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, Sat, 3 Oct 2015 10:57:58
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When I was in the Navy I knew a bunch of naval aviators. Guys who have to land on aircraft carriers at night in bad weather have to know their sh!t.
I flew gliders (sailplanes) with them at a nearby flying club but was transferred and never got my license. On one of my first flights the instructor put me in the front seat, and he got in back. He put me on instruments immediately and I just flew the plane. Up, down, turn at a given angle of bank, etc. Not looking out eliminated the chance of being disoriented, but also gave me a real sense of control. That was a real confidence booster and it taught me to trust the gauges and that my feet and hands and head knew how to fly the plane. Each time up it got easier and easier. But most people learning to fly don't get that experience.
In small planes and civilian aviation, I don't think pilots are taught enough about what to do when things really go sideways. As EGD notes, they go past their level of skill or experience. Military fliers are taught to expect things to go bad and how to get out of trouble by having good situational awareness and how to avoid screwing the pooch. Civilian pilots in general aviation don't get enough of this and get limited bad weather time. Most of the time it's OK, and experience comes with flight hours. But when the dragons come to call the pilots can run out of options.
Compare it to going to a good track-driving school, as opposed to basic drivers ed. At the track school, you may start doing laps on a wet skid pad, then move to the track. You learn that the world doesn't end if you are sideways and looking out the side window instead of the windshield. And you've already started in on the habits of looking where you want to go (as opposed to what you could hit), and you can more easily keep the car on the track. Meanwhile, in drivers ed you learn to use your turn signals, maintain a safe following distance, and how to parallel park.
Then compare track days to club racing. And club racing to pro racing. Training and practice go a long way to making things safer, but in aviation there is a lot less room for error or lack of skill.
, Sat, 3 Oct 2015 09:19:07, Tue, 6 Oct 2015 15:07:13
, Sun, 4 Oct 2015 13:43:15, Sat, 3 Oct 2015 15:15:01, Sat, 3 Oct 2015 10:57:58, Mon, 5 Oct 2015 05:39:46
, Sat, 3 Oct 2015 19:45:36
, Sun, 4 Oct 2015 16:46:03, Sun, 4 Oct 2015 17:42:12, Mon, 5 Oct 2015 03:13:48, Mon, 5 Oct 2015 12:18:13, Mon, 5 Oct 2015 14:42:59
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