Flight Training - March 2015 - 35

HONORABLE
MENTIONS

ference and should be part of everyday
training.

A few more things
for you to consider

7. STRIVING FOR "PRETTY" LANDINGS

Margins
We don't often hear about the
necessity of building margins
into our flying. These are factors
such as being a little higher on
approach so we aren't dependent
on the engine, shortening our
cross-country legs a little so fuel
isn't a concern, and setting VFR
minimums for ourselves so we
turn around a little earlier when
weather is deteriorating. Every
flight instructor stresses how
risky it is to work any situation
right to the edge, leaving no margin if something goes wrong.

There are landings, good landings, and
great landings. The difference between
them often is the result of different
personal attitudes about how a landing
should be conducted and how it should
look. It is a thing of beauty to see an airplane gracefully touch down on the mains
and roll along, nosewheel off the runway
for a few seconds, before it is lowered on
purpose. An airplane that simply arrives
and plops onto the runway displays no
effort on the part of the pilot to create a
landing of note. That, in turn, forces us to
degrade that particular pilot in our arrival
rating scale (see "On the Numbers," February 2015 Flight Training).
8. STYLISH TAKEOFFS

Compass savvy/dead
reckoning
Although it is part of flight training, dead reckoning-or any kind
of cross-country navigation that
doesn't include electronics-is
not often stressed enough. The
problem is that electronics are
electronics and they all need a
steady flow of electrons to work.
A compass depends on nothing.
A sectional chart doesn't need
batteries, nor does a ballpoint
pen. The last three items constitute a full navigation system that
always works. They're a cheap
back-up system, if you know how
to use them.

Flight organization/
preparation
The most dangerous part of a
GPS or iPad-based system is that
it is far too easy to just jump
in and go, so little or no time is
spent reviewing or planning the
trip. The flight instructor should
stress the risks involved in turnon, take-off flights.

-BD

Flight training seldom stresses the
advantages to be found in graceful
maneuvering. This is especially true
when it comes to the lowly takeoff (see
"Trading Ground for Sky," January 2015
Flight Training). There is nothing prettier than watching an airplane roll on its
mains, nosegear just off the ground, and
then it floats into the air when it finds a
speed it is happy with. There is nothing quite as ugly as the same airplane
rocketing down the runway to be jerked
off the runway at a speed that may or
may not be right. The nose-slightlyoff-the-ground takeoff compensates for
everything having to do with density altitude and yields a flying airplane that is
guaranteed to have a good rate of climb.
An airplane that is yanked off the runway
may not be ready to fly, so why take the
gamble?
9. SITUATIONAL AWARENESS

Some folks seem to have a GPS and a
bunch of rear-view mirrors built into
their head: They always know where
they are and what's happening around
them. Others make one 90-degree turn
and are instantly lost. And when traffic
is called out they don't know where to
look. There is one primary way to create
situational awareness within a brain

that doesn't naturally have it: Continually ask yourself where you are and what
is around you. When in flight training,
the instructor can help by periodically
asking where the airport is, or work
with you to develop ways to find traffic. The goal is for you to always have a
constantly updated map in your head
that shows where you're going, where
you've been, and where the airplanes are
around you. Another method is to think
outside-in. Instead of thinking of your
position in terms of left and right, think
more in terms of where someone would
see you on a map-east of the river, west
of the airport, and so on. Training your
brain to think in these terms will ultimately make figuring out the steps to get
you where you need to be much easier.
10. CONTROLLING THE WIND: READING
THE SOCK VERSUS REALITY

Too many pilots are afraid of wind. And
that can be an instructor's fault. At the
same time, too many pilots let the wind
fly their airplane, rather than having
complete control of it themselves. This
helps breed that fear. In almost all cases,
the fear is based on lack of exposure
and understanding. People learn to
fly in places such as Oklahoma, where
high winds are so prevalent that local
pilots are only half-joking when they
say they use log chains for windsocks.
Yet western student pilots don't avoid
winds. They just learn to handle them
because they have no choice. At the same
time they learn to decode the wind by
the way the windsock and flags behave.
They quickly learn that some seemingly
identical winds possess entirely different
traits. Some are easily handled. Some are
to be avoided. Steady, but strong wind
can be easier to handle than calmer,
more unpredictable gusts, for example.
This is something that flight instructors
should stress with students continuously
and should have them out on the rough
days as well as the nice ones.
Budd Davisson is an aviation writer/photographer and magazine editor. A CFI since 1967,
he teaches about 30 hours a month in his Pitts
S-2A. Visit his website (www.airbum.com).
MARCH 2015 FLIGHT TRAINING

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Flight Training - March 2015

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