Speed has no impact on the correlation between driving and flying skill, it's attention to detail and the ability to gauge and manage the energy within the control parameters.
Precisely.
Where I live, you can easily drive forty or fifty miles without coming up on a stop sign or traffic light. There are a lot of hills and turns, though, and you also have to slow down to go through the occasional villages or past the occasional schools during the week; but with good forward observation and a bit of thought and attention to kinetic energy, you can do this almost completely without braking. I don't think most non-commercial drivers really give much thought to this energy-management aspect of driving, unless they also happen to be pilots.
One simple example is that especially in a manual transmission car, if you just let up on the gas when you get to a "Speed Zone Ahead" sign, you'll usually be moving at close to the right speed by the time you get to the reduced speed zone. I usually tap the brake for a second when I do this, just to light the brake lights; but then I let the vehicle slow down by itself.
I once had a passenger (in my car) ask me if I was a pilot because she noticed that I drove a lot like her late husband, who had been a pilot. Specifically, she said, I almost never touched the brakes, I tended to take my foot off the gas while still on the uphill side of a hill right before the top (so I wouldn't be going too fast on the downhill side), and I almost never gave the car gas or used the brakes when going downhill. If you're in the right gear at the top of the hill, there's usually little need for either.
My dad and my brothers have also commented on this. My dad once asked me when was the last time I had a brake job done on one of my cars. I thought about it, and it had been a couple of years. I just don't use them a whole lot. I also save a lot of gas, because when you think about it, having to use the brakes means wasting whatever gas you used to get to a higher speed than what you needed. It's also safer in the snow to let the car decelerate gradually than to use the brakes unnecessarily.
In any case, my energy management is different enough from the way most folks drive that several have commented on it to me. I just don't think it's something most drivers pay attention to.
Another thing a few people have commented on is my attention to possible hazards. In fairness, though, I think a lot of that also came from my CDL training, where they teach you to assume that almost anything that's not anchored in the earth may just jump out in front of you.
-Rich
It may be due to always checking my surrounding due to the wings just being "Out there" that I do that while driving as well.
