Originally Posted by
JohnBurke
Navigation. Today's pilot breed are children of the magenta line. That means snot nosed kids who don't know anything more about finding a destination than following the little colored line on their GPS, and I see a lot of it. Don't be one of those.
Reading the remainder with great anticipation!
Originally Posted by
JohnBurke
because if you wait, you'll likely never go back to properly learn the fundamentals.
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Originally Posted by
JohnBurke
Today it's hardly taught, given a slight wave by instructors who have never experienced it themselves, and aircraft are had with parachutes that are treated like alternate airports.
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Originally Posted by
JohnBurke
Pilots blast off into conditions they should not, in light piston powered airplanes at night and in bad weather, with the misguided notion that the it's okay because the parachute is there to save them. They take this false sense of security for granted and think nothing of it.
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Originally Posted by
JohnBurke
It's second nature if someone understands the concept of flying a non-directional beacon, but foreign to someone who does nothing but fly the magenta line.
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Originally Posted by
JohnBurke
Understanding fundamentals, even for things that aren't used much today, is still foundational for flying skills and may save your life. Don't take today's modern technology for granted.
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Originally Posted by
JohnBurke
Don't let your equipment look for traffic on your behalf. You look. Look out that window and scan aggressively like your life depends on it, because it does. So does mine.
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Originally Posted by
JohnBurke
Letting one's radio look for traffic is among the most stupid things a pilot can do, save for putting too much air in the fuel tanks before departure.
Very helpful.
Originally Posted by
JohnBurke
Or instructors who are wet enough behind the ears that they've never seen or experienced and engine failure, a fatality, or a real emergency. That's most of them.
Wow!
Originally Posted by
JohnBurke
Don't get too pie-eyed about the instructors, either; they may seem like authorities, but most are no-experience, no-flight time know-nothings with fresh, wet commercial certificates who were just recently student pilots themselves; you're receiving training in most cases from the absolute lowest common denominator in the industry. Keep that firmly in mind before you let that person kill you.
Double Wow!
Originally Posted by
JohnBurke
It wasn't legal or safe. Trust, but verify, and then forget trust. Just verify.
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Originally Posted by
JohnBurke
It's trite, but keep your airspeed up. Especially close to the ground, such as turning to final approach.
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There is no flight which must be made.
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Your job, when you arrive at the airport, is to look critically for any excuse to say "no."
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Originally Posted by
JohnBurke
Learn the maintenance aspects of what you fly. MOST pilots take this for granted, and most probably couldn't tell you squat about what they're seeing when they do a pre-flight inspection on an aircraft.
So many pearls of wisdom.
Originally Posted by
JohnBurke
Pilots look, but 9.99 out of 10 couldn't tell you, and that's exactly the kind of thing, taken for granted, that can kill you. Know. I was gently encouraged to read the bible on aircraft maintenance, AC 43.13, when I was a student.
Heck. I've never even heard of AC 43.13! This is great. I've got more homework:
Originally Posted by
JohnBurke
or at all...check everything you can. Open, probe, touch, check.
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Originally Posted by
JohnBurke
...the parts that control the up and down. Actually gone from the aircraft. Removed. Take nothing for granted.
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Originally Posted by
JohnBurke
Cooperation is one thing, but blind faith in instruments, air traffic control, other crew, mechanics, management, aircraft manufacturers, the FAA, or anything else, is very dangerous. Flying should be fun, but safe. It can't be if anything is taken for granted.
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Originally Posted by
JohnBurke
The pilot admitted he'd just looked, assumed it was right, and used his "calibrated eyes." Don't assume. Don't take for granted.
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Originally Posted by
JohnBurke
I failed to prevent what nearly killed me. Don't assume. Know.
An abundance of thanks!
Originally Posted by
JohnBurke
Don't let power or performance or instrumentation lull you into complacency.
Big thanks.
Originally Posted by
JohnBurke
The military insists on aerobatic training, makes it's pilots explore the flight envelope. Civilian training doesn't, and most pilots never bother on their own. Today many enter the pipeline to learn and earn the bare minimum, rush to a regional airline cockpit, and therein lies the extent of their effort for the remainder of their career. They don't know what they don't know. I see far too many who think the industry and their career should be handed to them on a silver platter, learning and training injected by osmosis. Learn, study, sweat. Treat your flight training like your Phd studies.
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Your training airplane may fly low and slow, but can kill you just as dead as a high speed, low drag fast moving piece of flashtrash; it doesn't matter what you're flying whether it's an F22 or a lowly Piper Cub; respect it, learn it, and don't take it for granted.
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Tens of thousands died to form the bedrock of the regulation, safety standards, maintenance and flying practices that are in use today, and yet we continue to see people make the same mistakes with controlled flight into terrain (running into mountains and trees and powerlines), and fuel exhaustion. Don't take for granted the deaths and lessons that came before; you'll never meet them, probably never read about most, but the lessons are as cogent today as ever.
Remember that it's the traffic in flight that you don't see that kills you.
Well, that was worth far more than the price of admission. You should write a book. I really do appreciate the attention to detail and for understanding the reason behind the OP. This is precisely the kind of thing I was hoping to find - a diamond in the rough so to speak on the things I should keep my eyes, ears and mind tuned for.
Thank you for offering a wealth real world issues that are important, often times overlooked or never even seen by some. I will make sure to keep my focus wide and deep and as you say, never take anything for granted.
Thank you very much for the valued contribution.
