Flying Memes
The most dangerous carrier is the one who establishes relationships with potential hosts before beginning to pass on memes. It is all about the power of ideas and the growth process that all student pilots must go through. The law of primacy, which is the cornerstone of all flight instruction, states that first learned knowledge, be it an idea, an procedure, or concept will be there forever. If any of these first learned elements are defective the unlearning, relearning will require great time and effort to overcome. In fact, they may never be overcome if the meme occurrence arises during a period of stress. The flashback to the original meme can be absolute, overpowering and deadly.
Defective memes have real consequences. Defective flying memes are time-consuming to disinfect, a dangerous nuisance, or if done without ill intent a terribly misleading path. A classic example of this occurred thirty years ago. Richard Taylor, as publisher of the pocket sized Air Facts magazine, casually wrote that engine failures were most likely to occur at first power reduction. This idea, from such a valid source acquired the status of a law of engine behavior. It was repeated many thousands of times. Years later, Richard Taylor, indicated that he had made the statement with no valid data base or even experience. That 'engine failures are most likely to occur on first power reduction' then joined many other aviation memes. Even when refuted by Taylor and engine manufacturers as having no basis in fact. The meme's life continues on.
In the case at issue we have someone who is vengefully serving flying students defective memes because of enforcement action taken in removing his solo flying privileges due to a deliberate violation of the Federal Air Regulations. He flew into controlled airspace without communicating or a clearance or even knowing where he was. In the process of doing this he did fly in the immediate vicinity of landing and departing commercial airliners and posed a danger to himself and hundreds of others.
It is the deliberate propagation of defective memes with the intent to disturb student learning/thought process that some degree of accountability should be assigned. When a person decides to exact retribution from the flying community for an FAA enforcement action. With a deliberate ego prestige building process of an ingratiating series of student contacts soon to be followed by one meme after another any one of which is capable of triggering the replicating spread of defective information to the innocent and unwary. The flying student has every reason to be scared that any given meme may be capable of inflicting damage. We are seeing a deliberate spreading of defective memes on the internet. Anyone giving flying advice should be doing so, even from ignorance, never with the intent to cause harm. To spread a meme while fully aware that the defect has a very deadly capability, should come under the 'abuse' terms of internet use.
Most student pilots believe that their knowledge of flying is able to analyze and detect a meme of questionable value. Depending on the status of the transferring host, a meme has a greater of lesser chance of both transferring, infecting, and replicating itself through a new host. A defective flying meme is a tremendous drain on human resources. Knowingly to transmit the AIDS virus is a criminal act. It is no less criminal to knowingly place into the flight training/learning environment a meme that can cause a pilot's death.
This is currently happening and being allowed to happen on the internet with the concurrence of those able to prevent it. By providing shelter and carte blanc to continue a nefarious program you have achieved the rank of an accomplice. Allowing free rein to do this on the internet makes the internet all the more vulnerable to outside control. I call it irresponsible complicity.
Why I Teach with a Recorder
I am flying naked (without any insurance) when I instruct. I have essentially done so for over 8,500 hours of instruction. I feel that the tapes are my insurance policy. Several hundred students have tapes that would prove that I NEVER let a student make a turn without clearing. I give alltitudes used during ground reference work on the tape so that we never get within 500' of persons, homes, or vehicles. We record all airwork as to location and altitude and turns to avoid clouds. All radio calls are recorded so that I have proof that everything was done according to the FARs, AIM and POH recommendations, etc. I teach by the book. I never teach a maneuver that is contrary to the POH recommendations, such as slipping with full flaps. I fly with the recorder in my lap so that I can feel when it stops and needs changing.
I have always tape recorded all that goes on in the cockpit so that the student has a record of what happened. Tapes make good playback of instruction and communications for student to hear while driving home from airport. Using this system there will be no aircraft noise on the tapes but all radio and cockpit conversations are recorded. This allows you to play back a tape to and from the airport. Take notes and prepare questions. Instructor should not have any objections since it is a record of doing his job well.
A tape recorder should be used during both ground and flight instruction. You will need a 4x6 type recorder with a mic jack at a cost between $30 and $60. The mini-recorders only run a half-hour and I have found that to be too short a time interval. At an electronics store you should buy a splitter to take both your head-phone jack and a patch cord to run to the recorder. The student provides recorder and 90 minute tapes. A slight increase in cost but a great increase in teaching efficiency. The recording allows student to play back pre-flight ground instruction, flight instruction, and post-flight critique. When they play back the tapes going to work etc. it gives them more insight into what I was saying and how it applied to the immediate situation. I couldn't see flight instructing any other way. If the student has future plans that may include instructing the tapes should be saved.
How you wire into the recorder depends on kind of inter-com you have. Portable 9V battery intercoms can be patched directly to recorder. Recorder must have 'mic' jack. Radio Shack has monaural splitter that will take your headset phone jack on one side. One end of patch cord goes into the splitter and the other end of the patch goes to the recorder. If you are flying with a stereo headset you will only hear through one ear of the headset. I once sent a headset back thinking it was the problem.
If your system is hard wired into the aircraft it will be 12V and will overdrive the recorder input. Put a 1-Meg resistor into the line inside the large phone jack and this will solve the problem. You have several options as to what cables to use. One is to get a plug reducer from standard to cassette size. They have 6-foot cables but half as much works best in the cockpit. They also have red-tipped resistance cables that can be used to cut down the amplification power of a hard-wired aircraft intercom's 12-volt system. Instead of the resistance cable you can solder a one-meg ohm resistor into the cable plug at one end to accomplish the same thing. Suggest cutting 6' patch cable in half an making one for each intercom situation. In any event you should be using headsets if you value your hearing.
The tape makes good source of questions prior to next flight. The use of a tape recorder is the best way I know to improve learning and retention. This means the student can learn to fly for less money.
Now, in 2004, I am using digital recorders, One for my student and one for myself. I download the recording into my computer and then during the playback take notes as to what I thought I was trying to teach. Ideally, my student will do the same as to what he thought I was teaching and what he learned. Then the
memories as written can be compared. It is not at all uncommon to have quite different output/input differences as the written results often indicate.
The Teaching of Good Judgment
Spend a few days thinking over the teaching of judgment and then consulted with my bitter-half. Her contention is that you either have common sense our you don't. I always wondered why I always bet on the "don't" when playing craps. Nevertheless, I do have some strong opinions on the teaching of flying judgment. Other opinions to the contrary, I feel that a student pilot cannot earn the desired judgment with out exposure to the actual situation.
Many aspects of flying require exposure to the mistakes of flying. It is just as important to be exposed to the mistakes of landings as it is to the correct procedures. Stalls are taught as flying mistakes to be avoided. The correct performance is taught as a recognition skill rather than as a performance skill. So do I teach VFR weather flying. A student pilot who has only been told about SVFR and flying in minimum conditions will never appreciate the complexity of knowledge and decisions that need to be made.
Just how much weather I give a student depends upon how he seems to expect to utilize flying. The student who expect to use flying as an efficiency tool in his work needs a different approach than the student who expects to be mainly recreational. I never cease to be amazed by the number of pilots that I give flight reviews to, who have never done a SVFR flight or flown in MVFR. More than a few have been unexpectedly trapped in these conditions with which they had no prior training. A student needs to know where the IFR approach routes and altitudes are then he must know to stay away from that area in marginal visibility.
I have always advocated a student learn to fly in the Fall and Winter so that you get your rating being exposed to adverse conditions and learn to make fly/no fly decisions under guidance. The S.F. Bay Area where I fly has many adjacent valleys where mesoscale weather varies greatly. A pilot needs to learn to read Bay Area weather if an airplane is going to be an effective working tool. A student who learns in the Spring and Summer is totally unprepared for Fall and Winter weather. He simply stops flying, only to find that the hiatus now requires the additional cost of dual to regain proficiency. A very high proportion of new pilots never fly again. Often those, who challenge the weather without training, appear in the evening news.
In teaching to fly the weather I have several specific parameters. First, I always fly toward improving weather. That implies that I fly away from deteriorating weather. Second, I always leave myself an out and usually more than one. I know where I am. I have more than adequate fuel reserves. Last, I am never reluctant to get help. The overly proud pilot who feels that his training has taught him all that needs knowing, who is unwilling to admit being misplaced or lost, is just flying toward future trouble.
I was able to deliver four plane loads of clothing to Watsonville flying VFR after the '87 earthquake while IFR flights were lucky to make one. The weather was MVFR but good enough for an area familiar pilot. On TV the next day I saw the clothes we brought getting wet from the rain. No one thought to fly in tarps.
I teach weather flying by adjusting to the conditions as they exist. I do not fly in 600' ceilings, 2 mile visibility, turbulence, or SVFR for fun. I will and do fly with students in these conditions to teach them how to deal with the situation. I teach that the VOR is very limited at low altitudes. The ADF less so. The GPS and LORAN are now the future. There is little reason for a pilot to become lost now. Radar coverage is being extended every year to more and more airports. The AWOS weather program will soon be widely available. Things are getting better. However, these improvements will cause more and more pilots to push their experience envelope. Many will be relying on technology when the only aid available will be the Mark-I eyeball. I teach the eyeball system. The eye is always looking for options.
Made a dual night flight with a student where there was a dew point /temperature spread that was relatively close. This meant that fog could form if it became closer. As we went in and out of other nearby airports we made an ATIS check of our home field just to make sure that we would be able to get back in. Was this teaching judgment? I would think so. The ultimate weather option is to land and arrange other transportation. I have done this more than once because of ice, winds, turbulence, and aircraft performance.
The relative safety of a situation depends upon pilot experience and evaluation of the alternatives. Doing a dumb thing successfully skews your judgment. You think you can get away with it again. What ever induced a pilot to perform in such a manner? Success? The 'risk management' process is often so flawed by presumptions of success that failure is inevitable. The pilot is the leading cause of preventable accidents. Prevention is a blend of capability, preparation and attitude. Learning your limits in flight training is what it's all about.
All activities involve some degree of risk. Flying, due to its multi-dimensional complexity, has more than its share. Risk can be managed if the pilot has properly prepared for the flight and is proficient and current in the required skills. Preparation is mental, physical and mechanical. Proficiency requires recent flying in aircraft type and weather conditions. 72% of pilot accidents have occurred where pilots are not trained or current in the conditions surrounding the accident. You can be trained for flying in minimum conditions. Such training deliberately selected are more productive in developing judgment than those which occur as surprises.
Since poor judgment is involved in so may accidents we should know that an unfamiliar situation is a breeding ground for poor decisions. An airplane can be flown into an abnormal situation faster than your decisions can get you out. The critical decision is one of determining what is most important? Risks are often best minimized by landing. Good judgment can be taught and learned. When in doubt, make the safe decision.
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