Page 37 - Volume 17 Number 4

by David MillerThe Missing IngredientAs I reflect on my business and flying career, I now realize that the people I most admire are professional pilots. As hard as I try, they seem to be able to do things with airplanes that I can’t. For many years, I rationalized that since I owned a business my attention to flying was distracted by manufacturing a product and selling it. Now that my main job is being the best grandfather in North America, I don’t have that excuse. So why is it I can’t fly like those guys?I know the argument. They are paid to do their job. They do it day after day. They train all the time. They have 25,000 hours. But it’s more than that. Many of them have something intangible.Perhaps they are all related to David Bodlak.David is a Senior Demonstration Pilot in the Cessna Flight department. In his sixteen years with Cessna, David has flown all the current production Citations as well as the 500 series. But he is especially skillful at making prospects and customers extremely comfortable in the cockpit. I met him six years ago, as I was about to take delivery of my Mustang. As I took the left seat, David talked to me like an old friend. His wide grin told me he was just as excited as me to be flying that day.Jumping in the simulator with a real pro pilot is often an eye opening experience. They seem at home right away. They are exceedingly calm, organized, and measured in their responses. When the Flight Safety instructor asks me for my takeoff briefing, I usually point at the pro and say, “What he said.” I have discovered that pilots like David Bodlak have the missing ingredient.HumilityDavid comes to work every day with the attitude that he needs to learn something new. I once sent him a question about second segment climb requirements when departing from high elevation airports like KGUC (Gunnison, CO). He took on the question as aWith 5,000-plus hours in his logbook, David Miller has been flying for business and pleasure for more than 40 years. Having owned and flown a variety of aircraft types, from turboprops to midsize jets, Miller, along with his wife Patty, now own and fly a Citation CJ1+. You can contact David at davidmiller1@sbcglobal.net.project, gathered several staff pilots for a discussion, prepared a five-page paper, and then thanked ME for such a stimulating question. He genuinely enjoyed the experience.Come to think of it, most everyone in the Cessna flight department has the same David Bodlak humility. I wish I had it. Perhaps it’s something in the Kansas water. I try to take a five-gallon bucket of it home after every visit to the Wichita service center, just in case.As non-pro pilots, we can learn from this attitude. Do we hold ourselves up to a high enough standard? Do we review our performance after every flight? Do we look for answers as to why our last instrument approach was not entirely comfortable? Do we train more often than the standard once per year that our insurance carriers require? Do we invite more experienced pilots to fly with us to critique our skills?If you ever run into David Bodlak on a windswept ramp somewhere, ask him a really tough question.And hand him lots of paper.Fly safe.ON FINALAPRIL 2013 TWIN & TURBINE • 35