--The car driver must both unlearn and learn at the same time.

--Pilot becomes gradually more uncomfortable with flight situation without making use of cockpit resources or ATC.

--Flight corrections are made as large and few as opposed to many and small.

--Pilot is complacent because everything is going so well. Decreased alertness gives all flying warnings too late.

--A truck driver finds it difficult to taxi without side mirrors.

--A pilot who accepts lower standards of performance because he has escaped from such situations before.

--Optimism that 'things' will be O.K. instead of knowing what it takes to make 'things' O.K.

--A person who has little or no driving experience learns relatively fast.

--Pilot who goes below legal minimums just a little. Relates to airspeed, clouds, ground level, etc.

--Inappropriate airspeed for situation and conditions. Usually occurs when in the airport pattern or approach path.

--A fisherman in the area finds orientation very easy by use of waterways.

--The trucker uses freeways and towns.

-- The stranger to the area or a non-driver must start from the very beginning.

--Breaks rules and keeps on doing it until...

--The way a place is named can create orientation problems. Northern California might more properly be called Western California.

-- The angular difference between true and magnetic directions create confusion.

--The experienced pilot does not see basic faults in airspeed control during landings since they have always been corrected before touchdown.

--The instructor is learning as much or more than the student. At the same time the student is both consciously and subconsciously learning the attitudes and behaviors of the instructor. Hopefully, the FAA approved attitudes and behaviors.

--The pilot who fly with a chip on his shoulder related to following any government restrictions or rules. Resents any advice or instruction except from 'acceptable' sources.

--We have instinctive reactions that occur just prior to collision, at the onset of a fire, during some weather, and after seeing some traffic.

--We can make a considered reaction following an engine failure, loss of heading or altitude, in response to communications directed to us, and in avoiding some traffic and weather.

--The pilot must recognize and abide by the requirement that there are some rules and regulations to be followed without exception.

--The pilot must clearly understand that the flight environment and the safe control of it is a shared responsibility. Each pilot has an individually responsibility, to his aircraft, other aircraft and with ATC.

-- The pilot must constantly improve his current flying practices by utilizing successful experiences and recurrent training.

--Flying conditions always appear better when you have a 'need' to fly.

--Pilot responsibility demands that flight cancellation be the first option when adverse conditions are capable of ruling the outcome.

--The ability to adjust the departure time and the route is a major strength of being a private pilot.

-- A pilot need only to perceive those colors necessary for performance of airman duties.

-- If no one knows about your flight route and destination it is important that you file a flight plan.

-- If you are expecting to use a piece of equipment, make sure it works.

--A pilot making a transition to a different type of aircraft must accept unfamiliarity with performance, systems and radios.

--The odds of a substandard maintenance item being accepted increase as the distance to the home airport decreases.

--When a flight instructor gives an opinion it should be in terms of having fully reviewed the flying literature including the very latest research. Even so, an opinion is still nothing more than an opinion.

-- There seems to be an accident spike that occurs shortly after a pilot has had a flight review. Could be that overconfidence is the culprit.

--85% of Part 91 turbine fatality accidents were when owner was pilot.

-- A pilot is more used to ignoring or accepting his own pressures than he is those of passengers. 

--There is no mission requirement that lives be placed at any risk in private flying. 

--Every flight should be made with the understanding that conditions may make major changes in everyone's plans. 

Noise Facts
One problem every pilot has is the fact that airplanes make noise. Concord has a series of noise sensors all around the airport. Some runways are used even in unfavorable conditions because of the need to reduce noise.

C-172 at 1000' 70 dB same as dishwasher at 10'.
C-172 takeoff from local airport 3.5 miles away 60 dB
C-182 90 dB truck at 50'
Cockpit of high performance single 100 dB or chain saw at 100'

Prelude to an Accident
--First there will be small losses in proficiency. First noticeable is the decline in communication skills. There is a barely perceptible increase in 'behindness', being just a little pressed by the performance requirements of the aircraft. The pilot's capability does not meet the flight requirements.
--Second, as the skill deficiency space widens the pilot gains a sense of power and good control over the flight. This sense is regardless of the widening gap between flight requirements and reserve capacity.
--Third, the pilot becomes bothered by small problems, communications, equipment, ATC, etc. The cause is never with the pilot. The deficiency space widens.
--Fourth, the pilot resorts angrily and perhaps violently against his perceived tormentors. There is a perceived time problem.
--Fifth, the pilot becomes irrational and incapable of controlling the aircraft. As an aside, I once had a IFR pilot who went through four of these five stages on an extended IFR flight at altitudes around 12,000 feet.. It is not uncommon for me to cancel, after less than an hour, the cross-country flight that is part of my training program were things are supposed to go wrong

Holding your Attitude
Pilot training is a program that should teach the pilot that while negative attitudes exist, they do not need to control your behavior. Thoughts generated by strong feelings are more likely to be acted upon when emotional control is reduced by stress ro hypoxia. There is a DIRECT correlation between the amount of time a pilot spends with instructors and accident occurrence frequency. Safety is not an accident.

I would like the pilot training program to promote reduction and control of those automatic thought patterns that usually exist in the subconscious, perhaps because the patterns were formed in early life as a protection against apprehensive feelings.

I would like the pilot to become aware of his thought patterns as they tend to influence his decisions. Personal attitudes can contribute to hazardous flight. The fact that pilots are the primary cause of 80% of aircraft accidents which likely include pilot poor judgment as a factor.

Confidence is lost before skill. This is true of the infrequent flyer. Infrequent flying is a breeding ground for the acquisition of bad habits like rudder applications and sloppy radio. The smoothness of a pilot's control use reduces the effects of turbulence. Taking the rear seat and observing a pilot fly is a good way for the infrequent flyer to appreciate his own level of proficiency. On occasion the GIB (guy in back) will be appalled by the safety violations that occur in the course of a local non-instructional flight. Some pilots are so unaware of their own misdeeds that one would wonder how they were ever allowed to fly alone let alone with passengers.

 

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