Plastic Pilot

The title of this post may sound slightly evangelistic, but it is true: flying made me a better person. Ok, this is may be part of getting older (I started flying in my early 20s and I’m now in my early 30s), but here are some of the qualities that I developed through my aeronautical activities…

Patience and resilience
All light aircraft pilots know that: many flights have to be canceled or modified, mostly because of weather. There have been months in winter where I could not fly a single time, even after clearing the plane from snow and ice… Some summer week-end have been “wasted” by thunderstorms.

Other factors include aircraft maintenance, airspace restrictions, and more than often a busy work life. There is nothing that can be done against most these factors. One must simply accept them, and wait for the next opportunity.

Humility
I already talked here about my worst landing ever, which happened on my initial IFR examination flight. In fact this was my worst landing… until now. Even with growing experience, each new approach can result in something even worst that this memorable one.

Interpreting weather is also helpful to remain humble. Tell to your passengers that the flight will be smooth because you saw no wind nor thermal activity on the charts, and you’ll certainly get some bumps.

Decision making
If you’re a regular reader of this blog, you know I think decision making is the most important skill for a pilot. What makes aeronautical decisions particularly hard to make is the partial level of information available.

What to do when a weather forecast calls for 30% of thunderstorm probability ? If while in-flight one engine parameter get outside normal range but all other are normal ? Some decisions must also be made within very short time, sometimes in seconds.

When something goes wrong on take-off or shortly before landing, good decision making is simply vital. There is no “pause” button, nor possibility to go “wait and see”. Even if more information becomes available later, staying on the safe side is always a good guideline.

Self-control
Needless to say, flying can be a demanding activity. Some stress resistance and self-control is needed. As a naturally nervous and stressed person, I had to learn how to keep my emotions and tensions under control. I can now do better work under pressure, and stay cool in other unnerving situations.

When things get complex or irritating in a cockpit, getting stressed is certainly not good. One must solve conflicts and ignore or evacuate any remaining tension. Even if it is to explode or simply clarify things after landing, which is also a good option.

Perseverance
If you think at this point that flying will turn you into a Buddhist monk, you’re may be not that far from the truth. I did not achieve the zen-level allowing for levitation, but I’m still working towards that.

As with many other activities, there is always room for improvement when it comes to flying and related activities. Holding pilot license simply means that you’re good enough to learn by yourself… long is the way…

When pilots don’t fly, they project new flights - I’m no exception to this rule. One of my projects is to fly 12 legs in a day, to 12 different airports. It all started while discussing with a friend pilot. I suggested 10 airports, but as it sounded too easy, so we decided to make the challenge a bit more… challenging.

The plan was to do full-stop landings at each destination, pay landing fees (welcome to Switzerland) and start the next leg, swapping seats each time. This Google Earth snapshot shows the selected airports.

Putting Lugano (LSZA, bottom right corner) in the list makes it even harder, because crossing the Alps VFR is not always an easy task. The total flying time with a DA40 is about 6 hours, and 30 minutes stops means a total time of 12 hours ! This is clearly a project for a long summer day with nice weather. A variant is to fly 8 legs myself in a day, so as to fill a page of my logbook in one day…

Having such projects is important for private pilots, because it helps to avoid boredom. Many private pilots stop flying within the three years after they get their license, mostly because they get bored of flying to the same airports, and can’t afford (or are afraid of) long trips.

I’m anywhere but close to realise this project (read here for more), but I still hope to make it one day, as I still hope flying to La Rochelle, Guernsey and to the Toronto City Center Airport. When a pilot stops having projects and dreams, he’s not far away from stopping to fly. So keep dreaming, and share your projects in comments.