Page 20 - Twin and Turbine September 2017

Jet Journal
Those That Will...
Trapping Pilot Errors
by Kevin R. Dingman
There’s an old adage in aviation that says there are two kinds of pilots: “There are those that have, and those that will.” It’s commonly used to explain why some poor schmuck landed gear up. Roughly translated in ecclesiastical, Renaissance prose as: “Beware thouist of
majestic confidence and regal arrogance. Thine time of blunder will cometh as surely as wings maketh ye to soar.”
The adage has succeeded in scaring the bejesus out of us into using the GUMP acronym (Gas, Undercarriage, Mixture, Prop), and it’s a reminder that there are opportunities a-plenty for us to make mistakes, gaffs, goofs and errors while aviating or when writing in Shakespearian tongue. Rest assured Mon Capitaine, even we pilots are human and will err.
There’s a similar adage from the religious discipline: But for the grace of God, go I. Both philosophical statements reflect that we make mistakes. Truthfully, we make tons of them. This is especially true in the dynamic environment of aviation. It’s our job to catch, or “trap,” the mistakes before bad things happen.
Even with warning systems designed to prevent such errors, in the United States alone, they still happen to the tune of several gear-up landings each week. I’ve used GUMP on short final my whole life and still use it at the airlines and in the Duke. I really, really don’t want to be one of those that have. We can also use the “those that will” warning to remind ourselves of just how many other “gotchas” are out there, as demonstrated by the following tale about the lucky schmucks at SFO.
And so, this article isn’t about landing gear up. It’s about missing things and how to catch them before we become the one that has.
18 • TWIN & TURBINE
September 2017
PHOTO CREDIT: PAUL BOWEN PHOTOGRAPHY