13 Tips to Keep You Flying Safely
If I could, I would wave a magic wand and wish that pilots always made the right
decisions so that aircraft accidents would become a thing of the past. While not
possible, when you consider that approximately 80 percent of accidents are caused
by poor decision making, it’s clear that we each have the capability to make a dramatic
impact on the accident rate.
“13 Tips to Keep You Flying Safely” (magazine page 19, PDF
page 21.)
Going Beyond Preflight
For many pilots, the preflight inspection cliché of “kick the tires and light the
fires” is difficult to shake. Then, there is the strong tendency to fall victim
to complacency, especially when dealing with an aircraft you fly all the time. A
good preflight can be the difference between a safe flight and quite possibly your
last flight. A checklist is an excellent resource for ensuring you follow a reliable
workflow and cover all the required inspection items. But, there is a lot more to
a preflight than checking items off a list.
“Going Beyond Preflight” (magazine page 12, PDF page 14)
Positive Flight Attitude
An airplane’s physical attitude is relatively easy to understand. The pilot’s mental
attitude is more complicated. One of the trickiest aspects of mental attitude is
that the beliefs, feelings, and values driving our disposition to act in certain
ways are often as invisible to us as water is to a fish.
“Positive Flight Attitude” (magazine page 8, PDF page 10).
| Safer Skies Through Education
