Absolutes in Aviation

The most expensive phrase in aviation: "While you're at it, might as well."
 
What makes airplanes fly? Money, lots of money!
 
My advice: Stay ahead of the airplane (or put another way, don't fly the plane anywhere your brain hasn't aready gone)

"Fly the Airplane" is good advice, right on up to CFIT.
 
I was just reminded of another:

If you are going to play loose with the FARs, don't post the video to youtube.
 
Never leave home without your visa and be willing to use it to rent a car to get back if situation calls for you to cancel a return flight.

Never commit to family or friends to get them somewhere they need to be that is time specific unless you leave a day or two ahead of time, at least until you have a few hundred hours and or a commercial ticket.

When taking off always have three mental alternative courses and airports to land at if something changes requiring it.

For example until you can handle max cross wind landing you should know where all the alternative runways are to help you land more directly into the wind and have a car come fetch you until better winds prevail.

Before becoming an owner have 25% of the value of the airplane in an account for ready reserves. If buying a project make that 75%.
LJS1993 said:
Well guys among all the things you have learned during your time as pilots what is the one absolute you would give either a student pilot, newly minted pilot, or someone looking into getting a PPL? By absolute I mean the one most important tip in terms of safety you feel overrides all the rest?
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Why would you want a commercial instead of IR to improve predictability?

Tony_Scarpelli said:
Never leave home without your visa and be willing to use it to rent a car to get back if situation calls for you to cancel a return flight.

Never commit to family or friends to get them somewhere they need to be that is time specific unless you leave a day or two ahead of time, at least until you have a few hundred hours and or a commercial ticket.

When taking off always have three mental alternative courses and airports to land at if something changes requiring it.

For example until you can handle max cross wind landing you should know where all the alternative runways are to help you land more directly into the wind and have a car come fetch you until better winds prevail.

Before becoming an owner have 25% of the value of the airplane in an account for ready reserves. If buying a project make that 75%.
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never forget… the airplane only costs you $1000 (your deductible)

It can sometimes make a good “airbag”
 
Old Geek said:
Better to be on the ground, wishing you were flying, than flying, wishing you were on the ground.
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If only one; read this thread. (I know, that's cheating) so for students I vote for the above.
 
Maintain thy airspeed, lest the earth shall reach up and smite thee mightily.

Sent from my Nexus 7 using Tapatalk 4
 
Tony_Scarpelli said:
For example until you can handle max cross wind landing you should know where all the alternative runways are to help you land more directly into the wind and have a car come fetch you until better winds prevail.
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We flew to Henderson/Oxford NC once, HNZ, and the forcast was for gusty crosswinds. Before leaving I told my wife about the forcast and if we couldn't stick the landing we'd be bugging out to RDU and use 32, which would be directly into the wind.

Got there and the wind was 19G26 direct crosswind and I got it down on the third attempt, but if #3 didn't stick, I was ready to divert and eat the 1hr car ride from Raleigh.
 
Tony_Scarpelli said:
For example until you can handle max cross wind landing you should know where all the alternative runways are to help you land more directly into the wind and have a car come fetch you until better winds prevail.
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Good advice. And I'd rather not explain why. :redface:
 
You are professionals trained to deal with three things that can kill you: gravity, combustion, and inertia. Keep them under control, and you'll die in bed.​
— Sailor Davis, long-time TWA ground school instructor.
 
Fly the plane, absolute number one. I think I've seen most of these responses somewhere ;)

"I can fix anything you do but don't pull anything red or turn off the key, our day would get interesting." Part of pre-flight to a new passenger.

"Right Rudder!!" Number one thing I said as a CFI.
 
I prefer cash but guess I could take a check if that's all you have.
 
You know that line on the case that we thought might be a mold mark but if not were pretty sure is a crack? Well, . . .
 
LBJ was sworn in by local Dallas judge prior to takeoff.

MAKG1 said:
And LBJ was sworn in aboard, so it cancels....

AF1 is a callsign, not a tail number or airframe.
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There are three absolutes that must be observed if you want to live as a pilot.

As noted above, the first and foremost is always; "Fly the airplane." the second is always; "Obey the rules." and of course the third is always; "Be situationaly aware."

You must be at least as well versed on the FARS as your are of the airplane itself, and you always got to know where you are.

-John
 
John Baker said:
There are three absolutes that must be observed if you want to live as a pilot.

As noted above, the first and foremost is always; "Fly the airplane." the second is always; "Obey the rules." and of course the third is always; "Be situationaly aware."

You must be at least as well versed on the FARS as your are of the airplane itself, and you always got to know where you are.

-John
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Cory Lidle and Tyler Stanger "obeyed the rules."

Of course they ignored the last one. Sometimes rules have to be broken.
 
EdFred said:
Cory Lidle and Tyler Stanger "obeyed the rules."

Of course they ignored the last one. Sometimes rules have to be broken.
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Believe me, I am no lover of rules and regs. If I had my way, FARS would be about 1/2 an inch thick.

-John
 
EdFred said:
Cory Lidle and Tyler Stanger "obeyed the rules."
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There are rules, and there are laws.

Rules are made by consensus of people in offices, many of whom have never piloted an airplane.

Laws are made by the almighty, and include the laws of physics and the law of gravity.

Rules, at times, must be ignored. Laws, however, cannot be broken.
 
An airplane can easily drain you financially.

Fly the plane and think first.
 
In the hands of a brainless skipper, not even a canoe is safe.
It is better to land on the airport gear-up than the housing project gear-down, should you lose an engine.
It is better to be flying into a 60kt headwind above the clouds than only a 50kt headwind...and a bunch of structural icing.
Friends don't let friends fly plastic airplanes.
In event of a forced landing, forget looking for the needle, when the haystack will do; In other words, just find a big, flat field and land.
Further more, if/when that happens, the insurance company owns the airplane, so do what's important to the safety of the inhabitants.
Don't turn an inconvenient problem into an emergency (by, you know, taking off)...solve the problem - then takeoff.
If, for some reason you can't navigate, that's an emergency.
It may sound obvious, but any engine problem is potentially lethal, ditto for flight control or structural failure.
You can't fly an airplane better than it can be flown...not even a 747 captain can be expected to fly a cessna 150 better than a good 150 pilot.
The reason there are no old, bold pilots is because they more than most have had ample opportunities to scare the h3ll out of themselves, and don't care to repeat the process.
 
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