Approaching the 100 hour mark - thoughts?

N659HB

N659HB

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I've heard the hundred hour mark signals a potentially dangerous phase for pilots. I'm flying at least one hour per week, weather permitting, trying to maintain/improve proficiency.

I should pass the hundred hour mark in a few weeks and would appreciate comments and recommendations.
 
Fly.
Chair fly.
Remind yourself complacency kills.
Remind yourself there are multiple levels of complacency.
Refer often to what you have been taught.
Read the Killing Zone.
Fly the airplane.

Edit: Never stop seeking to learn. There is a lesson on every flight if you can spot them...
 
Keep flying the same hour, or try something new. Flying the same hour all life long will work, unless it doesn't. Same goes for the other path.
 
If you find yourself in some sort of jam, usually weather related, and get out of it, don't get the attitude that you will always be able to get out of it. You may have been lucky the first time. Many accidents occur when people become overconfident.
 
I don't seem to remember 100hrs being a very dangerous period. For me, it was somewhere between 200-400hrs where I showed, how shall I say, 'great haste to learn potentially fatal lessons quick'…:D
 
Imagine all the things you COULD face, and then see how many of them you are fully prepared TO face. Then go hire an instructor and try some of them with his guidance.
 
During your primary training you did a ton of landing practice. You probably do not practice landings nearly as much. I recommend you specifically practice short field, soft field, and no flap landings, as well as slow flight. These are the things I remember getting rusty.
 
With 100 hours you know enough to get yourself killed, but remember there still is much you don't know!

Are you IFR? Complex? High Performance?

Maybe work on another rating.

No matter what:

Listen to your gut

Don't second guess your decisions.

Don't be stupid.
 
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I'd also suggest getting ahold of collections of accidents, something like "Aftermath" from Flying Magazine.

For me, many fall into the category of, "That's not me." Flying without a preflight, low level aerobatics, flying while on drugs, that sort of thing.

But others fall into the "There but for the Grace of God..." category, and those can stick with me and make a difference going forward.

And most of all stay humble, realizing that virtually none of those pilots probably saw themselves as the type of pilot that would come to that sort of end.
 
FastEddieB said:
I'd also suggest getting ahold of collections of accidents, something like "Aftermath" from Flying Magazine.

For me, many fall into the category of, "That's not me." Flying without a preflight, low level aerobatics, flying while on drugs, that sort of thing.

But others fall into the "There but for the Grace of God..." category, and those can stick with me and make a difference going forward.

And most of all stay humble, realizing that virtually none of those pilots probably saw themselves as the type of pilot that would come to that sort of end.
Click to expand...

Low level aerobatics and no preflight are the same as flyin on drugs?

....tell me more
 
JOhnH said:
If you find yourself in some sort of jam, usually weather related, and get out of it, don't get the attitude that you will always be able to get out of it. You may have been lucky the first time. Many accidents occur when people become overconfident.
Click to expand...

Good point. I actually cancelled my first solo cross country last year because it seemed on the verge of scud running. The forecast indicated steady improvement, but when I started seeing wisps below me at the first checkpoint, I turned back. It was only a 25-mile flight for the first leg, but I just had a bad feeling about it. No regrets for canceling that one.

But then there's the conundrum of how does one get experience/confidence and learn without taking risks. I suppose the risk is easier to manage if there is a solid way out, and confidence should be built in phases, perhaps gently pushing the limits of knowledge and judgment. As another poster mentioned, every flight is an opportunity to learn.
 
James331 said:
Low level aerobatics and no preflight are the same as flyin on drugs?

....tell me more
Click to expand...

I just listed them as things I've seen as probable causes in accident reports that I would never do.

There was no mention or intention to compare them with each other, but any one of can get you killed in the right circumstances.
 
As an addendum to my humility recommendation...

One would do well to look up:

Scott Crossfield.

Steve Fossett.

Sparky Imeson.

Experienced pilots all, but all still managed to run out of options in the air.

Not to mention well trained professional crews that still managed to take off on the wrong runway, land at the wrong airport, or get low and slow at SFO. These pilots were not idiots, and we all need to learn how those things happen so we can hopefully avoid them going forward.

And beware the false pride that overtakes some early in their careers. We saw it here with a new pilot who told us, "Fear not..." and went on to assure us he would never be mentioned in an NTSB report. You can guess how that turned out!
 
N659HB said:
Good point. I actually cancelled my first solo cross country last year because it seemed on the verge of scud running. The forecast indicated steady improvement, but when I started seeing wisps below me at the first checkpoint, I turned back. It was only a 25-mile flight for the first leg, but I just had a bad feeling about it. No regrets for canceling that one.
Click to expand...

If you are flying over airports for 25 miles maybe you could have continued safely and landed if things got worse, but I never faulted anyone for not flying. I have done a couple of things that looking back were not bright. It is only my extreme conservative approach to weather that made them "less than ideal" situations rather than "bad" situations.

May our worst situations never get below "less than ideal" :)
 
Kelvin said:
Fly.
Chair fly.
Remind yourself complacency kills.
Remind yourself there are multiple levels of complacency.
Refer often to what you have been taught.
Read the Killing Zone.
Fly the airplane.

Edit: Never stop seeking to learn. There is a lesson on every flight if you can spot them...
Click to expand...

+1 every flight fly like someone is looking over your shoulder,ask yourself the question,would I do that with my instructor aboard?
 
In retrospect, at 100 hours, I didn't know what I didn't know. A couple endorsements down the road, I feel like I'm getting glimpses of how much I don't know.

Keep flying regularly, fly long trips every once in a while, learn more about the gaps between weather forecasts, weather observations, and the weather you actually fly in.
 
ChrisK said:
During your primary training you did a ton of landing practice. You probably do not practice landings nearly as much. I recommend you specifically practice short field, soft field, and no flap landings, as well as slow flight. These are the things I remember getting rusty.
Click to expand...

Agreed. All my landings are no flap (Luscombe). I need to practice my slips, for sure.
 
Back in he days when Pontius was a pilot, I was told that there were three times when a pilot was at risk:
As a student when he knew nothing
With 100 hours when he thought he knew everything, but still know nothing
With 10,000 hour when he thought he knew everything and he did!
 
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