Page 4 - Volume 15 Number 8

editor’sbriefing
It had been a long day of chal- lenging weather, negotiating with ATC for better routing,
and working the FBO gauntlet to arrange fuel and find our missing rental car. After checking into the hotel, my spouse and I were ready to unwind with a beer at the bar.
As we settle into our seats, we hear him. Then we reluctantly spot him. I’m certain you’ve met him, too. He’s the guy who loves to tell others he’s a pilot. (Say “pilot” in a reverential tone, and let that revelation sink in for a few seconds.) Once he learns that you’re a pilot and aircraft owner also, he instantly becomes your new best friend. He will regale you with tales of exotic flights, harrowing weather that he heroically escaped, and soberly explain why his aircraft is the best money can buy. He’ll ask you about your flight, but
quickly tell you how, in his infinite wisdom and experience, he would have done things differently. Meanwhile, his wife is sitting a short distance a way with a bored, glassy-eyed look. It’s obvious she’s been through this routine a few times.
After an hour of tall tales and polite nods (while we sneak conspiring eye rolls at each other), we feign exhaustion and head toward to elevators. “How many days are you staying,” he asks. “Five? Excellent! I’ll see you tomorrow!”
Oh joy, I can hardly wait.
Actually, Captain Wow, as we nicknamed him based on a character from Tony Kern’s book, Darker Shades of Blue, was a decent guy. The thing that was frightening is that he seemed to lack any respect for weather and those pesky laws Newton came up with. As a teacher once told Alexander the Great,
“There is no royal road to learning geometry.” Nor are there any shortcuts in aviation.
Just like Captain Wow, some pilots feel bulletproof. They think accidents happen to aviators with inferior skills and experience. As experts in pilot behavior and accident analysis
will tell you, this attitude often develops over time, often after several close calls that ended well. Captain Wow cheated death and was triumphant, thanks to his superhuman piloting ability and sixth sense of weather that none of the rest of us possess. Tony Kern says this in his book, “The more experience you have in the air, the more susceptible you are likely to be to this hazardous attitude. The laws of averages will catch up. Wind shear doesn’t care if you’re a rookie pilot or have 30 years of experience. It can will kill you if you let it.”
Recently, a friend told me of a trip that ended in an unexpected landing well short of his destination. Although he owns a multitude of ratings, he found himself that day encountering IMC on a trip that was forecasted to be CAVU. With limited recent IFR experience, he elected to turn around and land at an airport with better conditions. He could have pressed on – he had a well-equipped IFR airplane – but he listened to that uncomfortable feeling deep in the pit of his stomach and elected not to continue.
He told me this story sheepishly, with obvious concern that another pilot might view his decision as wimpy or that I’d have less respect for him as a pilot. My answer is that you’re alive today, and you will be alive tomorrow, because of your judgment. Don’t let any pilot, especially Captain Wow, tell you any differently.
Tony Kern writes that it’s important to realize “every year, literally hundreds of outstanding pilots – many that are more skilled and proficient than you are – get to meet Elvis because they did not believe it could happen to them.”
There’s no changing Captain Wow, at least not in an hour’s time at a hotel bar. I truly hope he keeps the shiny side up to live another day and talk the ear off of another pilot. But next time he shows up at my hotel bar, I might be tempted to tell him I work at a uranium mill, and that my radiation levels are just now coming down.
Dianne White Editor
Captain Wow
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