EIGHT LIFE LESSONS YOU LEARN AS A PILOT
Acknowledgements:
AIR FACTS (John Zimmerman)
Becoming
a pilot changes who you are, even if you don’t realise it at first. Sure, there
are the practical lessons about maths, physics, and engineering you don’t encounter
in everyday life. But as a recent trip through my logbook proved, aviation
offers courses in the humanities as well as the hard sciences. For over five
years now, I’ve been logging all of my flights on my iPad. I started doing it
because I’m lazy, and logbook apps make it easy to fill out the annual
insurance form. I quickly discovered there are other benefits, though,
including the ability to save detailed information about every flight. I log
the basics, but now I add much more, from pictures and GPS track logs to Fore-Flight
screenshots and even a “lessons learned” area in the notes section. The result
is a sort of aviation scrapbook, and a great reminder of how much airplanes
have helped me grow. A few themes emerged after reading through five years of
entries. Some are obvious but were reinforced in memorable ways. Others were
new to me. All of them were made real by the emotions and sensations of being
in the air.
1.
Memories are often better than the actual event. .
I’ve
learned this countless times in aviation – indeed, that description above
applies to many first solo flights in addition to weddings. It was thrilling
for sure, but it was over in a matter of minutes. The true enjoyment comes from
the sense of accomplishment and the time you spend reflecting on it, even
decades later.
2.
You can do it if you
keep working.
Just
about every pilot I know, no matter how good, has struggled at one point in his
or her flying career. Whether it was crosswind landings or VOR approaches that
caused the speed bump, the answer is almost always to re-dedicate yourself and
push on through. This comes as a shock for some pilots, especially for older
adults who learn to fly and are used to being successful at everything. The
reality check can be tough, but it’s a valuable reminder that we are all students. That’s the word that appeared frequently in my
logbook as I learned to fly helicopters after 15 years of flying fixed wing
aircraft. One entry simply says, “I am a student again and I feel like
it!” Part
of me doubted whether I could actually master all the skills required for the
check ride. Mastery and confidence eventually came, but not before I spent a
lot of late nights studying the textbooks and a lot of sweltering days
practising my hovering skills. No one is born knowing how to become and
remain a pilot – it takes practice.
3.
Keep calm and carry on. When
something abnormal happens, whether it’s a flashing red light in the cockpit or
a sudden life event, some people can’t help but panic. This “fight or flight”
response was helpful 50,000 years ago on the Savannah of Africa, but it’s
ill-suited to most modern scenarios. In the cockpit, it might be the difference
between tragedy and a good story at the bar. Perhaps the single most valuable
skill aviation has taught me is how to manage my emotions and remain focused in
the face of serious situations. On one flight the air was so rough that I
attached the upper air analysis charts and PIREP screenshots to my logbook
entry, as if to prove that it really was that bad. Miserable is about the only
word that fits, but I can clearly remember a sort of calm that came over me.
The only option was to slow down and focus on keeping the wings level.
Everything else was pushed out of my brain, which felt strangely comforting.
Besides, panic would have done no good in this situation.
4.
Most people are the same at heart. If you spend any time reading the news or checking social media,
it’s easy to feel like humans have very little in common. Differences these
days are very real, but I think they’re overblown in many cases. Most aviation
people like to share the joy of flying with others who are receptive. The
FBO owner at a small grass strip in Indiana who left his dying father’s bedside
to pump some gas for me, then tried to refuse payment for it – he simply loved
meeting new pilots and showing off his airport. The same could be said about
the hundreds of meetings at Oshkosh, when strangers who probably disagree about
a lot of issues find ways to connect about their shared passion. I think the
real answer is that when human beings meet face to face – not hidden behind the
almighty veil of social media – they are a lot nicer to each other.
5.
There’s always someone better than you. Feeling great in that Cirrus? Be patient – you’ll probably park
next to a gleaming new King Air 350 and suddenly feel inadequate. Love that
turbocharged twin you just bought because it can take you to 18,000 feet? One
day you’ll be slamming through the summertime build-ups, dreaming about the jet
jockeys at FL390 who are above all the weather. No matter how far up the food
chain you climb – in houses, job titles, airplanes or pilot ratings – there
will always be someone higher. While pilots aren’t generally known for
humility, aviation has a lot of important lessons to teach here. The best
advice is to fly because it makes your life better (in
whatever way matters to you), not because of the signals it sends to others.
6.
There’s no such thing as a free lunch. This law applies to almost everything in life. That “free” service
is hardly free; you’re simply paying for it in some other way. Aviation
practically wrote the book on this topic, especially when it comes to airplane
designs. In the race for speed, payload and fuel efficiency, you can pick two
but never all three. Or consider performance: you can climb, but only by
paying for it with airspeed. Airplanes, like life, are all about
trade-offs.
7.
Life is not fair. Flying
has reminded me of it many times. On one long cross-country a few years ago, a
20-knot tailwind on the eastbound leg somehow turned into a 55-knot headwind on
the return leg, just two hours later. Not exactly life-altering, but
frustrating. I can’t remember a time when the tailwind was stronger than the
headwind, in fact. More seriously, one of the finest and most thoughtful pilots
I know crashed his airplane some years ago after a fluke mechanical failure.
Meanwhile, a marginal pilot I have flown with once before (but never again)
somehow manages to escape disaster year after year, even while pushing a lot of
boundaries. This isn’t a reason to break the rules or give up hope, just a
reminder that you can do everything right and still end up on the wrong side of
things.
8.
Tomorrow is another day. Pilots should take it to heart. In particular, I’ve learned time and
again that it’s the right attitude when it comes to making the go/no-go
decision. One
of my more colourful logbook entries shows how much I struggled to admit
reality one day in 2015: I saved all the weather maps I was looking at
when I made the decision to delay my family’s trip home from
vacation. I really wanted to get back Sunday night for all the usual reasons,
and we almost certainly would have made it home in one piece. But the weather
was ugly, and I was concerned about how unpleasant the flight would be for my
passengers. After a lot of stress and deliberations, I decided to delay take-off
until Monday morning. Guess what? Life did not end because we came home 18
hours later. In 50/50 decisions, it’s worth remembering that a new day often
brings a change, even if it’s just in perspective. That’s true for flying, but
also for career decisions, kids, and so much more.
Does
your logbook hold any life lessons?
FLY SAFE!