viewed all this from afar. In their eyes, the vile R40-a-month PPL hangar-rat, who had abandoned them a year ago, had morphed into a potentially useful 700-hour commercial pilot with an instructor rating.
I must wander off track for a moment to explain why Placo, whose income was derived from aircraft sales, would be interested in a guy who had already proved himself to be the world’s most useless aircraft salesman.
Much of Mr Piper’s world-wide success in grabbing a huge chunk of the market was due to his policy of sneaking his aeroplanes into people’s hearts through training. Learning to fly is the time when we are all bewitched by the smells, sights and experiences of aviation.
Mr Piper’s vision was simple – if you train on a Piper you are likely to buy a Piper, and
