I generally agree with all that's been said above.^^I think it's noteworthy to add though, that you really will never KNOW that a pilot is safe, or not safe. Not unless you've observed warning signs (Which aren't always observable, some people don't exhibit warning signs, but are sub-par)It reminds me of a story from a few weeks ago, one of the CFI candidates went up with some guy in his Bonanza (hah, coincidently). The flight went normal for the most part, but the airport they were approaching was on a slight plateu. the instructor was only slighlty paying attention, for whatever reasons (Typical landing, by a trained pilot). So he looks up and recognizes that the runway is actually above them. This guy totally screwed his approach due to a downdraft, or whatever reason - and he wasn't taking proper corrective action (Not enough anyway). The instructor Slams the throttle forward and they touch down on the ground at the top of the plateu, off of the runway (but in the airport property). After which time they hit the runway threshold and the PIC put the airplane on the tarmac.Instructor asks: What the heck was that?PIC replies: "Oh Don't worry about that, we were fine"Needless to say, our A&P refuses to do anymore work on his airplane, the instructor also refuses to fly with him. Otherwise, he was a nice guy and generally knowledgable. Nobody'd have known he may not be safe before that incident. Sometimes you can never tell until it may be too late. So there's always a calculated risk, but I agree with the idea of lowering that risk as much as possible and never flying with somebody who expresses behaviors not suitable for a PIC (Like Denial). The trouble with that guy is - Nobody was truely "terrified" that he almost plowed his airplane into a hill. What was really terrifying was the the guy wasn't bothered by the fact that his lack of a suitable reaction (Full Power) almost killed them. <<<<< This could be remedied by training, and the bonanza pilot made safe - but his denial of the issue ultimately makes training remedies useless, it's for this reason that nobody wants anything to do with him.Before this incident - he didn't display much to my knowledge that showed a lack of safety (But I can't be sure since I've never flown with him!).Ryan

.....................When we came to a halt, we stayed in the aircraft because it was still raining hard, awaiting the tractor that would tow us back to the hangars, since it was clear that flying was over for the day. We sat there in silence, with the guy not daring to say a word and me biting my lip so as not to launch the furious verbal assault that I really felt like doing. You could have cut the atmosphere in that aircraft with a knife as the rain drummed on the canopy. I vowed never to fly with that guy ever again, but never even said a word to anyone on the airfield about the incident, which I really should have in hindsight...........

Thanks for the story Chock, interesting stuff.Yeah - I think you should have told someone on the airfield about the incident. A pilot like that, who would first get into trouble and then freeze, while being an instructor! does not belong there. I wonder if he continued to fly after this incident. I would have expected him to atleast take more notice of the weather situation around (not assume a thunderstorm would just pass clear, and fail to notice it properly in the first place) and certanly to be able to get the plane out of there and land safely - not freeze with someone else on board! Its a good thing you managed to do what was needed.On most 2 seat sailplanes and the SZD 50-3 Puchacz you were in at the time, the two pilots seat one behind the other (tandem seating) - its not like in a two+ seater GA plane where the seats are next to one another side-by-side for the pilots. In that situation (with the two pilots sitting side-by-side) I think it would have been easier for you to unleash that 'furious verbal assault' that would have been rightfully coming.

Speaking of the Bonanza-here is a video I was just sent a link of that is timely to this thread and also Orbx Concrete scenery.It is a Bo taking off from Concrete, Wa. When the Carenado Bonanza and came out I mentioned to a lot of people that I would not feel comfortable taking off in fields that short, especially if there was any density altitude.This video shows why....and kudos to Orbx for their rendition of this field. Watching this video I really could tell no difference between real and the sim!I thank this person for the video, and it shows though you may get off the runway in reasonable time you may not clear things you can bump into. I read that this person is also a simmer, and like him I also desire to visit Concrete at some point-but it will be by car, as when I visited Chelen but chose to land at Keat for the longer runways.http://www.flyaoamedia.com/blog/aviation/m...ent-as-a-pilot/

I have always been in love with the Beechcraft Bonanza and notice a history of alot of crashes. Seems like when you do a internet search of GA crashes, Bonanza's pop up all the time. From Buddy Holly to Steve Wozinak to Randy Rhoads, seems to be alot of crashes. Is it because its a high performance plane that rich new pilots buy or is it something else. Curious to hear from some Bonanza Pilots about this.

Statistically it's safer:

"According to FAA estimates, Bonanza/Debonair aircraft flew approximately 20.2 million hours during the years 1983-1999. There were 1,143 accidents during that time, which averages out to 6.72 accidents per 100,000 hours for the Beech 35 model and 4.65 for the Beech 33/36. The accident rate for the comparison group was higher at 7.46 accidents per 100,000 hours."

http://www.aopa.org/asf/publications/beech_bonanza.pdf

Speaking of the Bonanza-here is a video I was just sent a link of that is timely to this thread and also Orbx Concrete scenery.It is a Bo taking off from Concrete, Wa. When the Carenado Bonanza and came out I mentioned to a lot of people that I would not feel comfortable taking off in fields that short, especially if there was any density altitude.This video shows why....and kudos to Orbx for their rendition of this field. Watching this video I really could tell no difference between real and the sim!I thank this person for the video, and it shows though you may get off the runway in reasonable time you may not clear things you can bump into. I read that this person is also a simmer, and like him I also desire to visit Concrete at some point-but it will be by car, as when I visited Chelen but chose to land at Keat for the longer runways.http://www.flyaoamedia.com/blog/aviation/m...ent-as-a-pilot/

Nothing like a little prop wash to shake the squirrles from the trees!!.....YIKES!!