ignatz@ihuxx.UUCP (Dave Ihnat, Chicago, IL) (06/20/84)
Hi, guys... You may recall, about a month ago, when I posted the following query: Ok, folks...here's your chance to settle a friendly dispute (and, incidentally, maybe save/cost someone a shirt.) I, and many others, have always thought the ritual of having your shirttail cut off after your first solo to be a wide-spread thing. A friend of mine who just soloed swears by all that's holy (and most that isn't) that this is balderdash, and it must just be a military thing. His fiancee backs this, claiming that 'no one at Palwaukee has ever done this', or at least that she knows of. Meanwhile, the chief pilot, and all the staff, at Air Aurora maintain, 'oh, yeah...you're right. We do it all the time.' Who's right? Is it some arcane ritual spawned in the sodden brains of the military zoomies? Or is my friend mistaken (and trying to save his shirttail), and it's a time-honored tradition? Please mail to me, indicating whether you've ever heard of this ritual, where (military/civilian aviation), and is it still practiced where you normally fly. If anyone else is interested, let me know and I'll send you the results after the responses trickle to a halt; as usual, if enough want the results, I'll post them. Thanks for helping, Dave Ihnat ihuxx!ignatz Well, as the trickle has stopped for a couple of weeks, I'd say the jury is in. Now, notice that I'll have to offer caveats for the following results: First, everyone obviously didn't answer the exact questions in the following summary--some, I implied from context, and others were wishy-washy statements that I forced into a yes-or-no, again on context. A couple--the military questions--are here only because I asked for them, and received a few very positive or negative answers, even though most people didn't respond to that. Also, there were, as you should expect, some comments that didn't fit neatly into these questions yet still had important bearing on the issue; I'll try to include them, as well. SO...in general, here is the bulk of the data: Number of respondents: 28 Yes No No Comment/ Unknown/NA/ Don't Know --- --- ---------- Are you a flyer? 24 1 3 Was it done to you? 6 13 9 Have you heard of it? 25 2 1 Do you know,firsthand,of people it was done to (other than yourself) or seen evidence (tails) 18 3 7 Is it practiced where you regularly fly? 12 9 7 Do you think its practice is widespread? 13 4 11 Do you think it was of military origin? 4 2 22 Do you think it is mostly done in the military? 2 8 18 Do you think it is dying out? 3 9 16 Now, for the caveats. First, a surprising number of people didn't say whether or not *they* had the thing done to them; but even so, only 6 said they did. However, an overwhelming number of people had heard of it, and an extremely large percentage of the group either knew someone, firsthand, to whom it had been done, or had seen overwhelming evidence that it was practiced--like, walls of signed and dated shirttails. Many fly out of places that still practice it on a regular basis. Next, the general perception is that it isn't as widespread as it was, but it's in no danger of disappearing yet. Most people didn't consider whether it was of military origin or not, so I guess I lose on that query... It seems from the comments that, usually, schools that are *not* sponsored by a manufacturer are likely to do it; and that independent instructors tend not to do it. In most cases, it is the instructor who does the cutting, and the school keeps the tail for the wall; but several mentioned people who proudly kept and displayed the mutilated tail. Finally, some different customs prevail in some areas. Of the ones mentioned, were taking the instructor out to dinner as well; cutting of something, *anything*, including ties; and one person who mentioned a club where, for women, panties figured prominently on the display wall. (Flame not at me, your humble reporter, oh ye latter-day Amelias...) Of course, the responses are all on file, and I assume that the senders would not object that I offer the collected submissions to any interested party; just mail and ask. Oh, me? Ah..well, shortly after I posted that, I soloed--my instructor is quite good, so the actual solo was almost anticlimactic, it was so easy. But a couple of friends had driven out while I was up, and I lost my shirttail to the shoulderblades! I wore that silly half-shirt all night, proceeding to put myself in no shape to solo anything, including my own feet. A good night, overall...(someone else drove, ok?) Thanks for the responses, and have fun! Dave Ihnat ihuxx!ignatz
davidk@dartvax.UUCP (06/21/84)
Remind me to wear a t-shirt when I solo. Or something *very*
tough to cut ...
--
David C. Kovar
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"The difficult we did yesterday, the impossible we are doing now."