Sloppy Piloting

I agree bob when it's -23 or colder out and your empty "full fuel" One pilot
310HP at SL. wow air is so dense!


"Bob Gardner" wrote in message
. ..
I would recommend that you calculate Vx and Vy for various density
altitudes and weights rather that memorize a number that is valid only at
sea level on a standard day at gross weight.

Bob Gardner

"Jay Honeck" wrote in message
news:Bj5gj.287919$Fc.120969@attbi_s21...
This group's own Rick Durden published an article in AOPA Pilot this
month entitled "Are you a good pilot?" In it, Rick raised many
interesting points about things that can affect good piloting.

Precision is part of being a good pilot, and it seems that good ones are
always striving for perfection, even though they know it's unattainable.
As pilots we are always one mistake away from bent metal (or worse) so
this is a good thing.

In my own flying, I strive to avoid the pitfall of becoming sloppy -- but
I have to confess that it's easy to fall into bad habits. When you've
droned VFR between Iowa and Wisconsin 500 times, it's easy to become
sloppy about altitude -- I mean, who cares if you're off by 100 feet? And
heading? Well, shoot, we're just following the magenta line on the
display, right? Sloppy.

Another example: Practice can make perfect, but repetition can also make
you forget things, over time. Mary and I were recently discussing the
fact that neither one of us could remember the precise V speeds for
Atlas -- a plane we've flown every few days for six years. They've all
become automatic and ingrained in our muscle memory -- but we'd have to
look at the panel placards to tell the exact speeds. Sloppy.

Interestingly, the definition of sloppy piloting has changed somewhat
over the years I've been flying. It used to be that you could spot a
sloppy pilot by the way they read a sectional chart; nowadays, many
pilots don't ever look at a sectional, and a sloppy pilot is defined by
how much they fumble with the knobs of their Garmin 1000...

As I'm typing this, I'm trying to remember the last time I opened my
sectional chart. With a Lowrance 2000c on the pilot's yoke, and a Garmin
496 in the panel, there is literally no reason for us to EVER open a
sectional anymore. Both of those instruments have far more information
than a chart could ever display -- yet I feel sloppy for not having
opened my paper map in the last dozen or so flights.

With two pilots on board, we have a good system to offset any inclination
to get too sloppy -- it's called "spouse pressure". For example, if I
fly a non-rectangular pattern, I'm sure to hear about it -- and vice
versa. But even after 30 years we can't read each other's minds, and --
especially after a long lay-off from flying -- it's easy to develop
sloppy thought processes. Piloting requires linear thinking, and much of
it is habit developed over time, so it's the first thing to go when you
haven't flown much.

I'm interested in hearing what you do to combat the human tendency toward
sloppiness? Any tricks that you might use, or methods you might employ?
--
Jay Honeck
Iowa City, IA
Pathfinder N56993
www.AlexisParkInn.com
"Your Aviation Destination"