Luck will get you through the isolated incident; skill gets you to retirement. Not just skill with the controls, but skill in managing risk, planning for contingencies, and being situationally aware. A lot of that comes with experience. I'd rather fly with someone with a good head and average hands than the other way around. Skill is what you have every day, and luck is around once in a while. It's worth noting that if you are very skillful (head and hands) you will seem to attract lots of luck
Originally Posted by
Spongebob
We had Al Haynes come to Whiting to talk at a safety stand down back when I was a young flight student trying not to kill myself in a T-34. From his talk, he freely admits there was A LOT of luck involved, specifically:
1. They had a check airman on board, who figured out from quick experience that he could control the plane from the jumpseat with the power levers and using differential thrust.
2. They never realized #1 - Al and his FO thought they were still controlling the jet with the yoke, which was not true. The "third pilot" thought he was just assisting with the control inputs the pilots at the controls made.
It's always better to be lucky than good, but if you're good you can make your own luck or more importantly, be in a position to benefit from luck.
Spongebob