"An Officer, Not a Gentleman" and visual references
Recently I was listening to this little gem (“An Officer, Not a Gentelman” by Mandy Hickson) and heard the most interesting visual reference for altitude. But before I tell you about it, let me tell you about the book:
Mandy Hickson was one of the first female Tornado pilots in Her Majesty's Royal Air Force.
Tornado
Mandy was commissioned in 1994 and this book is her coming of aviation story. I thoroughly enjoyed listening to this book, especially since it was narrated by the author! This book went by so fast, and I admire how the author described her challenges and how she overcame them. Also, since the author is from across the pond, her pronunciation of English sounds a little different to my American ears. I had to rewind when I heard her reference the all-tee-meter, because I couldn’t parse what she was saying. It finally clicked and I finally recognized the word altimeter. Anyway, on to one of my favorite parts of the book. Before being allowed in a Tornado , Mandy was put in a trainer, a Tucarno:
Tucarno - trainer plane for the RAF
One of the things Mandy had to learn was low level flight: 250 feet agl, at 300 knots!!! Here’s a quote from the book:
“Trusting the altimeter for low level is not always the best policy, because it’s not sensitive enough for such fine margins. It gives you the height above mean sea level, not the ground. So initially you had to do it with a visual picture. The rule of thumb was pretty simple. At 500 feet, you could see the legs of cows, but you couldn’t see the legs of sheep. When you get down to 250 feet, you could see the legs of sheep. It was very technical.'“
That’s right, a very technical visual reference. I can just imagine someone exclaiming, “Would you look at the legs on that sheep!” and then someone else saying, “PULL UP !! PULL UP !! That’s a LAMB !!!”
Visual reference when you can’t trust your altimeter: at almost 300 knots and 500 AGL, you can see the legs of cows, but not sheep. At 250 AGL, you can see the legs of sheep.
I will never again fly over the farms in Washoe Valley and look at cows the same. I highly recommend you buy and read or listen to "An officer, Not a Gentleman". If the book is too much of a commitment, you might enjoy this 15 minute Interview of Mandy Hickson by UNILAd where Mandy talks about some of her experiences (which are also mentioned in her book). She’s now retired from the RAF and is a motivational and business speaker. https://www.mandyhickson.com/