Think about your last flight?

RyanB

RyanB

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Does anyone ever think, how could i have improved my last flight, did I do anything that could have potentially not had a good outcome, what things could have been better? After i fly i usually go through these types of thoughts and ask myself these questions. Does anyone else do this?
 
Ryanb said:
Does anyone ever think, how could i have improved my last flight, did I do anything that could have potentially not had a good outcome, what things could have been better? After i fly i usually go through these types of thoughts and ask myself these questions. Does anyone else do this?
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Yep. The depth of the debrief depends on the reason for the flight, but I always have a list of things I could've done better. I don't expect I'll ever have a flight where that list is empty, but I strive to keep the number and/or severity of those things decreasing.
 
Ryanb said:
Does anyone ever think, how could i have improved my last flight, did I do anything that could have potentially not had a good outcome, what things could have been better? After i fly i usually go through these types of thoughts and ask myself these questions. Does anyone else do this?
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Good on you! This is called "debriefing" and is something that all conscientious pilots do after each and every flight. No one has ever flown a perfect flight and there will always be room for improvement.
 
I always do a personal debrief after every flight, too. There is always something I could have done better or differently.
 
I certainly try to make mental notes during a flight and correct any mistakes on the next flight. Usually it's something small, but once I left the flaps down after takeoff.:mad2: once is the keyword!;) Most of my errors are caused by distractions or being in a hurry to do the next thing. :dunno:
I flew almost two hours today, certainly wasn't perfect, but no glaring errors that I can think of. :D
 
I run every flight through my head probably to the point its unhealthy.
Sometimes I'm patting myself on the back and sometimes I'm mentally slapping the back of my head saying what were you thinking. I have gotten away with things that if I would have had compound errors it could have been a bad deal. I good pilot should be always learning, trying to make himself better.
 
Yup, I do it after every single flight too. I also try to recognize the thing(s) I did well, too, just to balance it out.
 
Glad to hear im not the only one LOL, sometimes its even little things like "was i flying too low for that circumstance, or was i not scanning for traffic the way I should have". Little things like that, but i agree, it is good to think of all the positives that happened. Thanks for the replies!
 
One advantage to having a wife who is a pilot -- there is no need for post-flight self-recrimination. :lol: :lol: :lol:
 
Absolutely, debrief after each flight.
 
Eagle I said:
Yup, I do it after every single flight too. I also try to recognize the thing(s) I did well, too, just to balance it out.
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That's a good point. I need to go over what I did right more often. There is much to learn from that, too.
 
I don't have a systematic process where I break each flight down but I do relive them so to speak and if at any point in the flight, something is amiss, I do think a lot about it. I tend to wonder if I was too tired, too low, turning to steep and slow, etc.

Today after young eagles, I went up to kill some time. There was a TFR at my airport so I couldn't go home. I was bored so I just went flying around. Did some steep turns and practiced a few things but I felt off.

Just didn't feel right but I kept flying aimlessly just for fun for a good 30 minutes.

Decided "something" wasn't right so I landed at a different airport to wait out the TFR.
I went into the FBO and sat down on a couch. I was asleep within about 5 minutes of sitting down.

I failed to realize how tired I was. I didn't do anything dangerous and no major concerns but I realized that I was in the plane aware that something was off but I didn't listen to my better judgement as fast as I wish I had. It was 95 degrees, I had been up since 6 and had a hectic morning.


If I make a mistake, I tend to dissect the flight to the Nth degree.
If I have a flight where everything goes as planned, I don't look for things to beat myself up about.

If I think I am having a great flight but I get a text from AggieMike88 critiquing my landing because he happened to see it, that's another story. Thanks Mike LOL


Reading this and seeing how many do this, I think it might be a good idea to adopt a process where I do debrief each flight looking for what was good and what could have been done better.
 
Guess I'm the odd one out. No I don't give any thought to it, any more than I analyze the drive home from work after putting my car in the garage. It's the same thing.
 
The co-pilot and I have an agreement... we only talk about flying on the way to the airport and home. No work, no family, no news... On the way out we're allowed to talk about the trip, weather, airports, the airplane, etc. On the way home, we talk about the flight, the airplane, squawks, and other aviation-related stuff.
The main reason I fly was the incredible focus it allowed my to have... when I'm flying, my mind is in another place... and I happily relinquish thinking about work, taxes, home, family, news, etc.
 
Ryanb said:
Does anyone ever think, how could i have improved my last flight, did I do anything that could have potentially not had a good outcome, what things could have been better? After i fly i usually go through these types of thoughts and ask myself these questions. Does anyone else do this?
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Nope, I review each error as I make it, file the information and don't worry about it. All that stuff processes when you sleep anyway.
 
CT4ME said:
The co-pilot and I have an agreement... we only talk about flying on the way to the airport and home. No work, no family, no news... On the way out we're allowed to talk about the trip, weather, airports, the airplane, etc. On the way home, we talk about the flight, the airplane, squawks, and other aviation-related stuff.
The main reason I fly was the incredible focus it allowed my to have... when I'm flying, my mind is in another place... and I happily relinquish thinking about work, taxes, home, family, news, etc.
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You'd make a good Ag pilot if you can keep that up through solitary boredom. That's why I quit; twice I found myself "waking up" from other thoughts halfway through a field with no recollection of having sprayed the first half, and I'm flying under wires at both ends of the field the second time. I'm sure that's how a lot f Ag pilots auger in, it was the only reason I could figure my buddy did flying in the field next to me. He just didn't pull up at the bottom, and there was full control continuity and function.
 
Henning said:
Nope, I review each error as I make it, file the information and don't worry about it. All that stuff processes when you sleep anyway.
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Good idea, but...

...let me propose that you may not even be aware of many of the errors as you make them.

Kind of a Rumsfeldian, "you don't know what you don't know" kind of thing.

That's where a check pilot or CFI or even a friend flying along may pick up on little things you miss.

I've caught numerous small mistakes while reviewing GoPro videos, for example. Ones I totally missed at the time.

Back on point, no - my typical flight does not get debriefed, or really thought about much after the fact. It's only when something goes wrong - missing something on preflight, bad weather decision, bad landing, whatever - that I'll think about ways to avoid the same mistake going forward.
 
Last edited:
I have a check list.
After landing I consult the list.
1. Airplane still useable?

2 Check!

Good, then I'm still the perfect pilot :D
 
Ryanb said:
Does anyone ever think, how could i have improved my last flight, did I do anything that could have potentially not had a good outcome, what things could have been better? After i fly i usually go through these types of thoughts and ask myself these questions. Does anyone else do this?
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Every flight, every time. :D
 
I suggest you put a GoPro or similar in your plane plumbed into the airplanes audio system and record your flight from engine startup to shutdown. If you really want to examine how you did this will show you things about yourself and your flying that might surprise you. When I do this I'm always surprised at what I missed, or misinterpreted in real time. It's eye opening and it's humbling. When I share my videos I leave my mistakes in, often with text sharing what it was overlaid on the video. We all make them, but I'd bet a nickel that the things you are focused on are a fraction of the things you will want to correct after seeing the flight as a pilot observer.

Things I've changed since recording some of my flights:

I don't come in so low across the fence.
I try to land on the centerline
I try not to sound like an idiot with ATC, still working on that constantly.
Try not to bark at my wife for interrupting me.
*Try to look out the windows more, look for other airplanes more so.
Don't reconfigure the plane on the runway after landing.

There's more, but when you get the idea. Seeing is believing.
 
An example of what Bryan is talking about:

7425385928_94480d99a0.jpg


A screen shot of me turning in the pattern in my Sky Arrow.

Would never have suspected I was skidding the turn like that.
 
FastEddieB said:
Good idea, but...

...let me propose that you may not even be aware of many of the errors as you make them.

Kind of a Rumsfeldian, "you don't know what you don't know" kind of thing.

That's where a check pilot or CFI or even a friend flying along may pick up on little things you miss.

I've caught numerous small mistakes while reviewing GoPro videos, for example. Ones I totally missed at the time.

Back on point, no - my typical flight does not get debriefed, or really thought about much after the fact. It's only when something goes wrong - missing something on preflight, bad weather decision, bad landing, whatever - that I'll think about ways to avoid the same mistake going forward.
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Hopefully, there will be the day I die suddenly by my own miscalculation or mistake in trying something I've never done or while doing something that I enjoy doing. I'd rather not go of slow debilitating decomposition.

I don't worry much about individual mistakes, it's extremely rare that an individual mistake will kill someone. What to watch for is trends and focus on breaking them. If I critiqued every mistake I make I would drive myself insane and lock myself in a bathroom where I would likely slip in the tub and die; far far more statistically likely than me killing myself in a plane. As long as I have a good fuel flow monitor in a plane, I have nearly eliminated my greatest risk factor. Especially since it's tied to my GPS and displays a big warning when I don't have enough fuel to finish my route on a real time basis.

Rather than take the approach of eliminating my mistakes, which will never happen, I take the approach of making any individual mistake obvious quickly so I don't forge together a straight six links of mistakes which make an accident chain. Modern panel technology makes that pretty easy to do.

It is much simpler to deal with effects than predict potential causes. It is impossible to eliminate human mistakes.
 
I don't fly often (once a month or so) so when I do get back from a flight I spend at least the rest of the day talking about it or going over it in my head. Definitely a good way to learn from the experience.

Sent from my Nexus 7 using Tapatalk
 
Ryanb said:
Does anyone ever think, how could i have improved my last flight, did I do anything that could have potentially not had a good outcome, what things could have been better? After i fly i usually go through these types of thoughts and ask myself these questions. Does anyone else do this?
Click to expand...

The day you stop debriefing yourself after a flight is probably the day you should quit flying.
There is always, always room for improvement and a never ending learning process.
 
Self debriefing works for me.unless your perfect you can always learn to improve.
 
Dead Stick said:
Good on you! This is called "debriefing" and is something that all conscientious pilots do after each and every flight. No one has ever flown a perfect flight and there will always be room for improvement.
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Dang! I just found out I'm unconscientious. Bummer.
 
I have not had a landing this year that I am satisfied with.
Last night, right at dusk, pretty much whipped after an all day 3 states out and back thrash for fathers day, and using the cross wind runway, I came close.
But, during roll out I decided I was a couple of knots faster than I could have done it had I tried harder, so still not satisfied.
And, gawwd help me if I had a video record of my clumsy attempts at flying. It would haunt my dreams.
 
Understand your last flight, think about your next.
That's the approach that works best for me.
 
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