Rush…

Rushing through flight preparation is a great way to ruin a good flight. I saw once a student pilot leaving to a remote, exciting airport, and he felt great about it. When I saw him back couple of hours later I asked how it was, and the answer was quite sad: closed! Too bad this guy missed the NOTAM.

Flight preparation represents a significant part of the time spent around aircraft. Not having good weather and NOTAM information, or not having a clear navigation plan is a great way to waste a flight. Even on short flights, a plan B is a must.

Rushing through the pre-flight checks is also a good for getting in trouble. An open fuel cap, or a covered pitot tube are not that hard to spot but can lead to lot of problems. There is at least one registered case of a pilot forgetting to remove chokes, and then asking his passenger and fellow pilot to remove them with the prop running. A fatal error, literally speaking.

Don’t pay attention…

Enjoying a flight and chatting with your passengers in flight is great, and sharing the passion is cool. Not paying attention to engine instruments is also a great way not to detect possible engine problems soon enough. FADECs constantly monitoring all parameters are great. Engine problems are not always sudden, but not monitoring the instruments does not help to identify them. Fuel management is also a good thing to ignore if you want to get your share of shame. Fuel does not massively vanish from the tanks (except if you first forgot to close a fuel cap, see above…) and there is no reason to experience fuel starvation in a perfectly working aircraft.

Weather also evolves quickly and not maintaining a constant watch is good for getting trapped in bad situations. Restricted airspace evolves much less dynamically than weather, but aircraft move rapidly. Not paying attention to the navigation, missing a turning point or drifting away of the planned course and then violate some airspace is also a good way to get your local aviation authority looking at you very closely. And they will pay a lot of attention to you.

Continue…

Turning around can be frustrating, but continuing can be much worse. Continue a VFR flight in marginal conditions, and its cousin continue a VFR flight in IMC. For IFR pilots in light aircraft, continue in icing conditions. Continue to fly straight ahead even if you’re no longer sure of your position. Continue to descend because clouds get lower, even over rough terrain. Continue to descend along the ILS, because the lights are almost in sight. Continue on this low fuel conditions, because the winds can’t be that bad for the remaining time. Continue on this rough engine, because your homebase is the airport coming after the next one.

A good pilot must be patient, remain attentive, and know when to say stop and divert.