Do I have enough of...?

[Pilot DAR]

I was thinking today of what advice I would give a new pilot to help them keep them self save. It occurred to me that asking one's self "Do I have enough of...?" would be helpful.

Do I have enough: Margin to the stall, altitude, fuel, visibility & ceiling, runway length, time before sunset, emergency equipment, navigational equipment? And other items which did not pop into my mind just yet...

The knowledge of having enough, along with the wisdom of knowing how much you personally need to assure flight should combine in your mind to provide you a basic indicator of the risk you're about to take on...

If you can't tell if you have enough, it's probably too much risk!

[+TSRA]

I never flew with the guy, but a Captain at my previous company used to say "If in doubt, there's no doubt."

I use it to this day and it's along the same idea.

If ever doubt myself, I remember that and it forces me to look at the situation with fresh eyes. It's saved me a couple of times where I ended up adding fuel, planning a different route or altitude, taking the into wind runway even though it results in another 10 minutes...

Of course, it only applies if you are not planning on doing something illegal! :)

[alex90]

Do I have enough of G&Ts before going flying?

That's an interesting thought though... Not sure what I would say other than just fly the way you've been taught and imagine everything you can image to go wrong, will probably go wrong at some point, so expect the unexpected! (I mean especially with the kind of planes that we all fly, 60s, 70s and sometimes when we're lucky 80s planes, which some maintain better than others...)

[Jan Olieslagers]

Do I have enough CASH is the one and only thing that matters. All the rest will follow (or not).

[worldpilot]

Your flying is more likely to remain secure or safe throughout your lifetime if you take time to position it in a well-understood context. The key is to establish a flying environment which facilitates initiating and conducting a flight safely from the outset.
With the appropriate mindset and control environment in place, the predictability of the flight envelope and outcome becomes more sustainable.


"Enough" is not part of my flight vocabulary because it projects a false sense of safe flying.


WP

[Sir Niall Dementia]

Some oldies;

Do I have enough runway in front of me?
Do I have enough daylight?
Do I have enough ability?
Do I have enough fuel? (actually the only time you have too much fuel is when you are on fire)

SND

[Piltdown Man]

Safety is not being somewhere you don't want to be. Therefore, the best advice would be to always put your brain ahead of the aircraft and if you don't like what you see, do something about it before you get there.

PM

[Flyingmac]

Do I have enough time to trawl through a 'What if' list and still have time to fly?


A couple of days ago a pilot turned up to take a friend for his first trip in a light aircraft.
He asked me if I thought it was safe to go, as the TAF gave a Prob 30 of a crosswind close to the aircraft's 'demonstrated'.


I told him I'd landed the same aircraft several times at way over the 'demonstrated', with no problem.


He cancelled, and his friend went home disappointed. Glorious day too. He sat and watched someone else take advantage of the cancellation.


If you look hard enough, it's possible to find a reason not to fly. I suppose it depends on whether you see your glass as half full, or half empty. You can carry the old "If in doubt, Chicken out" too far.

[+TSRA]

Flyingmac,

Just because he cancelled the flight doesn't mean he made a bad decision. You may have landed at or above the demonstrated limits lots of times, but maybe his level of experience and currency told him to err on the side of caution. A bright, beautiful day does not necessarily confer safety.

But yet, there is playing it too safe. Having put myself into a position where I was uncomfortable way too many times (with fare paying passengers onboard in many instances) I've come to the conclusion that it is far, far better to explain why you're not going than try to explain to a grieving family member why you did you go - assuming you get the opportunity to.

[megan]

Part of the difficulty though is you have to "put yourself out there" and get a little out of your comfort zone in order to gain experience. Take the mentioned crosswind landing for example, how do you develop your skill if you don't progressively accept higher and higher crosswinds? Flying IMC I think is another area. You get your ticket, maybe never having been in real IMC, and need to take baby steps to build your skill/confidence. To go out and try an approach when the tower report is the weather is on the minima on your first real IMC in command flight would be crazy, but with practice comes confidence, and you can work your personal minima down to the published.

[Gertrude the Wombat]

I told him I'd landed the same aircraft several times at way over the 'demonstrated', with no problem.

He cancelled, and his friend went home disappointed. Glorious day too. He sat and watched someone else take advantage of the cancellation.
Sounds like a correct decision. The pilot needs to take into account his own capability and experience, as well as that of the aircraft.


(Trying out new things beyond one's previous limits may well be something one sometimes chooses to do either alone or with an instructor, rather than a friend, sitting in the other seat.)

[Flyingmac]

On the other hand. Why drive around in third gear when your car has six?

[Piltdown Man]

It is a shame that he felt uneasy about possibly flying at the aircraft's max. demonstrated crosswind. But it is his call. What I find difficult to accept is that some people choose to ignore their aircraft's limitations and become self-appointed test pilots. I wonder if that invalidates their insurance and counts as wreckless endangerment of an aircraft and its occupants?

PM

[Maoraigh1]

What about the friend? He went home disappointed - but he might have had a more unpleasant experience if the flight had taken place, regardless of the pilot having no problem in handling the conditions.
Passing 250', still over the runway, in a C152, I once asked for "immediate return due to pax malfunction" in a gusty crosswind, although I had warned him before the flight. (30 years since he'd been a radio operator in Hastings in the Indian monsoon.)

[kghjfg]

One of the few things I do now where a bad decision will kill me, so I take it quite seriously.
I like all those phrases,

"if in doubt there is no doubt"
"Useless things; runway behind you, height above you, fuel on the ground"
"old pilots, bold pilots...."
my favourite;
"better to be down here wishing you were up there than up there wishing you were down here"

[+TSRA]

Part of the difficulty though is you have to "put yourself out there" and get a little out of your comfort zone in order to gain experience

On the other hand. Why drive around in third gear when your car has six?

You're both correct, you do have to push your limits to gain a certain level of experience. But there is a difference between pushing your limits and blowing right past them.

I can't count the number of times in my early days I went warp 9 through my personal limits only to get that sick feeling in my stomach and praying to get back on the ground. I wish I had of had the resolve to take it in manageable steps, but alas I'm a masochist.

Who knows, maybe the guy had a very bad crosswind experience or their first flight instructor said something that stuck. An early school teacher of mine once compared mushrooms to toe jam - they're both a fungus. 30 years on there are 20 kids from that class, myself included, who still cannot eat mushrooms...maybe something similar happened to him.