PA-28 Cherokee/Archer/Dakota/Pillan/Warrior
Flight Crew Commercial; Flight Crew Instrument; Flight Crew Flight Instructor
Flight Crew Total 475
Confusion; Training / Qualification; Distraction
Aircraft Equipment Problem Less Severe; Deviation / Discrepancy - Procedural FAR; Deviation / Discrepancy - Procedural Published Material / Policy
Flight Crew Executed Go Around / Missed Approach
Human Factors
I'm a new CFI with 475 hours total time and 6 hours instructing. I was approached by another CFI that teaches at a local flight school to see if I was interested in doing part time instruction. He instructs in a Piper PA-28-161. We scheduled to meet. Two days prior I sent the CFI a message asking what I could do to prepare for the flight and if there was a specific lesson I should be prepared to teach. He called me the day prior to the flight and said there was nothing to prepare for; 'we're just going flying'.  He then asked if I could instruct a student that day. I said no based on not having any experience in their aircraft; personal insurance in their aircraft; or proof of employment. On the day of the flight; I arrived as scheduled.  The CFI/Pilot in Command was already at the airplane with a 'new' student.  This was to be the students 'intro' flight. They had already preflighted the airplane. I sat in the back seat. The CFI/Pilot in Command took off with window and top of door not latched. I reminded him while we were taking the active runway but he said there was a law on this aircraft that they could takeoff with the door all the way open. Once we took off he gave his student the flight controls. The CFI/Pilot in Command asked his student if he had ever touched a cloud. The student said no; and the CFI/Pilot in Command took the controls. He immediately flew next to a cloud and had the student stick his hand out the window. We were flying in a broken layer. He then asked the student to fly directly between two clouds; which had a very narrow gap; definitely not within legal cloud clearances. At this point I asked if there was any traffic awareness and found out there was no traffic advisory or ADSB on the aircraft. After approximately 20 minutes; we full stop landed at ZZZ and the CFI/Pilot in Command asked me to move to the front seat.  I asked; 'left or right'?  He said; 'actually get used to the right seat please.'  I asked if I could sit left for the first time since this was a different model Piper than I have previously flown with somewhat different avionics. He said 'no; sit in the right. This isn't an evaluation; I'm flying.' The student sat in the back seat. The CFI/Pilot in Command performed the takeoff and then gave me the flight controls at 300 feet. During our climb to 7000 feet I noticed that the Alternator Amps read 0.  I alerted the CFI/Pilot in Command who pulled out the checklist and asked me what that meant if the alternator failed.  I said; 'that means we have roughly 30 minutes of battery life left and we should head back to the airport.'  He told me the alternator failed last night on a long cross-country trip and their maintenance technician didn't have time to come inspect it today; but not to worry because they had a second battery besides the main. He also showed me how he cycled the on/off switch and that power was restored. He went on to say that they bought and installed 'crappy overhauled alternator' which was likely the issue. We stayed within 15 miles of ZZZ and the CFI/Pilot in Command asked me to demonstrate stalls. He then took a map from the backseat and covered the entire instrument panel; restricting my view to standby instruments or even the tachometer. I said 'I'm not going to do a stall without being able to see my rudder.' He told me it was an outside maneuver and I didn't need any instruments to do it. I stated again; 'I'm not kidding; I'm not doing it without my instruments. I've never done that before and I do not want to get into a spin.' He reluctantly took the map down.  I demonstrated a stall and then he did multiple falling leaf stalls on his own to show how I didn't need my instruments. At this point he asked me to demonstrate a falling leaf and when the power was pulled I heard the engine choke slightly. At this point we were getting very far over the ocean and I said I was done with stalls and wanted to go back toward shore and ZZZ.  He took the controls at thispoint.He then asked the student (now in the back seat); 'do you think (my name) ever played the toilet paper game?' I asked what it was and he told me I was about to find out. He then flew out over the water and dropped two rolls of toilet paper out the window. He then pulled the power and in a nose-diving turn aimed right between the two falling rolls. The goal he said was to hit the toilet paper on the wing. He gave me controls at one point; but I told him my fear of the toilet paper getting in the cowling and he said it wasn't an issue. He got down to 2500 feet and I told him I didn't want to go any lower over the ocean. He said we were taking it down to 1500 feet. Then we flew back to ZZZ and he told the tower he wanted to do a go around.  He told the student that we were going to float over the runway at 6 inches.  We did this until we got to the 1;000-foot bars on the departure end of the runway when I told him to add power and start going around. He flew it all the way to the numbers and then finally pulled up. I thought we were going to crash as this was so last minute.He then asked me if I wanted the controls and I said yes. We stayed in the pattern. When he asked tower for another go-around; I called them back saying it was going to be a full stop. He questioned my decision and I told him I wanted to end the flight. After we landed; I noticed there was zero fuel indicated in our right tank and the left was reading full. This had to be incorrect as I visually checked the tank prior to flight and it was half full. As the flight progressed I felt more and more unsafe. By the end of the flight I was sure that mine and the students safety were in jeopardy and I can't help feeling that I should have done more to stop it.
A new Instructor pilot on a flight observing another instructor pilot with an introductory student reported the flying pilot performed unsafe maneuvers; intentionally entered IMC conditions; and flew knowing the aircraft had a faulty alternator.