Head on a swivel...musings from the flight deck.

[HRM]

So I am driving in to work today and realized that I practice a great deal of situational awareness while almost all other drivers appear catatonic, staring ahead and never looking around. It made me wonder if being a pilot has done that to me. I check my instruments, adjust the GPS (even if I don't have a route entered), look all around. My daily driver is a track car and German, so it is very fast, nimble and engineered for driving. I could say the same thing about my E as far as aviation is concerned.

When whizzing through the neighborhood I am scanning ahead and looking under cars to see if a kid might be in front of one, I'm quick to dodge potholes, looking out for any movement, watching for jackasses running stop signs, etc. Not bragging about my driving skills, but just wondering if any other pilots drive their cars the way they fly their airplanes? 

I'm grounded with an engine issue, so maybe I'm just compensating.

[steingar]

You think you have situational awareness? Try riding a motorcycle! I call it my Steiny sense, and it has saved my six on far more occasions than I can easily count.

[DonMuncy]

I am constantly amazed at how little most drivers nowadays seem to care about anything associated with driving. Yes, I find myself constantly looing for where other cars are, where the imperfections on the street are, and anything else that assists in getting me safely where I am going. (Admittedly at generally higher than legal speeds.)

[Jeff_S]

That just sounds like a good drivers ed course to me. I had those behaviors drilled into me at age 14...we got to start driving early in Kansas farm country. But I suspect it takes a certain type of personality to actually embrace that ethic...so which came first, the behavior or the pilot’s license?

[Yetti]

Ride a motorcycle.  I won't ride a motorcycle in Houston anymore.  Too many drivers as you described.

I used to say.  Every day there is one chance you almost die.  Twice on Friday.

[amillet]

I find myself practicing formation flying skills maintaining precise distance with the car ahead of me 

[steingar]

9 hours ago, Yetti said:

Ride a motorcycle.  I won't ride a motorcycle in Houston anymore.  Too many drivers as you described.

I used to say.  Every day there is one chance you almost die.  Twice on Friday.

It used to be that I"d have to initiate some sort of emergency escape maneuver perhaps a couple times a season.  Now I have to do so a couple times a week.  I'll never give up riding a sport bike, its the only thing fast enough to get out of the way.  But I no longer encourage young people to get motorcycles.  Just too dangerous.

Every time I get into a deal I look at the driver, and most times they're looking at a screen.  Gives me a warm feeling to know I might die because some girl just has to text her boyfriend, or some guy just has to check the scores.  Be really careful out there, its gotten way, way worse.

[MB65E]

Sold my bike in 09 really miss it, but not worth it in LA. 

2 not at fault accidents this month where people drilled me. One guy turned left into us, and the other was a rear end. I'm always driving and looking at everything. I'm surprised at what others in the car don't see. My wife says I should focus on the road more. Huh? 

In airplanes is almost like OCD looking around. However the GTNs and even say the 530 have too much info in them and I find myself with my head down a lot. Almost as bad as most iPhone users. It's a black hole sucking brain matter in those boxes. 

Most enjoyable flight this past year was in my dads 41 T-craft from Atlanta-Springfield mo. No txp, didn't use the radio.  I looked outside. Only time I looked down was to see what the song on pandora was. Great flight! Highly  recommended  several times a year!!

look outside!

-Matt

 

[bob865]

10 hours ago, Yetti said:

Ride a motorcycle.  I won't ride a motorcycle in Houston anymore.  Too many drivers as you described.

Only took one for me.  I won't ride again.

[Raptor05121]

I don't ride often, but I am the same. On a motorcycle, head on a swivel. Same for flying, and same for driving fire trucks. You'd be amazed at how many people do not check their mirrors. I can't count how many times I'd be riding someone's ass with the siren wailing and be stuck doing 45 for the better part of two miles before the brake lights light up and they dive for the shoulder.

I am an aggressive driver. I stay in the left lane, but I am the guy that is faster than 99% of the traffic. If there is someone faster, I zip over and let them pass. Its common courtesy. On the I-10 to I-75 ONRAMP we have people that ride their brakes and will be doing 45 as it merges into the fast lane. It amazes me how many people are clueless.

When I get home, I'll upload the dash cam clip I have of a lady missing the the I-10/I-75 offramp and SLAMS on the brakes in the left lane of a 3-lane interstate and comes to a complete friggin stop in the left lane. I predicted she was going to do this so I backed off and had plenty of time to stop. I was worried about the people behind me, though. If someone would have hit me, I would have probably ripped the woman's head off.

[Oldguy]

Parked the motorcycle 3 years ago after riding since I was 15. Too many glass panels on the roads and even some of the truckers were getting sloppy.

I have the swivel head driving technique as well driven into me by years of driving in Houston, Atlanta, Boston, NYC and other large cities. It is nice to be out here close to the middle of nowhere and not worry about the traffic congestion or people driving the wrong way on one way streets (Boston), but a quick trip to Atlanta and all of the defensive habits surface quickly.

I have had enough high-speed fun on race tracks in cars and on bikes to satisfy my need for speed on the ground. My J gets me what I want now, and the fun is deciding whether it is an endurance run or a speed run and how to manage the engine to get either.

[steingar]

I don't ride the bike as much as I used to, and it is a pity.  I rode it in every day for work that wx would allow, and used it for most of my trips.  Now I walk to work and use the aircraft for trips. But I just can't bring myself to give it up.  Its like cutting off a body part to let it go.  Worrisome too, my Steiny sense is usually weak to nonexistent at the beginning of the season.  Without my radar I worry about getting clobbered.

[bradp]

DId they stop showing all the gory videos during drivers ED?  Too much for the young folks.... worked pretty well for us. 

Bobby and Shirley decided to drink and drive   Here’s Bobby’s head... over there is the rest of him and Shirley’s arm still holding onto him.   

Anyway i get enough moulage at work to be a constant reminder of what bad things vehicles can do. 

[steingar]

42 minutes ago, bradp said:

DId they stop showing all the gory videos during drivers ED?  Too much for the young folks.... worked pretty well for us. 

They get better than that on The Walking Dead.

[Hank]

7 hours ago, bradp said:

DId they stop showing all the gory videos during drivers ED?  Too much for the young folks.... worked pretty well for us. 

Bobby and Shirley decided to drink and drive   Here’s Bobby’s head... over there is the rest of him and Shirley’s arm still holding onto him.   

Anyway i get enough moulage at work to be a constant reminder of what bad things vehicles can do. 

When I was in college, there was a wreck in town. Two soldiers had driven over in one's Corvette and picked up two college honeys. The local hangout wouldn't let the two underage coeds in, so off they went for ID. Heading back to the club on the 4 lane, they hit the brakes for a stop sign, slid 120 feet before deciding they couldn't stop and hit the gas. Their car hit a school bus carrying a local award-winning band just in front of the back tires, which went over the Vette.

Newspaper photos showed the car, the only thing recognizable as a car was the rear end behind the back tires . . . The bus rolled, putting > 20 band members in the hospital and killing all 4 people in the Vette. One girl's headless body was still holding her fake ID in one hand. That car went all over the state, smooshed aand covered in blood, and was probably immortalized in one of those State Patrol videos. I still remember it from the mid-80s newspaper . . . So those things can be effective.

All the same, I pay LOTS of attention when approaching airports, and I've always been based at uncontrolled airports (for 11 years now; time flies, too!). Don't stop paying close attention just because you're talking to someone in a control tower.

[MyNameIsNobody]

My motorcycle is going up for sale next spring.  I can no longer pull it up onto the center stand...so....

I drive 30k business miles a year.  I have done so for over 30 years now.  Drivers for a lot of reason are NOT paying attention.  Signals are rarely used and often as an after-fact.  I have been lucky, but I also don’t do stuff that puts you at risk.  We all know what those “things” are.  I personally feel much safer in my plane on a VFR cross country than I do driving on I-80.

It’s not just you.  I believe every car and truck is trying to kill me until proven otherwise...

Drive/Ride/Fly safe everybody.

[MyNameIsNobody]

7 hours ago, steingar said:

They get better than that on The Walking Dead.

“Signal 30”.  Still remember the guy that was impaled by a pole he was hauling.  Black and white gore...

[steingar]

10 hours ago, MyNameIsNobody said:

My motorcycle is going up for sale next spring.  I can no longer pull it up onto the center stand...so....

Please tell me you're kidding.  The only motorcycle I've had in 20 years with a center stand was my Goldwing, and I couldn't put it on its center stand on a  good day.  Yeah, worse things have become.  But I'll be damned if they're going to scare me off my bike!  Heck, if I'd let things scare me away I'd not be flying now.

[MyNameIsNobody]

6 minutes ago, steingar said:

Please tell me you're kidding.  The only motorcycle I've had in 20 years with a center stand was my Goldwing, and I couldn't put it on its center stand on a  good day.  Yeah, worse things have become.  But I'll be damned if they're going to scare me off my bike!  Heck, if I'd let things scare me away I'd not be flying now.

Not kidding.  My ST is a big heavy pig and I am not doing any sport touring.  Maybe a nice used 600 ninja to play on a quiet country road.  Riding in heavy traffic?  I don’t need that s$%^.  I am nearing relaxation and fun stage of life.  I want to enjoy my grandkids some day...

You have fun.

I think of myself as wise and knowing my and others limitations vs. scared, but whatever works for ya.

[mike_elliott]

On 11/6/2017 at 9:46 PM, DonMuncy said:

where the imperfections on the street are

That was important in a Lotus for sure...

[wishboneash]

You can tell the bad drivers by when and how they brake (and many of them drive fast German cars). The pet peeve is braking for no reason when approaching a curve even at benign speeds. Then there are the ones who signal lane changes and those who don't. And those who expect freeway traffic to slow down to their merging speed than the other way around. The list is endless. .  I drive in the slowest lane when I am driving the EV, otherwise with my MINI it depends on who I am passing and how fast I am going.

[HRM]

2 hours ago, wishboneash said:

You can tell the bad drivers by when and how they brake (and many of them drive fast German cars).

I'm not sure if my AMG even has brakes.

[bradp]

Or the worst yet... swinging out to the far left of the lane to make a right turn.  

Also (insert your home city here) left turn.  

The technology isn’t helping. My wife’s car has lane keep assist steering which either 1) wants to run off the road or 2) tries to stay in the center of the lane when trying to avoid say a cyclist.  Like a bad autopilot- but most people think they are safer with this stuff and thus become more complacent.  

[steingar]

On 11/13/2017 at 5:14 PM, wishboneash said:

You can tell the bad drivers by when and how they brake (and many of them drive fast German cars). The pet peeve is braking for no reason when approaching a curve even at benign speeds.

I decelerate and sometimes brake right before  a curve so I can accelerate hard into it.  That's how you take curves fast.

[Mooneymite]

When pulling a large wagon full of hay, I always swing real wide to prevent pulling down the fences on both sides of the gate.  This same technique works great when turning into Publix, or Walmart.  I get all sorts of "happy gestures" from all the people who never pulled a hay wagon.  

(Okay....hold your vitriole.  I'm just kidding.)