On Thu, 11 May 2006 00:57:11 GMT, "Dudley Henriques"
wrote:

You're right, it IS a semantics issue.
The issue of handling fear in flight as that pertains to a potential mid-air
is far too complicated an issue to draw down into an axiom that suggests a
student stay on the ground or in bed if the thought of a mid air "scares
them". I just wouldn't handle this situation this way.
It can be logically assumed that a pilot should never be in the air
"consumed" with a fear of a mid air collision. Anything that even approaches
the level of true fear is something no pilot can afford to entertain. But
there is another side to this double edged sword, and that is the simple
fact that although a pilot should never be experiencing true fear, the same
pilot must fly in a constant state of what I will call for the lack of a
better term, "an extremely high state of awareness to a possible mid-air".

That reminds me... In all my years of flying I've never been lost.
Now I have, on the ground, been extremely "positionally
challenged":-)). Now knowing where you have to be even though you
don't recognize any landmarks has *almost* all the criteria to call it
being lost, but not quite. However even knowing where you have to be
but not being able to verify it can bring a feeling of panic that
takes effort to suppress. Fear is unreasoning.

I have done the same thing flying by intention, (I'm mentioned this
before) down low, lots of maneuvering until I lost all sense of
direction. Then attempted to find land marks and this is in an area
where you have to work to get lost. I made two wide circles and could
not spot the edge of Saginaw Bay which had to be SSE of me. Two full
turns and I could not spot it and there is was, that feeling of unease
building toward panic. However I was still in a state where I could
reason with myself and I knew if all else failed I could use the
radios which were already on two nearby VORs. (Saginaw and West
Branch) However I refused to give in and was determined to find my way
back with nothing more than looking out the windows.

According to the time the sun should be just west of due south. So I
turned until it was in a position that should have me going due south.
Sure enough, off to the SSE was the edge of Saginaw Bay on the
horizon. So I turned to the SW and in about 10 to 12 minutes could
spot Midland on the horizon.

So what the instructor has here is the rather difficult task of suppressing
actual fear as we define fear in the accurate sense, while at the same time
impressing the student with the absolute importance of maintaining a
constant airborne vigil as protection against a possible mid-air.
This is an instructional tap dance that can leave a student confused about
the issue if nothing else, and it's important that instructors see this and
deal with it properly.

My primary instructors put me through about every situation they could
think of to ease any doubts, or rater prevent them from surfacing.

A pilot stating he is developing a "fear" of having a mid-air after 200 odd
hours of flying is a pilot who needs to be shown the difference between
fear, which is a negative for him, and constant awareness, which is the
positive desired.

It's that "developing" that concerns me and I have to wonder what
would have triggered such a response after several hundred hours. Of
course there is such a thing as thinking about negative consequences
too much and conditioning one's self to reinforce feelings we didn't
realize were there. It would be my opinion that it's time to spend
some time with a good instructor to find out why and to allay those
fears and turn them into thoughtful concern. Done early this sort of
thing is far, far easier to handle than later after it's had a chance
to become entrenched.

Over the years I've had some hair raising experiences. Although the
worst ones were in cars I have had some close calls in airplanes as
well and I've seen some really bad ones.

When I totaled the Transam by broadsiding an SUV I had just enough
time to see it coming, but no where to go except through him and being
as I was outweighed over two to one while the SUV was mostly steel and
the TA was largely plastic the odds were not in my favor.

My thoughts in plain language as I watched the hood fold up and the
top of the SUV disappear out of sight above the top of the windshield
was :"Ohhh ****! I'll bet this is gonna hurt!" and a sad "Is this all
there is?" just the instant before the air bags went off. The next
thing I remember is the car spinning across the road and me unable to
see out due to the dust from the air bags. However it did cross my
mind that it might be better that I couldn't see out. Strange how
some of those thoughts pop up. However there was nothing that I would
call fear. Certainly I was concerned, but I remained in control as
long as I physically could. After that I still hung on and rode it
out rather than trying to curl up into a ball.

You can of course sum all this up by simply saying to that pilot;
"Keep your damn eyes open, but don't get carried away with it" :-) But I
think this issue deserves some airing out, so that the pilot is able to come
to a better understanding of himself and his flying.

In this particular case I think he needs to understand that
unreasoning fears can develop and "if possible" discover why he has
developed this fear, how ever on some occasions we never do really
find the triggering event or cause. Still it's usually possible to
turn the fear into a reasonable concern that can be addressed.


Just my opinion on this FWIW.

In my estimation; as usual it's worth quite a bit.

Regards,

Roger Halstead (K8RI & ARRL life member)
(N833R, S# CD-2 Worlds oldest Debonair)
www.rogerhalstead.com

Dudley

"Roger" wrote in message
.. .
On Wed, 10 May 2006 15:20:32 -0700, Mark Hansen
wrote:

On 05/10/06 15:02, Ol Shy & Bashful wrote:
Frode
Care to come take a look at my logbooks? I've been flying all over the
world and much of it, about 13000 hours, crop dusting.
If the thought of a midair scares you, stay on the ground, or in
bed.....

I assume what you meant was that no one should let the thought of
a mid-air collision scare them to the point they cannot fly safely?

If any person is *not* afraid of a mid-air collision, they shouldn't be
flying.

We may be dealing in semantics, but fear reduces our ability to
function. In some people to the point of being unable to function.

I am well aware of the possibility of a collision and I try to remain
vigilant and concerned, but I would use the same words old Shy used.
No one who is afraid/scared of part of flying should be flying.
Address the fear in a realistic manner so it becomes no more than a
concern. Then fly.

Many students have fears and those are addressed in training and
should become things of which we are aware and for which we conduct
ourselves in a manner which should reduce or eliminate the chance of
the collision.

If you have had several near miisses in your brief career, please let
me know where you will be flying so I can avoid the area?


I've had thee close encounters since 1963. The last was nearly 10
years ago when landing. It was nearly dark and an ultralight pulled
right in front of me just a few hundred feet off the ground when I was
on final. The two previous "close encounters" were back in the 60's
and within a couple of weeks of each other.

Roger Halstead (K8RI & ARRL life member)
(N833R, S# CD-2 Worlds oldest Debonair)
www.rogerhalstead.com