I pass right by Walden Woods on my way to work at Boston’s Logan Airport. I hear Thoreau’s words in my head mostly as he wrote them in 1854. The exact quote from his book Walden; or, Life in the Woods is: “I went to the woods because I wished to live deliberately, to front only the essential facts of …
Tag: simplicity
Always Listen . . .
When I’m flying, what thoughts and actions can I leave out? What is excess, noise, waste? I have to prune, it allows me to see and do the things that are truly important.
Let Your Mind Wander in Simplicity
Let your mind wander in simplicity, blend your spirit with the vastness. (circa 300 BC) Keep your situational awareness high, trim the plane. (2017)
Happy Dog
There’s lots of reasons I tell myself why I like being a pilot. But it might just be the joy of a dog in a car, sticking his head out the window. Oh, and if you’re not fully focused on only landing when landing — you’re doing it wrong!
Aeroplane Does All the Work
This quote comes from Mike Riley’s little gem, The Concorde Stick and Rudder Book. You don’t fight an plane — you understand its ways and set the controls to let her fly well. Even, as it turns out, Concorde. Mike Riley was a British Airways captain who instructed in the B707, VC10 and Concorde. He also instructed in light aircraft, …
Know What Comes Next
Know what comes next. Captain Harry Linfield Harry Linfield, Concorde captain & instructor, when I asked him in the Brooklands Concorde simulator what good pilots did well. He has instructed in RAF Jet Provosts, B707s, Concorde and after retiring, in piston Cessna’s. He told me whatever the speed, stay ahead of the aeroplane. And know what you are going to …
Time is a River
Pilots work with time. On-time. Speed = distance/time. We must manage our own inner time as well. From slow times to supersonic.
Right Thing at the Right Time
Great advice on doing the right thing. From one of the best basketball players of all time Kareem Abdul-Jabbar, also known as Airplane! co-pilot Roger Murdock:
Fly Away!
It’s fun to watch or read about special hurricane reconnaissance aircraft. But let’s not forget: The rest of us just get out of the way. Radar composite pic is the ERAU fleet fleeing Florida for safer pastures.
It Remains a Puzzle
How to land? Last night, in the dark of 16L, everything looked perfect. I gently bought the A320 into a nice flare, and was rewarded with an OK, but harder than I wanted, landing. It was safe. Many would say it was good. But I was disgruntled. I can do better. Often the final touch-down remains a puzzle to me. …