You may think that after you get your pilot certificate, you have all the training you will ever need. Unfortunately, that isn't always true. Training to be a private pilot mainly involves learning how to get the airplane in the air, keep it there while you go somewhere, and then get it back on the ground -- all without killing yourself. For the most part, instructors and FAA-certificated flight schools do a good job of teaching you how to fly the aircraft, but little time is left over to teach you when to fly the aircraft. The distinction between knowing how to fly and knowing when to fly is called judgment. Lack of judgment (or aeronautical decision-making as it is sometimes called) is mentioned as a cause in about 50% of the fatal general aviation accidents.
The relationship between decision-making skills and piloting skills is complex. Making good decisions depends on knowing exactly what you can and cannot do -- and making decisions that avoid the latter. So, if your cross-wind landing skills are not all that great, then good decision making would result in your either asking for a different runway, or going somewhere else and landing more directly into the wind.
There are two general types of training exercises offered here. The first is aimed at improving your Risk Management Skills -- particularly your decision making. The second type is aimed at improving your Piloting Skills -- particularly in the areas of landing and understanding density altitude.
As I find more training programs in these two areas, I will add them -- so check back occasionally to see what's new.
Risk Management
Believe it or not, flying in general aviation aircraft is a lot riskier than driving your car. This often comes as a surprise to pilots who seem to equate flying their puddle-jumper with cruising in a Boeing 777. In case you haven't noticed, those transport aircraft (which really are a LOT safer than driving your car) have a lot of things going for them in the way of safety -- highly experienced and trained crews (not just one pilot on his/her monthly cross-country), a flight dispatcher backing them up on the ground, state-of-the-art equipment, highly reliable and well-maintained equipment...but you should get the idea by now. This isn't meant to scare you, but to point out that flying is a risky undertaking, so it makes sense to do everything you can to identify, minimize, and manage those risks. Part of that Risk Management involves developing and maintaining proficiency in the physical aspects of flying -- aircraft control, stick-and-rudder, etc. An occasional visit to your flight instructor, coupled with self-study and practice will go a long way toward meeting that goal. The other part is improving your mental skills, so that you can recognize hazards and develop appropriate plans to manage them. That is what we will help you with here.
Risk management helps you identify problems and develop solutions before you leave the ground.
1. Pre-Flight Risk Assessment Checklist -- A quick checklist that lets you assign a score to the risk associated with a particular flight. You can then use that overall risk score to see whether you should consider some alternatives -- like changing your route, taking more fuel, or just waiting for another day.
2. Personal Minimums Checklist -- This program will help you identify the risk factors associated with flights. Understanding what the risks are will allow you to develop specific methods, such as setting personal minimums, that will control those risks. Using this program you can create your own Personal Minimums Checklist.
3. Managing Risk & Good Decision Making -- The Civil Aviation Authority of New Zealand, in cooperation with the Aviation Industry Association, produced two training programs dealing with risk management and aeronautical decision making. Both these programs give good introductions to these topics and offer some worthwhile suggestions for improving your risk managment and decision making.
1. On Landings -- Several years ago the FAA produced three programs on how to land an airplane. This is a fairly comprehensive and very informative set of programs that will refresh the knowledge of experienced pilots and kick-up the skill levels of novices. On Landings - Part I, Part II, and Part III are now available through this web site.
2. Density Altitude: The Nine Deadly Sins -- According to Mr. Orrin "Kurt" Anderson, an Air Safety Investigator with the National Transportation Safety Board, in the Pacific North-West, Density Altitude accidents account for more fatalities than VFR into IMC. Mr. Anderson put together a list of the Nine Deadly Sins associated with density altitude accidents. This presentation describes a number of things, all involving to some degree density altitude, that pilots should, but often don't know. Unless you are already a super-pilot, you WILL learn things about your aircraft and high density altitude operations by watching this presentation.
3. Surface Operations -- The FAA, in cooperation with industry, has developed an extensive program to improve the safety of ground operations -- primarily to avoid runway incursions.
Copyright (C) 2010 by David R. Hunter, All Rights Reserved