"Show me how to start the engine, and I can fly anything," is a boast I've heard from several pilots, and not all of whom I'd consider the best "stick" at the aerodrome.
'Course, if you can't start it, you can't fly it. I once rented a Cessna 150 for a flight with my sister, Sonia. All the newer 150s I had previously flown had the starter switch operated by the key. But the only available airplane was older and the key didn't activate the ignition. For the life of me, I couldn't figure out how to get it started and, of course, the longer I took searching for the solution, the more my sister's confidence in my piloting abilities eroded.
"Hang on," I said as I left my sister in the airplane and went in search of a mechanic who could give me a starting point. He told me to look for a small t-handle on the panel. "Pull it out and it'll engage the starter," he explained. I did. It did. True to the claim, once the engine was started I was able to fly the airplane with no problem. But, the only difference between the airplanes I was used to flying and the non-starter was the starter. In that case transition training simply covered the starting procedure.
I don't know if it's true, but I heard a story about a pilot who earned his type rating for a business jet in a simulator without ever flying the actual airplane. It seems when he went out to fly the jet for the first time, he didn't know how to open the door. I can imagine what he said: "Forget starting the engines, just show me how to open the door and I can fly this sucker!"
It's probably true that when you fly enough different airplanes you develop a comfortable familiarity with the way airplanes move about their three axes. Most experienced and competent pilots can probably safely get just about any airplane off the ground, around the patch and back down on the ground. But that's assuming the airplane is loaded in the center of its CG range and flown well above its stall speed. The landings probably aren't going to be pretty the first couple times around the circuit, but with practice, they'll smooth out enough to be acceptable. There have been enough stories of nonpilots managing to land an airplane after the pilot became incapacitated to prove it can be done. But safely?
Just because a pilot manages to successfully fly a new airplane - or escape an icing encounter or make a landing in a serious crosswind - doesn't mean the results of other attempts will end as well. Building up a "tolerance" for risk is a recipe for disaster. Like the Wizard of Oz, the myth behind the curtain of overconfidence will be exposed when you throw in a couple of variables like a low ceiling, turbulence or the nonstandard placement of instruments or controls.
There was a time that transition training, learning to safely operate an unfamiliar airplane, was relatively simple and straightforward. For the most part, it was a matter of learning the airspeeds for various configurations and whatever idiosyncrasies the airplane exhibited during various types of stalls, takeoffs and landings.
But today, in many cases, being able to fly an airplane after the engine's turning - or after a cursory introduction - is no longer sufficient. Two new airplane classifications - technically advanced aircraft (TAAs) and very light jets (VLJs) - have raised the bar for what constitutes adequate transition training. TAAs that are "advanced" because of their avionics require a thorough understanding of the complexities of the software that drives their glass panel displays. Pilots planning to fly behind glass panels, particularly in instrument conditions, need to spend the necessary time - both on the ground with the manual, simulator and/or DVD/CD training materials and in the air with a safety pilot - to learn how to find the information they need when they need it.
On the other hand, for some, particularly those who have grown up as part of the computer generation, the glass cockpits and their software "intelligence" may actually make it possible for them to fly an airplane confidently and even competently in which they have had very little training. But as we inculcate pilots with the need for risk assessment, it's important that each individual realistically consider their capability - and that of their airplane - before accepting the risk of flying an unfamiliar airplane on which they haven't received training.
