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to take care of the paint business, not the business of fly- ing the airplane.
That brings us to your aviation story. Do you operate with little margin? Are you operating at max gross weight on every flight? Are you landing at the end of fuel range frequently? Are you pushing weather minimums routinely? Are you flying single-engine piston aircraft at night or over mountainous terrain? Do you fly over the Great Lakes without a raft? Do you get a cheapo-BFR each year, never really being challenged? Are you flying late in your cir- cadian rhythms? Have you practiced an engine-out event lately? Do your O2 systems have sufficient pressure? Are you wearing your shoulder harness on takeoff and landing?
I operated on a short runway with a heavy airplane and left myself with no outs. If anything went wrong, I was going to be in the ditch. One o-ring on the left brake was all it took to put me in the ditch.
Where can you add margin to your aviation life? Where can you add margin so you don’t end up in the ditch?
I’m happy to report that my beloved Mirage is flying today. It got a new wing and engine and has flown many hours for subsequent owners. I occasionally hear my old familiar N-number on the radio as I fly around Texas, and I check on it now and then on FlightAware and see that it is serving its owners well. That airplane was so good to me for so many years. I can only wish I had been as good to it as it was to me.
I never knew about the problem of pressurized air get- ting into the braking system, and it bothered me that I had flown with some great instructors and never learned this nuance. Upon reflection, they probably did make me aware, but I most likely forgot or overlooked that important train- ing. So, I began to teach others about my crash. Most other pilots did not know about this potentially devastating brake system issue. I decided to be a better CFI and open up my own flight training company, mostly because I wanted to help others who didn’t know what they didn’t know.
I turned this terrible crash into a career that still serves me today. I dedicated myself to training the owner-flown community of pilots, and that niche of beautiful people has been so good to me over the years. Without this crash, I’d probably still be that arrogant pilot who thought only idiots could crash an airplane. I am far more understand- ing, more humble, and a less judgmental pilot because of that crash. It prepared me to be a better CFI.
Good things can come from an awful event. What good can you create in your life after reading my tale of woe that turned into a story of goodness? Where can you add margin to your life?
Covington
https://covington.com
Joe Casey is an FAA-DPE and an ATP, CFI, CFII (A/H), MEI, CFIG, CFIH, as well as a retired U.S. Army UH60 stan- dardization instructor/examiner. An active instructor in the PA46 and King Air markets, he has accumulated 16,000-plus hours of flight time, with more than 5,200 dual-given as a flight instructor. Contact Joe at joe@flycasey.com or 903.721.9549.
June 2023 / TWIN & TURBINE • 13