On 24 Sep, Michael Texler wrote: > It is up to the integrity and self discipline of the pilot not to be tempted > by superficially more convenient (but more dangerous) decisions (i.e. > stretching final glide to avoid landing out), maintain a good look out (the > subject of a GFA ops directive), keeping ahead of the aircraft (i.e. > outlanding paddock selection), and avoiding showing off in potentially > dangerous situations (low altitude high speed competition finishes when > they are not needed). > > This is stuff that is not necessarily taught, but often aquired by less > experienced pilots from more experienced pilots, on top of the intrinsic > personality of the pilot.
This is called airmanship - or at least it was when I learnt with the Air Cadets in the UK at age 16 (not quite when Pontius was a Pilot). As an instructor, I find this is the most difficult thing to nurture in a student, but in fact the most important. It is my practice to tell students that the mechanics of flying are the easy bit - it's the 'everything else' that takes time and effort - and never stops. For pre-solo students, the biggest emphasis must be on lookout, but creation of 'situational awareness' must also start here: pre-solo students need to be 'situationally aware' so that they can develop plans to meet the (admittedly limited) problems associated with flying in or close to the circuit - and change these plans as circumstances change. On this solid base it is then possible to start building their airmanship post solo as they move up into XC flying. However, there are some pilots who give me cause for thought: there is nothing you can put your finger on in a check ride, but their attitude causes me to stop and think. For example, there are pilots whose treatment of aircraft on the ground is consistently on the rough side - the respect for the equipment (and other users of that equipment) seems to be somewhat supressed, even under the gaze of their peers - which makes one wonder what they are like in the air where no-one can see them. There's that old saying - to fly safely you need any two of altitude, speed and brains. As glider pilots, we are eminently capable of having a major accident at altitude and well above Vs - so I sould suggest that this is in fact wrong. To borrow from the operating system world, our brain's need to be switched on at all times, running a well debugged airmanship program as the scheduler for all other activities. Unfortunately, the latest airmanship program is not something that one can load from CD. As a further issue, some people seem to be running the cut down, 'demo' version of the airmanship program - quite possibly virus affected! -- Robert Hart [EMAIL PROTECTED] Strategic IT & open source consulting +61 (0)438 385 533 Brisbane, Australia http://www.interweft.com.au -- * You are subscribed to the aus-soaring mailing list. * To Unsubscribe: send email to [EMAIL PROTECTED] * with "unsubscribe aus-soaring" in the body of the message * or with "help" in the body of the message for more information.
