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"

Jay Honeck wrote:
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?
I had two things I used to do. One on cross country and the other
involving a slow roll; both involving the altimeter.
On cross countries, I would attempt to hold the altimeter needle rock
solid with thye hundreds needle on whatever number I was using for level
flight without letting the needle come off the number on either side.

For the slow roll, it's execution is done in the shape of the capital
letter D; a normal D to the right and reversed to the left.
I'd assign myself a roll altitude slightly above where I was and use
that as my "pinned" altitude for the roll. I would do a pull to the roll
set and initiate the roll with the hundreds needle pinned on that
number. I would attempt to keep the needle pinned through the roll to
the second knife edge, then return the airplane back down to level
flight at exactly the initiating altitude.

Generally speaking, if you can do these two things well, you have a
fairly good hand and feel for the airplane.


--
Dudley Henriques

Sounds like a lot of work, but being a relatively low-time pilot, making
the cards is a way for me to familiarize myself with the details of each
flight (I have a home office with all the equipment needed to make the
cards, so that makes it easier, too), and then all the info is readily
available for re-familiarizing each time. And my higher-time partner has
said it's helpful, too, so it works well for us.

I used to do something very similar to this, back in our pre-GPS,
pre-two-pilot days. I found my "cheat sheets" to be extremely helpful,
especially when flying into unknown or big-city airports.

These sheets really help because they eliminate more than a few things to
remember. As a new(er) pilot, I remember feeling like I was close to
mental overload when flying into complex airspace, and anything you can do
to minimize that load is definitely helpful.
--
Jay Honeck
Iowa City, IA
Pathfinder N56993
www.AlexisParkInn.com
"Your Aviation Destination"

For the slow roll, it's execution is done in the shape of the capital
letter D; a normal D to the right and reversed to the left.
I'd assign myself a roll altitude slightly above where I was and use that
as my "pinned" altitude for the roll. I would do a pull to the roll set
and initiate the roll with the hundreds needle pinned on that number. I
would attempt to keep the needle pinned through the roll to the second
knife edge, then return the airplane back down to level flight at exactly
the initiating altitude.

Hmmm... Maybe I'll forego using this particular technique, Dudley...

:-)

I had an interesting experience on a flight today that illustrates how
easily "sloppy" can creep in. The temperature today soared to 52 degrees
(and, man, I am here to tell you that 52 never felt so good), so -- after
the morning's pea soup fog burned off -- we headed to the airport.

It was my turn to fly out, so I went through my usual routine -- unplug the
plane, pull it out, thorough preflight inspection. Once in the plane, I
followed my usual "geographic checklist" -- upper left to lower right. I
listened to AWOS, set the DG, set the altimeter to field elevation, did my
run-up, and off we went.

I was planning to do one touch & go and then depart the pattern to the
south. There were two guys in the pattern, so I timed my departure to fit
into the flow. Upon reaching my turn from crosswind to downwind, I looked
at my altimeter and was surprised to see I had overshot my altitude by a
full thousand feet! With the cool weather, and light on fuel, Atlas climbs
like a homesick angel -- but something just didn't seem right...

I looked around and realized that my sight picture matched what 1000 AGL
*always* looks like. And it seemed unlikely that I had overshot my altitude
by *that* much -- so I tuned in AWOS again to check barometric pressure.

Sure 'nuff, I had set the altimeter precisely 1000 feet wrong. I reset
accordingly, and continued the flight, chastened by discovering yet another
way to fly sloppy. (Mary just laughed. I had caught her doing the exact
same thing some years ago -- so now we're "even"...)

We flew to a nearby town, swapped seats, and Mary flew us back -- where we
met our son pre-flighting the rental C-150. Mary *finally* got her
"chauffeured ride" with Joe at the controls today!

:-)
--
Jay Honeck
Iowa City, IA
Pathfinder N56993
www.AlexisParkInn.com
"Your Aviation Destination"

On Jan 6, 9:10*am, "Jay Honeck" wrote:

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.

Two GPSes should keep you away from the charts, but I read somewhere
that the US military has the ability to turn off or set the sats to
send out false signals. In that rare scenario, you'd be dead
reckoning it though. Anyways, getting lost is not the end of the
world.

Wil

William Hung wrote in news:1ced3e8f-c4ba-4f03-a438-
:

On Jan 6, 9:10*am, "Jay Honeck" wrote:

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 Garmi
n
496 in the panel, there is literally no reason for us to EVER open a
sectional anymore.

Two GPSes should keep you away from the charts, but I read somewhere
that the US military has the ability to turn off or set the sats to
send out false signals.


Yes, they can. I have experienced it flying through the Adriatic, for one.


Bertie

Two GPSes should keep you away from the charts, but I read somewhere
that the US military has the ability to turn off or set the sats to
send out false signals. In that rare scenario, you'd be dead
reckoning it though. Anyways, getting lost is not the end of the
world.

I wouldn't be lost without the GPS, since we still keep the current
sectional on-board. We may not refer to it much anymore, but it's still
there if needed.

And, last time I checked, my VORs still worked...

;-)
--
Jay Honeck
Iowa City, IA
Pathfinder N56993
www.AlexisParkInn.com
"Your Aviation Destination"

On Jan 6, 9:19*pm, "Jay Honeck" wrote:
Two GPSes should keep you away from the charts, but I read somewhere
that the US military has the ability to turn off or set the sats to
send out false signals. *In that rare scenario, you'd be dead
reckoning it though. *Anyways, getting lost is not the end of the
world.

I wouldn't be lost without the GPS, since we still keep the current
sectional on-board. *We may not refer to it much anymore, but it's still
there if needed.

And, last time I checked, my VORs still worked...

;-)
--
Jay Honeck
Iowa City, IA
Pathfinder N56993www.AlexisParkInn.com
"Your Aviation Destination"

Sounds like you've got it covered then.

Cheers,
Wil

"Jay Honeck" wrote in news:g%fgj.24519$Ux2.24339
@attbi_s22:

Two GPSes should keep you away from the charts, but I read somewhere
that the US military has the ability to turn off or set the sats to
send out false signals. In that rare scenario, you'd be dead
reckoning it though. Anyways, getting lost is not the end of the
world.

I wouldn't be lost without the GPS, since we still keep the current
sectional on-board. We may not refer to it much anymore, but it's still
there if needed.

And, last time I checked, my VORs still worked...


Aren;'t you marvelous?

Bertie

For the slow roll, it's execution is done in the shape of the capital
letter D; a normal D to the right and reversed to the left.
I'd assign myself a roll altitude slightly above where I was and use
that as my "pinned" altitude for the roll. I would do a pull to the roll
set and initiate the roll with the hundreds needle pinned on that
number. I would attempt to keep the needle pinned through the roll to
the second knife edge, then return the airplane back down to level
flight at exactly the initiating altitude.

That's rockin. What kind of plane?

Why not a barrel roll or two as well? Heh. Keep it interesting. I'm
very excited to get started on that stuff. Waiting to hear back from
my old flight instructor.