Knee Jerks

Badmouthing pilots is an entirely separate issue. That's just bad manners...

It's more than bad manners when it destroys reputations. And "that was
one dumbass pilot - I would =never= do that!" is badmouthing a pilot.
Maybe the pilot was dumbass, but maybe one day you =will= do that.

You'll be preflighting, it's night, you'll drain and dip the right tank,
you'll see something you don't like, dump the gas, and drain it again.
You'll go over to the left side of the plane for better light to ensure
that the thing you see isn't water, and you find that it is of no
concern. It's good gas, you dump it back into the left tank (and peer
in - it's full), and continue your preflight where you left off. When
you are at the tail, your passenger arrives, you wave hello, she asks
where the bathroom is. You tell her and continue your careful
preflight. She returns just after you dipped and drained the left tank
and says that the room is locked. Duh - it's after nine pm. There you
are with some unexamined gas in your sampler; you dump it on the tarmac
and walk her to the bathroom and open the door with your key, and return
to complete your preflight. You've already dipped both tanks, you've
already drained both tanks, you even remember pouring gas back into both
tanks, and something in your brain says "done here". Somehow, the fact
that you didn't actually examine the last load escapes you in the
moment, since you did examine two loads, and did dip both tanks, and are
a careful pilot.

You continue, your passenger comes back, you load up and start the engine.

Runup is fine, both tanks are working, engine's happy. It's 9:15, the
sunset is in your eyes on takeoff but that's not a big deal. You climb
a few hundred feet, are now over the forest, and the engine sputters and
dies. With the lightning-fast instincts of a Good Pilot, you ram
everything forward, turn on the fuel pump, switch tanks, switch mags,
but nothing helps. Just as you are about to impact the trees, the
engine roars to life but it's too late to save you. There is no fire,
but both you and your passenger die of the impact.

Two gallons of water are found in the left tank. The fuel selector is
found on the right tank. The truck that fueled you last is found with
water in its tank.

Clearly pilot error.

Easily could happen to a Good Pilot. Even Good Pilots make mistakes.
Mistakes don't always kill; when they don't they are no less a mistake.
When they do, they are far less fortunate.

Also clearly bad luck. Had you taken off on the other tank, you would
not have had the water problem until you were at 8,500 over farmlands,
and would have had plenty of time to recover and land under power at an
airport, saying "whew, that was close" (but not to your passenger, who,
impressed with your handling of an emergency, would label you as a Good
Pilot)

On the piloting side, however, I think we are masters of our own fate.

Yes, but we are imperfect masters. All of us are. The goal, of course,
is to reduce the number of opportunities bad luck has to bite us. But
when teethmarks are found on a pilot, to insinuate that they prove he is
a Bad Pilot is the mistake of statistics of one.

Bad Pilots can have long uneventful flying careers. Good Pilots can be
killed on their first mistake.

Jose
--
Money: what you need when you run out of brains.
for Email, make the obvious change in the address.

The Air France captain who ran out of runway in Toronto last year - is he
a
BAD pilot? Or has he been downgraded even further now, to REALLY BAD
pilot?
Or perhaps, since no one was killed he is only a "pretty bad" pilot.

He ran off the end of a runway. How can you get "more bad" than that?

Through pilot error he jeopardized the lives of his crew and passengers, and
destroyed a multi-million dollar aircraft. What else can you say?

I am not trying to ridicule you - only to underscore what I think you
already
know : The quality of our action cannot be judged solely on the basis of
the
result.

How else shall we be judged?

If you don't want to learn - or if you think there's "nothing to discuss"
(you've said it twice) then you could be at risk of an attitude problem,
which
could indeed make you a bad pilot.

There's "nothing to discuss" as far as the outcome of being a bad pilot.
Everything about piloting is learning, and taking responsibility for our
actions.
--
Jay Honeck
Iowa City, IA
Pathfinder N56993
www.AlexisParkInn.com
"Your Aviation Destination"

Absolutely!
We'll even say he was a hero, because he went out of his way to avoid
houses and populated areas! :-)

Actually, it will be reported that my last actions, as I struggled with the
flaming wreckage of my aircraft, will be to steer away from houses of
worship and child care centers, whilst helping my passengers bail out.

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

To sum up Denny's most excellent post: If you run out of gas (or do any
of
the other stupid pilot tricks he outlined), you're a BAD PILOT -- period.

There's no need for humility or experience, nor should there be any
debate.


That's a pretty harsh judgement for a man of relatively limited flying
experience. You'd do well to develop some tolerance for the day your luck
changes.

Are you saying that running out of gas is "bad luck"?
--
Jay Honeck
Iowa City, IA
Pathfinder N56993
www.AlexisParkInn.com
"Your Aviation Destination"

The quality of our action cannot be judged solely on the basis of
the result.

How else shall we be judged?

By our actions. Not by the results.

If I fire random shots in the air and happen to kill somebody, who
happens to be your daughter, am I a Good Person or a Bad Person? If the
person I kill instead happens to be Osama, same question. If nobody
gets hit but we all enjoy the celebration, same question.

In my book, the answers would all be the same, independent of the result.

Jose
--
Money: what you need when you run out of brains.
for Email, make the obvious change in the address.

Jay Honeck wrote:

Are you saying that running out of gas is "bad luck"?

Fuel exhaustion isn't limited to a pilot's failure to properly fuel the
aircraft for the flight's planned duration.

--
Peter

Peter R. wrote:

Fuel exhaustion isn't limited to a pilot's failure to properly fuel the
aircraft for the flight's planned duration.

This I'd like to hear...

Please explain! G

Barry

B a r r y wrote:

Peter R. wrote:

Fuel exhaustion isn't limited to a pilot's failure to properly fuel the
aircraft for the flight's planned duration.

This I'd like to hear...

Please explain! G

Fuel cell/bladder/tank leak in flight, fuel cap improperly secured and is
blown away in flight resulting in siphoning of fuel, ruptured fuel line,
clogged fuel filter, fuel pump failure, etc., etc, etc.

Ok, perhaps some of these fall under fuel starvation.


--
Peter

Peter R. wrote:


Fuel cell/bladder/tank leak in flight, fuel cap improperly secured and is
blown away in flight resulting in siphoning of fuel, ruptured fuel line,
clogged fuel filter, fuel pump failure, etc., etc, etc.

Ok, perhaps some of these fall under fuel starvation.



With the exception of the cap (which is usually part of a good preflight
on GA aircraft), the rest are fuel system failures, not "running out of
gas".

B a r r y wrote:

With the exception of the cap (which is usually part of a good preflight
on GA aircraft), the rest are fuel system failures, not "running out of
gas".

Oh, really?

Every article from AOPA, Aviation Safety, IFR, and other periodicals seemed
to lump them in a much more broad category.

--
Peter