Failures will come. It does not matter how practiced and skilled a pilot is, they can and will make a mistake. My training was based on Murphy's law: If it can go wrong, it will. Making a mistake is natural and common. However, it is unacceptable to just give up the instant things go wrong. You must correct your mistake and learn from it. The brainbook I mentioned in a previous post is an excellent example of this. The owner makes a note of points that can be improved and consciously makes an effort to do better.
Quiting is never an option. There is no shoulder that the airplane can pulled onto and parked, there is no calling 911 while in the air. You need to work to make the aircraft perform even if it or you have failed. Mistakes will be made in training. You are learning, its natural to make mistakes. Don't be discouraged. Make the mistake, learn from it, let others learn from it, and move ahead in your training.
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The inspiration for this particular post is the week of midterms which many students across the country are just finishing up. It is also the reason for my delay in posting.
A pilot's career does not truly contain any sort of break or vacation. It is a life of constant study. An easy example is the private pilot biannual flight review. Even after finishing it, the next awaits you. One of the most astonishing examples is the landing of flight 1549. In his self titled book, Sully, captain Sullenberger describes how he would study numerous crash investigations, including ones which attempted water landings. He lived a lifestyle of constant study. This allowed him to understand to technique to do a safe water landing. Now, the biannual is not the only situation which you should be studying for. An issue can arise in the aircraft at any time, and as my first flight instructor told me, 'you can't pull over at 3000 feet.' There is no stopping to solve an issue while flying, issues must be solved while still maintaining a flight attitude. Constant study and understanding of procedures and the limitations of your aircraft will give you the ability to do that. Although the title says fuel, we won't be discussing AVGAS today. That is aircraft fuel; pilot fuel is most commonly called sleep.
A pilot thrives on sleep. A well rested pilot is capable, better focused, and more able to have good decision making. (S)he is more than capable of maintaining a safe flight attitude, maneuvering and navigating. On the opposite end of the spectrum, a sleepless pilot brings numerous dangers upon themselves and anyone else on board. A tired pilot more readily misses items during preflight, or skips the preflight entirely. They would fudge the checklist, have a sloppy startup and take off, and maybe start turning to the wrong heading. Just like how they say "get plenty of sleep before the exam" the same is true for flying. A lack of sleep causes performance to take a nose dive, and you become more of a risk than numerous factors. It has been said that one sleepless night is the equivalent of one drink. If you don't believe me, take a pilot knowledge test online. Then skip sleep on a Friday night, and try to do it again, and see how your score compares. Nine times out if ten, the score will drop. Sleep is vital to the performance of the pilot. It doesn't matter how experienced you are; Don't fly tired. |
Photo used under Creative Commons from C. P. Ewing