Dudley Henriques wrote in
:



I think a lot of us who come up with the "aerobatics bug" start out
even without realizing it in some cases that knowing how to fly acro
and doing it sets us apart from the "average" pilot. It's a falsely
conceived premise at best that some actually never shed .
Those who don't are usually the ones who end up dead. It's THAT
simple!


I'm a bit confused as to what you mean here, unless it's that some
aerobatic pilots have notions about ourselves above our station.

The pilots who make it all the way through a career in display flying
are worth watching as they have common behavior and habit patterns
worth emulating for those considering entering this venue.

Most have common traits that are recognizable to even the untrained
eye. The pilots who last in the display acro business develop early
on, an attitude of respect for the venue that borders on a kind of
fanaticism. These are the pilots who, when tempted to do a roll on
takeoff by the local airport crowd on a Sunday morning as they get
ready to go cross country to do an air show somewhere, simply smile
and respectfully decline. It's not the place....and it's not the time.
They realize that there's a self imposed "ritual" they have to go
through with themselves before executing aerobatics at low altitude
and doing low acro without this "mental tuning up " can spell real
trouble. This is why, as the number one rule I passed on to all acro
the acro pilots, especially display pilots, who got close enough to me
to hear my voice I always stressed;
"Never.....EVER....do anything with an airplane that someone asks you
to do unless you yourself are mentally and physically prepared to do
it....AND it's YOUR CALL!!"


Hm, yes. I never thougth this through before, but it rings true. I'm
never shy about a little showing off and I think most pilots are like
that, but I never liked being cajoled into doing something but I'm
uncertain as to whether that was because I have some sort of inate
wisdom or because I'm an anarchist at heart.


This sounds simple enough, but you would be absolutely amazed how easy
it is to slip into doing something with an airplane because this
person or that one is watching.
Ego and complacency are high on the list of potential killers for
aerobatic pilots.
Lord only knows what made a pilot of Ed's caliber weaken his
horizontal stabilizer to match the other weakened side, then go fly
hard maneuvers for the camera.

Yeah, it's a funny thing about ego. Without a sizable dose you're almost
as much of a menace in any kind of high performance flying as the guy
who has to much. My own experience has been a roller coaster of over and
under confidence of decreasing intensity throughout as I found my level
of competence and it's corresponding level of confidence. These ups and
downs never stopped, only decreased in amplitue and, I believe, have led
to a habit of constant self appraisel that has served me well in just
about any flying disciplne. IOW, experiece has eventually won out but I
was lucky to have acquired it!

What is completely puzzling to me and always will remain a puzzle to
me is that most any inexperienced pilot, even a student , if
asked whether THEY would have done what Ed did that day, and flown
that airplane on that day, at that time, for that purpose, would
probably instinctively say that they wouldn't have done it.


Well, I suppose there comes a point where your knowledge allows you to
see through certain practices that are laid down for the simple minded
that can be reasonably circumvented. Problem is, a little knowledge is a
dangerous thing in a case like this. It's not like flying an airplane
with a flat battery or something like that.
in the film about your Buddy, Douglas Bader, he's credited with
repeating often something his instructor told him and that was "rules
are for the guidance of wise men and the obedience of fools".
Trick is to live long enough to become a wise man..

Bertie