Have you ever made a perfect flight?

John Baker

John Baker

Final Approach
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John Baker
Another thread is about a pilot who forgot to set his tanks on both, landed on a road, figured out the problem, then took off.

I do not think I have ever made a text book perfect flight, from pre-flight check to shut down check. There has always been some sort of imperfection in every flight I have ever made.

Usually they are minor, just irritating for the most part. The worst I have ever done, so far, is wander briefly into Bravo, so I have been fortunate, or I'm just getting good at it.

So, can any of you honestly say that you have made an absolutely perfect flight? Do you think it can be done?

John
 
John Baker said:
Usually they are minor, just irritating for the most part. The worst I have ever done, so far, is wander briefly into Bravo, so I have been fortunate, or I'm just getting good at it.

So, can any of you honestly say that you have made an absolutely perfect flight? Do you think it can be done?

John
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I don't think I have ever made a textbook perfect flight. My first reaction is If a pilot claims they did, they are lying to themselves. I'm sure there is SOMETHING that could be better or differeng according to the textbooks. A good pilot should be able to note things like that, and work to be better.

What ever happened with briefling wandering into Bravo? I ask because there is an airport where I'm at under a Bravo shelf, and i've heared stories of the tower asking students to extend downwind, and the students never turned base, busting the surface bravo. It resulted in certificates being suspended.
 
I keep a separate notepad with me. I titled it, in the pursuit of perfection :rolleyes:, but the idea is the same as what a lot of others have done in the past. I write the date, flight time, plane number, and dep/arrival airports. In essence, I keep it as a two-fold trip log and personal log (I use it for updating my logbook, and checking what payroll owes me vs. what I really flew :lol:). In the book I write everything that I did wrong on a flight. The end goal being to have no entries under my header "corrective actions". Still haven't had that empty slot yet :no:.

Unlike some other people, I think the perfect flight exists.... but, I'm afraid it's the last westbound flight we take.

Bob
 
To make sure I do the checklist, my instructor has (at least four times now since February) turned something - like the fuel - to 'OFF' just to see if I follow the checklist.

He taught me there is no such thing as a perfect flight. He said flying is filled with a few seconds of perfection, followed by a few minor corrections, etc. But never perfect.

I forget to put up the 10 degrees of flaps after a short field takeoff. I forget to level off at 3000 and go higher. I get too close to the aiport and realize I haven't begun my descent to TPA etc. On and on and on. If there is ever a day where I have a "perfect flight" I will definitely post about it.

Until then, I continue to make minor corrections each flight.


Kimberly
 
ajstoner21 said:
I
What ever happened with briefling wandering into Bravo? I ask because there is an airport where I'm at under a Bravo shelf, and i've heared stories of the tower asking students to extend downwind, and the students never turned base, busting the surface bravo. It resulted in certificates being suspended.
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Busting Bravo can be a simple as cutting a corner of it, or blatantly flying into. I think it also has a lot to do with your track record with the tower. If they know you and your airplane and what they know has been positive, they are perhaps going to be a little more understanding in their dealing with you.

It also probably has a lot to do with whether you are aware of your mistake and you take immediate corrective action, or you just keep on flying deeper into it. In either case, you are going to get a call from them telling you you are in Bravo and exactly what they want you to do to extricate yourself from it.

If you follow their instructions to the letter, they might let you off the hook you have hung yourself on, or they might not.

I was lucky, I was not given that phone number to call when I landed.

It is best to just avoid Bravo, and not make that "mistake".

John
 
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Yes, I had a perfect flight. It was called my first solo, and consisted of three tough-n-go's and coming back to a full stop. My pre-flight was perfect because my instructor said so. My radio work was perfect because my instructor said so (and tower saw fit to comment on it, too - "good job and great radio work today"). And I even, for the first time ever at that time, when pushing back the plane to its parking spot, did not need to adjust position even a little bit while it slid perfectly onto the tie-down.

Unfortunately, that's pretty much the only one. :goofy:
 
kimberlyanne546 said:
To make sure I do the checklist, my instructor has (at least four times now since February) turned something - like the fuel - to 'OFF' just to see if I follow the checklist.

He taught me there is no such thing as a perfect flight. He said flying is filled with a few seconds of perfection, followed by a few minor corrections, etc. But never perfect.

I forget to put up the 10 degrees of flaps after a short field takeoff. I forget to level off at 3000 and go higher. I get too close to the aiport and realize I haven't begun my descent to TPA etc. On and on and on. If there is ever a day where I have a "perfect flight" I will definitely post about it.

Until then, I continue to make minor corrections each flight.


Kimberly
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Never let the plane go where you mind hasn't already been 5 minutes earlier. You're experiencing what all pilots go through.... being behind the plane. As you get closer to checkride day you'll find that you look back on your early days and wonder why this or that was difficult/tricky/problematic or whatever :).

Then comes the training for the next certificate/rating and the whole process starts over again :yesnod:
 
By definition, doing a flight perfectly is impossible for a person.

But I have had 1 or 2 flights that were as close to perfect as possible for me, ie. I can't think of a thing I could have done better. Of course that doesn't mean that there wasn't something I could have done better.
 
If I can get the door open after landing and then use the plane again, that's close enough to perfect for gub'ment work.
 
Perfection is absolute and unobtainable.

But if you mean a flight where everything from engine start to engine shutdown back in the chocks went according to plan and fell within the prescribed parameters, yes. Basically, pilot, planning, performance, aircraft...everything was in the nominal green and stayed there for the entire duration.
 
Yep, Wayne. A good flight ends when you can walk away from the plane. A great flight is when the plane is still flyable. If you don't leave pieces of the plane on the runway it has been a very good day!!!
 
All you need to do is follow 6-sigma and you, too, can have a perfect flight.










:rolleyes::rolleyes::rolleyes::rolleyes::D

There's always something I can improve.
 
wabower said:
If I can get the door open after landing and then use the plane again, that's close enough to perfect for gub'ment work.
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That's where I am, don't sweat the petty things, and don't pet the sweaty things.
 
onwards said:
Yes, I had a perfect flight. It was called my first solo, and consisted of three tough-n-go's and coming back to a full stop. My pre-flight was perfect because my instructor said so. My radio work was perfect because my instructor said so (and tower saw fit to comment on it, too - "good job and great radio work today"). And I even, for the first time ever at that time, when pushing back the plane to its parking spot, did not need to adjust position even a little bit while it slid perfectly onto the tie-down.

Unfortunately, that's pretty much the only one. :goofy:
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If that flight had been perfect you would have driven right into the tiedown spot and not had to push it.
 
kimberlyanne546 said:
To make sure I do the checklist, my instructor has (at least four times now since February) turned something - like the fuel - to 'OFF' just to see if I follow the checklist.



Kimberly
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I know an instructor that did that but unfortunately forgot that he had turned it off. On the positive side he and his student made a textbook emergency landing in the corn field off the end of the runway.
 
Swampfox201 said:
I know an instructor that did that but unfortunately forgot that he had turned it off. On the positive side he and his student made a textbook emergency landing in the corn field off the end of the runway.
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I know since it was a dual flight the CFI is probably to blame, but:

1. Is it the instructor's fault, for turning it "off"

or

2. Is it the student's fault, for not following the checklist

or

3. Is it the instructor's fault, for not remembering it was in the off position at / before time of takeoff
 
kimberlyanne546 said:
I know since it was a dual flight the CFI is probably to blame, but:

1. Is it the instructor's fault, for turning it "off"

or

2. Is it the student's fault, for not following the checklist

or

3. Is it the instructor's fault, for not remembering it was in the off position at / before time of takeoff
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Number 3.
 
kimberlyanne546 said:
I know since it was a dual flight the CFI is probably to blame, but:

1. Is it the instructor's fault, for turning it "off"

or

2. Is it the student's fault, for not following the checklist

or

3. Is it the instructor's fault, for not remembering it was in the off position at / before time of takeoff
Click to expand...

When you are flying under a student certificate, and your instructor is with you, your instructor is the PIC. Anything that goes wrong during the flight, from start up to shut down is your instructors sole responsibility. It has nothing to do with you at all.

It is the instructors job to know absolutely everything involved with the flight, including how you, his/her/its student, will handle the days mission.

As long as you have a student certificate, and an instructor on board, you are legally off the hook. This is the time to have your fun. :D

John
 
Perfect flight?

"It's a good day, when Sac Arrow doesn't have to use his AK!"
 
ASRS is your friend.....

I filed one yesterday after getting an altogether too-short void time at an airport crowded with OSH-goers.
 
I flew a perfect figure once that got 10's from all the judges. A perfect flight is one where afterward I can use the airplane again for the next time I want to fly. That hasn't always been my experience of defying gravity.
 
John Baker said:
So, can any of you honestly say that you have made an absolutely perfect flight? Do you think it can be done?

John
Click to expand...

I fly to have fun. If I have fun, it's a perfect flight. Most of my flights have been perfect.
 
One of the things I love about flying is that you can never know everything about it, and you can never do it *perfectly*.

I've had lots of flights that have gone really well, but *perfect* flying is not within the realm of possibility for humans.
 
Perfection is so far beyond my potential skill level that that there is no point in ever trying for perfection. Proficient, skilled, capable and still learning, yes. Perfect, never.

I'll take a reasonable amount of slop and the ability to adapt and a natural understanding of the environment over perfection and micromanaging everything to bits anyday.
 
I've flown out to my local grub stop, greased a very short landing, eaten a good lunch with some pie, and flown back to a smooth short landing. I wind up with a smile and a really nice memory.

Sorry, can't rightly poke any holes in it. Anything more and I always frack something up.
 
Closest I've come is 85.83% perfect, or so thought the half-blind, incompetent, moron judges on the ground. If they had been better, there's no way I'd have gotten over 80%. :D
 
Not according to Ed!




:D
 
My closest to perfect, went to Casa Grande AZ (KCGZ) for a fly-in. Winds calm on ASOS, #5 to land and am slowing down and watching the guys out front. As I turn final I can see the landing AC 2 ahead really go through some gyrations in the flare ... continue approach and plane immediate in front same response ... hmmm. As I cross the numbers I get a little thermal lift, followed by a sinker, a Left cross wind that varied to a right then back to left. I adjusted for each and placed the upwind tire on the runway and rolled on it about 50 feet and set it down nice.

As I cleared the runway, there's a group of "older gentlemen" holding little placards, all with 3's on them! What?!! Are you kidding me? Five big adjustments most of them in the flare and all I get is a 3? I of course did not agree with their "grading" of my landing:lol: From their vantage point it may have appeared as an "out of control" flare or part of the "drunk farmer" act.
 
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