The senior FO I flew with yesterday had a great acronym for what’s important to protect, and in what order, when flying: A Arse. T Ticket. P Paycheck. Keep me safe, keep me legal, and keep me employed. Sounds about right! And actually kinda follows our official flight standards priority philosophy of: 1 Safe. 2 Legal. 3 SOP. .
Category: Airmanship Quotes
Easy to Fly, Hard to Fly Well.
I’m back from vacation. A highlight was getting to fly a 1930’s Tiger Moth out of an airfield in England. That’s me in the front seat. Absolutely wonderful experience. The instructor said the Tiger Moth was the perfect trainer for all WWII RAF and Empire pilots as it was “easy to fly, hard to fly well”. Well, I certainly proved …
1927 Notes on Flying
I am currently enjoying a great book, The Tiger Moth Story, by Alan Bramson & Neville Birch (Airlife Publishing, 1982 revised and enlarged edition of the original 1964 classic). In it, there are a few pages from an article published in 1927 titled The ‘Moth’ Machine, by one Geoffrey de Havilland, who would later become legendary as an aviation pioneer …
Gene Kranz on Spacemanship
“An engineer can explain how a system should work (in theory) but an operator has to know what the engineer knows and then has to know how the systems tie together to get the mission accomplished. If the systems break down the operator must make rapid decisions on fixing or working around the problem to keep the mission moving.” Gene …
1942 Instrument Flying Training
In a world of glass cockpits and flight control laws, a lot of the 1942 U.S. Instrument Flying Training manual no longer applies. But what does, is the real essence of instrument flying: Relax. Be smooth. Control pressures not movements. Understand attitude vs ‘history’ instruments.
Your Job Is
“If you want to fly as [traditional pilots] say they do, then go fly gliders, become test pilots, for all I care go to the moon. But flying for the airlines is not supposed to be an adventure. From takeoff to landing, the autopilots handle the controls. This is routine. In a Boeing as much as an Airbus. And they …
The Problem with Pilots
Finished reading an amazing book that was published last year— The Problem with Pilots: How Physicians, Engineers, and Airpower Enthusiasts Redefined Flight, by former USAF U2 instructor pilot and dean of their school of Advanced Air and Space Studies, Colonel Timothy P. Schultz, PhD. It covers the history of automation in aircraft, the replacement and extension of piloting skills into …
Only One Time
Living in the here and now can sound very hippy-dippy, but it’s also where all our power resides. And as pilots, we like power! “Remember then: there is only one time that is important— Now! It is the most important time because it is the only time when we have any power.” ~ Leo Tolstoy, What Men Live By. 1885.
Ride a Dragon
Jon Snow: “I don’t know how to ride a dragon.” Queen Daenerys Targaryen: “Nobody does until they ride a dragon.” Game of Thrones, season 8, episode 1. Ground school, chair flying, simulators — all are good. But sometimes it feels like you don’t really know how to fly untill you’ve riden the dragon. 🐉
Reasonable Rational Individuals
“Most accidents originate in actions committed by reasonable, rational individuals who were acting to achieve an assigned task in what they perceived to be a responsible and professional manner. They have probably committed these same unsafe acts before without negative consequences because the existing conditions at the time did not favour an interaction of the flawed decisions or deficiences present …