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Macho

A Beechcraft Baron pilot was flying home after a week of watching airshows at a popular fly-in. After watching so many loops and barrel rolls he was certain he could easily do the same. He executed the maneuver correctly, accelerating and then entering a climb before rolling. But as he was upside down, pulling his way through the roll, his aircraft began developing too much airspeed and his attempts to get through the roll caused a complete structural failure leading to a wing separating from the aircraft, killing him and his passengers.

Macho means that you believe you can do anything. This hazardous attitude is marked by the need to prove that you are the best. It can lead to deadly and highly avoidable choices.

Signs of a Macho attitude

It’s not too hard to spot a macho attitude, especially in others! If you find yourself thinking some of the thoughts below (in bold) then you are experiencing a macho attitude to some degree.

  • “Come on! I can do this.” Wrong! You do not know all of the factors involved. You should get formal training from someone who knows.
  • “I am a better pilot than others. I’ll show them!” Wrong! Flying is not a competition and safety is the skill that really makes a good pilot.
  • “I will prove that I am the best.” No, you are not the best. In fact, your macho attitude makes you one of the worst kind of pilots. Shake off this attitude or never fly again!

Don’t be foolish

If you are the type of person that needs to compete and prove yourself be very careful about aviation. You really need to control your attitude and avoid getting into any kind of competition and never try to show off your aviation skills. Trying to show that you are the best pilot is a recipe for embarrassment or death.

The FAA response to the macho attitude is “Taking chances is foolish”. Do you persist and think that the chances are improved because you are so great of a pilot? I’m going to stop you right there. You are wrong about your skills and your macho attitude is a serious hazard to yourself, others, and the safety record of aviation. Please stay away from planes if you can’t get over yourself. I have seen too many pilots put their passengers lives in serious risk because of their macho attitude (which probably stems from insecurity)! GET HELP!

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What is Line Service?

At most local FBOs the ground crew is referred to as line service. Sometimes they are called ramp agents or line service technicians. (FBO stands for “fixed base operator” and it just means the company at the airport that provides services to your plane).

The great men and women of line service are all friendly but their interest and involvement in aviation vary. Some of them are pilots or student pilots, and others like planes but aren’t planning on taking lessons. There are even some line service technicians who don’t care about planes at all!

Depending on the airport, a big part of the job for a line service technician is friendliness. These are the people that greet you and your passengers after a flight. They are selling their FBO services to your passengers just as much as they are selling to you.

If you run across an unfriendly or rude line service agent let the company know. Thier negative attitude is not just uncomfortable, it can also be dangerous or costly. Consider someone doing a hasty careless job while towing a multi-million dollar jet. CRUNCH! Or maybe they are fueling your Cessna 172 with jet fuel. Or what if they bump into your wing and don’t tell anyone…..that can get you killed!

I, myself, worked line service for about 6 years across 3 airports including Phoenix Sky Harbor. If you are young and interested in aviation, line service is a great job, and some flight schools will give you a discount if you work there (ask before you apply).

At most small airports line service will operate with a crew of just 1 – 4 employees sharing the various jobs across the field. Each line service agent at a small airport does every job. They drive tugs, fuel trucks, luggage trucks, deice trucks, etc… They know how to handle various types of planes and they learn how to push planes into a hangar in tight formation. They act as wing walkers, standing next to the wing to let the tug driver know it is safe from obstacles. They act as marshallers, waving their orange wands to let pilots know where to park. They operate ground power units, air conditioning units, air start units, lavatory service carts, and all manner of machinery needed to support air operations.

When dealing with line service be friendly like you would anywhere, but understand the relationship. You need to tell them what you need for your plane and they will do it. You need to make your own fuel decisions. Even if you are a newly soloed student pilot and you feel like others know more than you….you are the one calling the shots!

 

 

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Anti-Authority

Do you ever resent the FAA for making so many rules? This is an anti-authority attitude. It can be very hazardous because it can lead to poor decision making out of spite.

It’s ok to question the FAA about their many rules and feel free to even publicly denounce their many rules…..but only while on the ground. When you are in the air, you must fight against your anti-authority tendencies and remember this:

The rules are written in blood!

Most of the rules are there because somebody died doing something that was legal at the time. The rules don’t guarantee your safety but they do provide a framework of general safety limits.

Signs of an Anti-Authority Attitude

If you find yourself thinking some of the thoughts below (in bold) then you are experiencing anti-authority to some degree.

  • “Don’t tell me what to do.” The rules are usually telling you what to avoid, and while this may be inconvenient, there is a usually a pretty good reason. Follow the rule for now and find out why that rule exists after you land.
  • “This is a stupid rule.” It very well may be a stupid rule but professionalism and strict adherence to rules and procedures greatly enhance your survival chances.
  • “These rules don’t apply to me because I’m a better pilot than those who died.” Incorrect, you are a worse pilot than those who died in many ways. For example, you are letting yourself succumb to a hazardous anti-authority attitude. Those pilots who died before this rule existed were significantly more professional than you are being right now. Put down your pride and be safe.

Anti-authority goes hand-in-hand with invulnerability and is particularly dangerous because it leads to some of the most dangerous activities. Pilots who fly VFR into IMC or break up the plane doing unscheduled aerobatics usually suffer from both of these two delusions.

The rules and safety

Are the rules safe enough? No.

As pilots, we need to have personal minimums that are more restrictive than the rules. This is a personal decision and it will be different for everyone. For example, you only need 1 statute mile of visibility to fly in class G airspace, during the day, under 10,000 feet.

However, sticking to a higher minimum like 3 miles is probably a good idea.

Have you ever heard the phrase “8 hours bottle to throttle”? It means that you need to leave 8 hours time between drinking alcohol and flying. A better personal minimum that many use is “24 hours bottle to throttle”.

Be well aware of this attitude and decide in advance that you will be a professional pilot who follows the rules, even if you disagree with them.

 

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Never Be 100% Sure

When I was a student pilot I had to fly a night cross-country flight with my instructor. I carefully planned the route and filled out my navlog. We took off in a Cessna 152 and proceeded to the destination, Carol County Airport in Maryland. About halfway through the flight, I was able to see the rotating beacon in the distance and I continued towards it.

I was 100% sure I had found my destination. I descended towards the airport and entered the pattern. As I landed I noticed that the runway number was wrong! This meant that the facility directory must not have been up to date. I taxied off the runway and then my instructor gave me the news. I had landed at York airport, in Pennsylvania. These two airports are 20 miles apart!

If I had not been 100% sure I would still have been evaluating the situation as I flew. That is why I will never tell you that I am more than 99% sure. This is a safeguard to ensure that I keep thinking and taking in new information to find the truth.

A huge 1% difference

My choice to be 100% sure meant that the new information (wrong runway number) was immediately treated as wrong! But if you take the 99% sure attitude, then you will treat new information as the truth and constantly reevaluate what you are seeing. If I had been 99% sure then I would not have put down my map and navlog. Instead, I would have seen rivers and cities and roads all in the wrong place and figured out where I really was.