Flying - Safety Vs Embarrassment

Flying - Safety Vs Embarrassment By Matthew Humberd

Remember that when it comes to the battle between Safety and Embarrassment, safety needs to win.

Some people say that if you get in a particular flight situation then you will be embarrassed or will be the talk of the airport. Keep in mind that while flying, Safety needs to come first! When you are learning to fly you are going to make mistakes. You are gonna have hard landings. It comes with the territory. Everyone has days where it seems like you did 3 landings during the same approach. You will use up the entire runway and turn off at the end. Who cares? When you are new, presolo or just soloed you should not be worrying about what other pilots will think. You need to think about what you are doing. Fly the Plane...

AVIATE, NAVIGATE, COMMUNICATE!

This is a easy way to remember the basic order of importance while flying in most scenarios...

Aviate - Fly the Plane!! This is always your priority. Any Emergency, Cross country, Flight maneuver, Takeoff or Landing you want to fly the plane first.

Navigate - Once you have the plane under control then you Navigate. Figure out where you are, where you should be and where you are going. Set up you nav frequencies, load a VOR, GPS, or NDB to track.

Communicate - Tell ATC what is happening or announce what you are doing. This should always be last. Fly the plane first, talk last... A lot of people try to talk first as the plane is getting deeper and deeper into trouble.

Keep that in mind.

AVIATE-NAVIGATE-COMMUNICATE.

You want to be thinking about what is the safest procedure. You want to think about what is coming next. What did my Flight Instructor teach me that makes me safe? Safety must come first! How can I be safe? How can I safeguard my passengers? How can I protect my plane?

This also holds true as you progress in your aviation life and/or career. Don't let someone else or even the company you work for force you into an unsafe situation. If you don't feel comfortable, Don't go!! Its your license and your life on the line. Not theirs. Be Smart... Be Safe....

A very good rule to remember......"I would rather be on the ground, wishing I was in the air, then in the air wishing I was on the ground." Words to live by...

Fly Safe

Matt
"Live to Fly"

Matthew Humberd is the founder of FlyingSimple.com He has been in the Aviation field for almost 15 years. He has been an active Flight Instructor, Airline Captain and is currently flying Business Jets for a Fractional Airline. Matt's site offers many more Aviation Tips and Personal Recommendations for pilots of all skill levels to help Simplify Aviation for Everyone.