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From: cfiaime@ihnp4.UUCP (Jeff Williams)
Newsgroups: net.aviation
Subject: Re: Solo ritual survey...
Message-ID: <597@ihnp4.UUCP>
Date: Sun, 20-May-84 17:56:32 EDT
Article-I.D.: ihnp4.597
Posted: Sun May 20 17:56:32 1984
Date-Received: Mon, 21-May-84 05:58:20 EDT
References: <749@ihuxx.UUCP>
Organization: AT&T Bell Labs, Naperville, IL
Lines: 26

Dave's friend (who did not get the tail cut off of his shirt)
is one of my students.  The practice of cutting the shirttail
goes back many years, probably to the military.  However, it
seems that now the military types douse the newly hatched 
aviator in water.

So, when do I cut the shirttail of one of my students?  When
the practice is in vogue at the school where I am teaching.
As an example, when I was teaching at Augusta, Kansas, we DID
cut the shirttail for our MALE students.  Our FEMALE students
were asked to produce an article of underclothing on which we
would write the date of the solo.

This practice dying out because flight schools are trying to 
present a "professional" image.  But there is something neat
about going to the old flight school and seeing a collection
of shirttails from the mid-1950s.

What do I do for my first solo students?  Every one is told the
same thing I was told by my first instructor.  "Remember, this
thing is going to climb like a raped ape!"  It may not be much,
but they remember it.

Jeff Williams
AT&T Bell Laboratories - Naperville, IL
ihnp4!cfiaime