Originally Posted by
Pilot DAR
Yes, but..... "The box" will, in its entirety, be what's approved by the airplane limitations, and national regulations for operation of the aircraft. So, everything we discuss as normal operations must remain within that box. If we're discussing outside that box, it's probably either special purpose operations, or flight testing under a flight permit for that purpose. There are some discussions about that flying, but it must remain outside the box in the context of general flying, and certainly instruction.
What we must not have (and the "we" is our industry, not just here at PPRuNe) are techniques presented as a good idea, which are not. One glaring example of this I see, and perpetuated by Youtube videos, are long Vx departures for no good reason (there's no obstacle to be cleared). Though possible, and within the limitations of the airplane, it's a technique which is not a normal procedure for normal departures. Sure, the plane will do a Vx departure, but in doing so, the pilot has placed themselves in a regime of flight from which an engine failure might not be recoverable to a successful glide.
So, "Out of the box" thinking is worth the thinking exercise, but maybe less so the doing. If the thinking exercise gets the thinker to the point of understanding why a permitted technique is less safe than another permitted technique, and thus less wise, that's great. But, when I see newer pilots "trying" new things in airplanes, I often worry for/about them, if they have the whole picture in their mind.
We owe it to our industry to be a repository for wisdom of the most safe way to fly. Perhaps, for a circumstance, the most safe way to fly is not the safest way to fly, it's just the safest for that circumstance. Now we have to teach pilots now to avoid those circumstances!
How does the saying go: Use your superior wisdom to avoid circumstances which will require your superior skill....?
I meant out of the box of how we have learned to teach a pilot the basics of flying mostly, PilotDAR. The foundations laid during initial training has been demonstrated to be inadequate by the evidence we regularly see. Difficulty with landing, slow speed handling and stalls, spins - which can't occur unless the wing is stalled AND the aircraft is unbalanced - indicating rudder use hasn't been properly learned.
That saying our using superior judgement to avoid circumstances requiring the use of superior skill is valid, but what's unsaid is that good judgement is often learned through experiencing the consequences of bad judgement, and superior skills aren't being taught because instructors have neither superior judgement or skill, so they scare students into avoiding circumstances demanding them, which clearly doesn't always work.
There's another old saying, You begin flying with two cups, one empty, and the other full. The full cup is of luck, the empty is of experience. The trick is filling the cup of experience before the cup of luck runs out. The point I'm trying to make is that instructors should be giving students the experience and judgement necessary to develop superior skills, rather than themselves relying on luck.