I will start here:
One of the reasons folks like me are frightened of heights is:
- when your standing on a balcony of an apartment building you can have an inclination of how high you are by seeing the side of the building down to the ground
-standing on a ladder is the same thing...you can use whatever the ladder is leaning against to judge how high you are
-being on a roof...same thing...you use the sides of the building to judge how high you are
-in an aircraft there are no sides to come up and meet the aircraft...therefore it is very hard to tell how high you are without looking at your altimeter.
-as an instructor I used to cover the altimeter on the student and ask him to tell me when he was at proper circuit height....all he needed was the vertical speed and a time piece
-I did have one smart ass officer who knew what I was going to do from previous students and worked it out with the GCA controller to tell him when he was at circuit height....that only happened once

LOL
-it might surprise you how many pilots ARE afraid of heights AND how many are nervous about riding as passengers and not only in aircraft but cars, buses and trains as well
-I will give you one reason and that is we are used to being in control
Cheers...Happy Landings...Doug
P.S. Distances is another topic you could touch on...how many folks are able to judge say 100yards or 1000ft?
Last edited by FLYING_TRUCKER on Sat Nov 13, 2004 3:47 pm, edited 1 time in total.