Page 4 - Volume 17 Number 3

editor’sbriefingYou might think that having been a pilot for about half the existence of heavier-than-air flight would give one some bragging rights. And you would be wrong. Over the years, I’ve learned that participation in aviation is a constantly evolving field of endeavor,and just about the time you think you’ve seen it all, and know it all, you become re-apprised of just how little you do know. Being humbled is, after all, one method by which we remain trainable.Airplanes can teach us a lot – if we listen to them. I’ve ridden with many pilots who operate obliviously to the aircraft’s stated wishes. This blasé approach is fostered by familiarity; after one has settled into the left seat for many repetitions, the acts of throwing the switches, winding up the engines, and clicking the electronics become second nature. Things always work, just as they’ve always done, so who needs a checklist?But then, there’s the time when something doesn’t follow the norm. A battery ages, loses its performance in the cold, and you’re going nowhere that day. Or, the HSI refuses to hold a heading, or maybe a door seal springs a leak. I get humbled several times a year. Sometimes it’s nothing more than having to shut down to kick a chock out from in front of the nosewheel (”Who put that there?”), other times I have to reschedule a whole day’s appointments because the trip doesn’t go (“Need to put it back in the hangar, it’s too broken to fly.”). If Ihad been paying attention, I might have avoided those incidents. By humbling me, the aircraft, or the system in which it operates, keeps me from thinking I’ve got all the answers. “Observe, and learn, Grasshopper,” says the airplane.A realistic approach to flying demands that we remain humble enough to watch for changes in the aircraft’s operation, along with being skeptical of weather forecasts, projected fuel burns, and reported airport conditions. Just because it worked last time doesn’t mean we can relax our attention this time. As I’ve said quite often, confidence is a necessary ingredient of successful piloting. Overconfidence, however, is detrimental to longevity. Stay humble, learn what the airplane – and the system – has to teach you, and you’ll avoid that heightened sense of confidence that spending many years in aviation tends to bring.Our writers for this month have observed much of aviation’s foibles; Kevin Ware tells us about the challenges of flying a Learjet in southeast Alaska’s wild weather, while Russ Smith brings attention to the cost of keeping geriatric airplanes flying, in the face of coming mandates. Captain Kevin Dingman reveals how his MD-80 came up with an unexpected lesson for him, detected because he listened to what the airplane had to say. And Tom Turner discusses a pneumatic system failure mode that can trap the unwary unless a simple start-up/ shutdown check is made. David Miller, on the other hand, has added more and better information to the panel of his new ride.Staying HumbleThanks for reading.LeRoy Cook, Editor22 • TE MARCH 2013TWWINN &&TTUURRBBIINNE