Flying Slow

wrote in message
oups.com...
Dudley
Thank you for your reply. On the issue of making mistakes....if a
pilot
never makes one, what have they learned that will take care of them
when the inevitable mistake occurs?
Certainly our goal is to show pilots how to avoid mistakes but I can't
divorce myself from the knowledge I learned from all those I have
made.
How to get out again safely is the goal isn't it?
Cheers
Rocky

I think it has to do with the way you approach both teaching one to fly
and learning to fly, which by the way, I've always considered one in the
same :-)
You are absolutely correct that learning from mistakes is critical. This
is something you ingrain into every new pilot from the gitgo. But
there's another level you can strive to attain, and I believe the sooner
you make the transition from the obvious, (learning from mistakes) into
the development of the mental attitude that defines for you a doctrine
of prevention as your PRIMARY approach to flying, the safer you will be
in the long run.
Just because a pilot is thinking prevention doesn't take him out of the
learning from your mistakes level. That also exists, it just doesn't
exist in the pilot's mental attitude as job one. Job one remains
prevention.
Many pilots never actually manage to make the transition into the
prevention mode, and remain virtually static in the approach they bring
to the flying table. Many fly entire careers without ever REALLY
developing an action rather than reaction mental attitude toward flight
safety.
Your post on developing expertise in the envelope left corner is
actually typical of the prevention approach to flying. I commend you for
using it and attempting to spark a fire under others to do the same. In
my opinion, the prevention approach to flight safety is the only
approach. Never in one's flying career is this more relevant than when
transitioning out of simple airplanes into more high performance
airplanes. Never is this also more relevant than when a pilot begins
doing things with airplanes that require an ever increasing level of
performance.
I believe the mental attitude a pilot develops during his/her initial
phases of flight training will remain with that pilot all through their
career in flying. It's for this reason that the role of the primary
instructor is so important to a new pilot. If the CFI is lacking in
his/her desire to instill in a new pilot the importance of a prevention
approach to flight safety, that omission can have disastrous results
down the road.
In my world of demonstration flying, I have seen 32 of my fellow friends
and professional associates die in accidents. Many of these could have
been prevented.
No...there are many professions in this life where one can afford the
luxury of leaning on axioms like "If I make a mistake, I'll be sure to
learn from it" I just believe that flying airplanes just might not be
the best venue for this type of thinking. I much prefer to turn out a
pilot who's attitude has been drilled into him by my constant reminder
to him that, "You will never reach perfection in your flying, but every
second you spend in the air should be spent TRYING to reach it. Learn
from a mistake by all means, but put your entire effort....your entire
concentration, toward PREVENTING that mistake from happening in the
first place".
Every pilot who has ever been trained by me, ESPECIALLY the instructors,
have left with this drummed into their heads if I've taught them nothing
else.
All the best
Dudley