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A Perfect Flight (New Years Resolution)


Cris

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One of the flight activities that I occasionally discuss and teach is "How do you rate yourself after each flight" if you subscribe to the concept that   a pilot license is a license to learn then one must consider the metrics associated with a flight. Do you measure yourself? In other words if you take off and land safely does that constitute a perfect flight? Well I do subscribe to the theory that whatever works for you may in fact be best but it does not answer the question of metrics. Yes the flight was safe but was it the best that it could be. In my own case I work to minimize each and every error in the hope that the next flight will be the"perfect flight" and thereby the very safest it can be. I define that by counting the errors that occur during the flight. For instance did I miss an item on the check list prior to takeoff? Did I miss a call from ATC?  Did I correctly interpret the weather prior to and during the flight? Did I use a GUMP check on each leg of the landing to avoid the dreaded gear up possibility. Did I give a full preflight brief to my passengers. With two pilots on board did we agree on who would be PIC?  In full candor I have on occasion forgotten to to push the prop and/or mixture control but not the gear even with this three time GUMP concept especially on a straight in ILS approach. This means written check lists for all phases of flights need to be used. 

In conclusion I try to have zero mistakes but seem not to ever meet that goal. How many errors  did you make on your last flight? Consider three or less as a goal and you might be interested to see how many you actually had on any given flight. Happy New Year! Fly Safe!

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I make mistakes on every flight (I'm pretty sure most of us do), fortunately none that have had any lasting consequences. After each flight I go through the whole thing in my head from start to finish, then within the next day or so I write it up. The writing is a way for me to share my flying with family and friends that aren't near by, and to review the flight again. (Some of the mistakes find their way into my posts, and some don't) I try to classify the mistakes by how serious the consequences could have been. There are the ones that are fairly minor and then there are the ones where I think "that could have turned into a real problem." I make myself some notes for what I messed up on and then make a point of reviewing it just before the next flight to remind myself not to make it again. Invariably while correcting one mistake, another will be made somewhere along the way, but that is all part of learning.

I have been driving for almost 30 years and I still make mistakes sometimes when driving. Fortunately being conscientious and careful I have been able to avoid any accidents or tickets during that almost 30 years. With the same diligence I hope to keep that same clean record in the air of always arriving safely at my destination...

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eh, count shmount.   does that make 1 bad mistake better than 3 little ones because you only had 1? 

I like the idea of analyzing every flight, which I do, but by giving more 'weight' to certain mistakes more than count.  more importantly trying to understand the WHY of the mistake.  where did the mistake come from and was it avoidable?  was a particular mistake something I normally do correctly over and over but for some reason this last flight I didn't?  WHY?   and then, how do I correct it in the future?  and THEN, 5 flights later, review whether any changes I made allowed me to catch that prior mistake more easily or avoid it altogether.  making improvements to your awareness and flows to prevent or catch mistakes quickly is better than "I made 4 mistakes today". 

sure, I want to make 0 mistakes on every flight.  but we are human.  and the aviation realm is so dynamic, in all honesty mistakes are probably unavoidable. 

I know, our goals are the same.  track and improve.  and that's what matters.  keep analyzing, keep asking questions, keep thinking, and keep improving.

 

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I am returning from a week going to Florida and after we I put the aircraft back in a snow bank I asked my buddy who was with me all this trip: "Did you at any time for the trip feel unsafe?" His answer was "no". This is how I evaluate the trip.  We had some bad weather conditions that could have made this trip bad but always acted the right way. 

Yves

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I have yet to make a perfect flight and am certain I never will. Perfection is somewhat subjective based on our own criteria. I think I have made a few flights that were almost mistake free but that is different. I always go over each flight mentally usually in the evening after settling in. I'm always thinking about how I could have done better and of course reading all the accounts of flights here on MS and applying the information to my flying and yes that makes me better as a pilot. I have so much more to learn.

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