Page 4 - Volume 16 Number 5

editor’sbriefingNever Forget Where You’ve BeenWhenever I introduced a new pilot to the exhilarating art of cross-country flying, after hours and hours of boring work in the local traffic pattern, I always stressed the importance of looking over each airport we passed along our route. “You might need to turnaround and come back to that airport,” I would intone. “You need to know what it’s going to look like, in relation to the city and its surroundings.”It’s important to know where you’ve been, as you continue any journey. The experiences and observations logged in our mental flight record are what make us pilots. Recalling what happened, on our way to where we are, gives us a valuable perspective. Like checking out the passing airport’s runway design or approach obstacles, if we’ve seen a problem before, or faced a similar situation, we’ll find it easier to deal with.I’ve always felt that aviation brings benefits far beyond covering miles or enhancing bragging rights. As pilots, we’ve had to assume responsibility for the consequences of our actions, because no one can mount a rescue effort to take over the controls. This ability transfers into most aspects of our life; we’ve learned to take stock of our surroundings, steer clear of hazards and use whatever resources are available to solve a problem. Knowing where we’ve been, and what we did along the way, is one of our resources.Early last month, Helen Collins, a very resourceful lady with eight decades of life experience, made her first landing in a Cessna 414A because she had to; her pilot/husband collapsed at the controls while en route home to Wisconsin from their winter home in Florida. She kept a cool head and drew on some basic flight training she had taken years ago. She used the radio toget some help with her task. She remembered where she had been and what she had done before, and with input from a pilot who came up to fly on her wing, she put the big twin down in a survivable fashion.It behooves all of us to bear her example in mind; we need to keep our past experiences filed away so they can be drawn on when they’re needed. The prior experience may have been in a different airplane, or a long time ago, but it still provides valuable insight to meet a current challenge. When we take recurrent training, it should build on previous visits, not just repeat what was done last time, and it should incorporate inputs from experiences we’ve had since our last visit.These lessons apply to more than flying, of course. Business decisions are best weighed on the basis of previous successes or failures, and political assessments should consider what’s worked before, and what didn’t. Remembering where we’ve been guides our steps to where we’re going. Resolving doubts over one’s location clearly points up the need to remember where we came from. Returning to my initial example of cross-country training, I always tell the trainee “I’ve never been really lost, but I’ve sure been terribly disoriented a few times.” Getting lost isn’t a sin, but staying lost is.So, when we’ve lost our bearings, knowing where we’ve been gives us a starting point, or circle of probabilities, to begin the task of reorientation. Flying is a dynamic process; the aircraft moves, and our thinking has to move with it. Thus it is with life – know where you’ve been, keep track of which way you’ve been moving, and you can predict where you’ll wind up as you continue the trip.Use the perspective of your life experience.LeRoy Cook, Editor2 • TWIN & TURBINE MAY 2012