How good are you?

[201er]

On a scale of 1-10, how good of a pilot do you consider yourself compared to other GA pilots?

On a scale of 1-10, how good of a pilot do you consider yourself compared to the pilot you'd want to be?

What are your flaws that could use improvement? What are your strengths?

[A64Pilot]

A lot depends on age etc. Forever I was a Professional pilot, meaning it was my job.

I’m Retired now and don’t take the chances I used to, mostly fly only on pretty days, no real IFR. Used to be mostly a night flier, not even current now. No longer ever have to go and that changes things significantly, if it’s not fun, I don’t go now.

Does that mean I’m safer now? Maybe as I don’t push things anymore, but as much as we would like to deny it age has detrimental effects and I’m not as proficient as I once was. At some point I think the age thing may outweigh the no longer having to go part or do stupid things.

Strong points I guess is 40 years and 10,000 or so hours flying and multiple different types of airframes, you learn something from every one and sometimes it’s useful even in a different type of airframe.

Weak points are I’m getting old and since Retiring from Military there is no more aggressive training and constant check rides and tests anymore so the blade is a whole lot duller than it used to be.

[aviatoreb]

1 minute ago, A64Pilot said:

A lot depends on age etc. Forever I was a Professional pilot, meaning it was my job.

I’m Retired now and don’t take the chances I used to, mostly fly only on pretty days, no real IFR. Used to be mostly a night flier, not even current now. No longer ever have to go and that changes things significantly, if it’s not fun, I don’t go now.

Does that mean I’m safer now? Maybe as I don’t push things anymore, but as much as we would like to deny it age has detrimental effects and I’m not as proficient as I once was. At some point I think the age thing may outweigh the no longer having to go part or do stupid things.

Strong points I guess is 40 years and 10,000 or so hours flying and multiple different types of airframes, you learn something from every one and sometimes it’s useful even in a different type of airframe.

Weak points are I’m getting old and since Retiring from Military there is no more aggressive training and constant check rides and tests anymore so the blade is a whole lot duller than it used to be.

Practice trying and currency too?  Surely you are better when you do 500+ hrs a year of challenging flying and with highly structured sim training vs retired life training.  But safer?  It surely takes that to be safe in all comes flying vs old and wide cherry picking the less challenging flying.

[aviatoreb]

Lake wobegone where all the children are above average.  Garison Keekee.

[Hank]

I'm not the pilot that I want to be, because I have to work for a living and can't just go flying at the drop of a hat.

When it comes to safety, I do pretty well because I'm chicken . . . . No crazy stunts, no stupid pilot tricks, and I'm NEVER below 1000 agl except when taking off or landing. The last hour of fuel in my tanks is sacred, too.

[N201MKTurbo]

My landings aren't as good as when I commuted almost every day., but still better than most. I still get confused by the avionics once in a while. That was never a problem with paper charts and navcoms. 

So what makes a good pilot? There are so many things to consider. Your ability to precisely fly the airplane? Your ability to operate in the IFR system? Your ability to make good decisions? Your ability to gather and evaluate weather information?

Or in the Maverick movie, your ability to demonstrate all the hazardous attitudes,  anti-authority, impulsivity, invulnerability, macho, and resignation.

[DCarlton]

#1 would be tough to answer.  What's my source of data?  Everyone I fly with is more experienced and "better" than me.  That's true with most of what you do in life; there's always someone better.  It's about continuous learning.  

#2 Also tough to answer.  I've been better than I am now so I'd like to get back to the pilot I used to be... but if fuel prices keep going up, who knows if that's achievable.  Long term, if I'm alive when the game is over, and there's been no damage to my aircraft, I'll give myself a 10.  

Edited June 16, 2022 by DCarlton

[Amelia]

Gahh. Men and their rulers.

 

[mooniac15u]

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Illusory_superiority

 

[M20F]

1 hour ago, mooniac15u said:

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Illusory_superiority

 

That applies to others, me I am #1.  

[A64Pilot]

4 hours ago, aviatoreb said:

Practice trying and currency too?  Surely you are better when you do 500+ hrs a year of challenging flying and with highly structured sim training vs retired life training.  But safer?  It surely takes that to be safe in all comes flying vs old and wide cherry picking the less challenging flying.

I’m not really sure I even understand what your saying

But I think flying no more than 50’ off the ground at night with no lights is more dangerous, especially those rare times when someone shoots at you. Then there is the stupid things, flight testing

So yes even without the Sim training and the flying pretty much every day and continual check rides and testing etc. that Flying my Mooney or 140 on only good days at 1,000 ft for 15 to 30 min to eat lunch is less likely to result in an accident, but maybe not, because in 4,000 hours of Military flying I never did have an accident (thankfully) but I did have one in flight testing crop dusters (complacency). But knock on wood not GA flying, but GA flying is only about 20% of my total, increasing weekly though.

I do fly min twice a week though, but it’s my belief that day VFR flying in good weather is actually pretty safe, by good wx I mean no CumuloGranite penetration, they scare me.

Two things get people in trouble, the getting in over their heads is one, but complacency can get you just as quick.

Maybe I’m wrong, but I worry more driving around in traffic than I do day VFR

[DCarlton]

3 hours ago, A64Pilot said:

I’m not really sure I even understand what your saying

But I think flying no more than 50’ off the ground at night with no lights is more dangerous, especially those rare times when someone shoots at you. Then there is the stupid things, flight testing

So yes even without the Sim training and the flying pretty much every day and continual check rides and testing etc. that Flying my Mooney or 140 on only good days at 1,000 ft for 15 to 30 min to eat lunch is less likely to result in an accident, but maybe not, because in 4,000 hours of Military flying I never did have an accident (thankfully) but I did have one in flight testing crop dusters (complacency). But knock on wood not GA flying, but GA flying is only about 20% of my total, increasing weekly though.

I do fly min twice a week though, but it’s my belief that day VFR flying in good weather is actually pretty safe, by good wx I mean no CumuloGranite penetration, they scare me.

Two things get people in trouble, the getting in over their heads is one, but complacency can get you just as quick.

Maybe I’m wrong, but I worry more driving around in traffic than I do day VFR

We hit a flying catalytic converter doing about 75 mph a couple of weeks ago in my RAM 1500; kicked up by the truck in front of me.  Fortunately it impacted my hood and not the windshield.  Tore a hole in the hood.  Two inches higher and I might not be typing...  I'm starting to worry more about driving too.  

[EricJ]

8 hours ago, N201MKTurbo said:

My landings aren't as good as when I commuted almost every day., but still better than most. I still get confused by the avionics once in a while. That was never a problem with paper charts and navcoms. 

So what makes a good pilot? There are so many things to consider. Your ability to precisely fly the airplane? Your ability to operate in the IFR system? Your ability to make good decisions? Your ability to gather and evaluate weather information?

I did my FR review last month, the first one in about six years.   The instructor asked what my goals were and I said, "No crashes, no deviations."

[Jocbay]

I'm such a low timer I feel like most pilots are better, but I do read a lot of accident reports of people doing some pretty dumb stuff.  Fortunately I control my own sched so if it (or me) ain't good, I don't go.  Flying when everything is good is relatively easy; but when distractions or problems or even emergencies crop up,  the real test begins.  To quote the great 21st century philosopher Mike Tyson "Everybody's got a plan until they get punched in the mouth".

I am fortunate that my instructor and I have become good friends, so I fly with him  often.  We do primarily emergency procedures but also go out and fly in weather to get real time experience there as well.  

Adhering to training, procedures and currency is my plan to becoming a better pilot.  That's the plan, but you know the plans of mice and men.

jb

[A64Pilot]

At least Military pilots and I assume Civilian pilots safety wise there were three different levels based on hours. This came from a rather exhaustive study by the Army Safety Center, which is actually pretty good.

1. The new guys not too long out of flight school, they were actually statistically pretty safe because they were more apt to follow the rules, adhere rigidly to the checklists etc.

2. At some hour level and I don’t remember the average, but I think it was about 200 hours, the average pilot sort of got the opinion that they have a good handle on everything now, it comes instinctively, and they start to fly a little more aggressively, which is fun, so maybe even more aggressive to maintain the fun.

It’s this level where at least in the Army most accidents occur, but most often what happens is they push something, like maybe weather and go inadvertent IMC for instance, but almost always survive having scared the beejesus out of themselves, you know upon getting out the smart ones will say I’ll never do that again.

3. Then they are at stage 3 if you will, having discovered that they are not God’s gift to aviation that they thought they were and you really can no sh** kill yourself doing this most all calm down, but there is always the outlier, the one who didn’t get scared, they got excited, an adrenaline rush. Those often will have an accident at some time in their career, sometimes showing off.

[DCarlton]

12 hours ago, EricJ said:

I did my FR review last month, the first one in about six years.   The instructor asked what my goals were and I said, "No crashes, no deviations."

It seems many instructors say that they want you to be comfortable flying the airplane.  I usually say I am comfortable; I know my limits; I want you to be comfortable that I'm comfortable.  ;>  

[Hank]

41 minutes ago, A64Pilot said:

At least Military pilots and I assume Civilian pilots safety wise there were three different levels based on hours. This came from a rather exhaustive study by the Army Safety Center, which is actually pretty good.

1. The new guys not too long out of flight school, they were actually statistically pretty safe because they were more apt to follow the rules, adhere rigidly to the checklists etc.

2. At some hour level and I don’t remember the average, but I think it was about 200 hours, the average pilot sort of got the opinion that they have a good handle on everything now, it comes instinctively, and they start to fly a little more aggressively, which is fun, so maybe even more aggressive to maintain the fun.

It’s this level where at least in the Army most accidents occur, but most often what happens is they push something, like maybe weather and go inadvertent IMC for instance, but almost always survive having scared the beejesus out of themselves, you know upon getting out the smart ones will say I’ll never do that again.

3. Then they are at stage 3 if you will, having discovered that they are not God’s gift to aviation that they thought they were and you really can no sh** kill yourself doing this most all calm down, but there is always the outlier, the one who didn’t get scared, they got excited, an adrenaline rush. Those often will have an accident at some time in their career, sometimes showing off.

There's a book about this, called "The Killing Zone." It's a good read. I need to read it again . . . . Complacency in flying can have disastrous results.

[ArtVandelay]

I use my conservative decision making to try to make up for my lack of stick and rudder skills.

Old adage is it takes 10,000 hours to become an expert at doing something….I’m about 9000 hours short.

[A64Pilot]

A real good friend of mine, an AH-64 SIP who got out of the Army and became Idaho NG’s SIP told me once that he had over I think it was at the time 3,000 hours of accident free flying hours, and about 3 sec of accident time, the 3 sec wiped out the 3,000.

Guy was super smart, had been a World helicopter champion. He could read a tech manual casually then days later recall all the tech specs of that equipment, we all had call signs, his was Superman because he was actually that good.

I lost track of him once he left the Army, last I heard he died in a C-310 crash with his good friend and his friends two Sons, I think it was one of the kids birthdays and they took him flying. I believe the 310 was found in the woods on its back. His friends Wife lost her husband and both Sons in the crash.

Just found this, I see it was four kids

https://apnews.com/article/298eea9fcd8612a23a1ba393901948a8

I guess it was a 303 and not a 310.

[ArtVandelay]

3 hours ago, A64Pilot said:

A real good friend of mine, an AH-64 SIP who got out of the Army and became Idaho NG’s SIP told me once that he had over I think it was at the time 3,000 hours of accident free flying hours, and about 3 sec of accident time, the 3 sec wiped out the 3,000.

Guy was super smart, had been a World helicopter champion. He could read a tech manual casually then days later recall all the tech specs of that equipment, we all had call signs, his was Superman because he was actually that good.

I lost track of him once he left the Army, last I heard he died in a C-310 crash with his good friend and his friends two Sons, I think it was one of the kids birthdays and they took him flying. I believe the 310 was found in the woods on its back. His friends Wife lost her husband and both Sons in the crash.

Just found this, I see it was four kids

https://apnews.com/article/298eea9fcd8612a23a1ba393901948a8

I guess it was a 303 and not a 310.

I hate the accidents like this…probable cause was lost of control.

Makes no sense.

[GeeBee]

It is not how good you are, it is what you are doing and what you are doing at that moment (You are only as good as your last flight). Take aerobatics for instance. Many of the best of the best are pushing up daisy's . Harold Krier, Art Scholl were the "best of the best", yet came to grief. The KLM/Pan Am crash at Tenerife, the deadliest crash in history involved Captain van Zanten. He was considered a "god" at KLM. His skills and knowledge so respected that when the crash happened, they were trying to call him to get him to Tenerife for the investigation. Except for, it was him who caused the accident through his arrogance, self confidence and unquestioned respect by others he rolled for T/O without a verified clearance. I once sat on a jump seat as an LCA and watched a new hire F/O save a very experienced Captain from grief despite the Captain's insistence he was correct. 

Point is this. Because you are good or experienced, don't believe your own chit. You always have something to learn, you always need to be reminded, you can be in error. That is why the Romans had the guy behind Caesar on the chariot. Aviation only respects the humble.

[PeteMc]

How good am I???   If you have to ask, you really wouldn't understand... 

 

[Sorry, I couldn't resist.]

[A64Pilot]

2 hours ago, ArtVandelay said:

I hate the accidents like this…probable cost was lost of control.

Makes no sense.

Knowing Jeff I think that’s likely, just surprised with the kids aboard.

He gave me my PIC ride as a young W1. At the end of the ride he asked if there was anything I wanted to try in the aircraft, being the suspicious type I asked what do you mean? He said I know you guys, once I turn you loose as a PIC your likely to try something. So I said well I’ve never rolled one. His answer was have you read the reading file? (we were the first AH-64 unit and as such we weren’t really quite normal Army, plus at that time we were training to go against the Soviet Horde in the Fulda gap which would likely mean some air to air with them so we practiced ACM or air combat maneuvers often. There was the test flight info from where Mcdonald douglas guys had rolled and looped it in the reading file.) I was the first replacement to the unit and of course THE WOJG.

So I said yes and rattled off the instructions from memory, he said go ahead, so I did. well I entered on one heading but completed the maneuver about 30 degrees off, so I asked Jeff what I did wrong, he said what do you mean, I told him about the heading change and his answer was I don’t know what you did wrong, I’ve never done that.

I got a little upset because my plan of course if things went wrong was that he was supposed to save us. 

I figured out where I messed up, the instructions were to climb to 20 degrees nose high and roll the aircraft, well I left aft cyclic in so it was a skewed roll. I should have relaxed the back pressure prior to the roll.

[M20F]

I think we can all agree that helicopter people are not normal people. 

[RLCarter]

4 hours ago, M20F said:

I think we can all agree that helicopter people are not normal people. 

Their wings go faster than their fuselage…..