You know you're a pilot when...

Shawn

Shawn

En-Route
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May 6, 2013
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Shawn
...you are sitting in the car with the engine running and realize that you are pressing unusually hard on the TOP of the brake pedal.

...or you are circling the mall parking lot, spot an open space next row over and think about getting to it in terms of turning Base then Final!
 
.... after you land, you get in your car and fail to realize you're going 40mph over the speed limit.

.... or if you're an IFR pilot, you start looking at the dash of your car when it gets dark or foggy.
 
When you have the aviation weather on your cell phone,and you can give your friends the weather report for the week. Also you change your schedule whenever it's severe clear.
 
Jim Burns said:
.... after you land, you get in your car and fail to realize you're going 40mph over the speed limit
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Yep. I am very conscious of using cruise control when leaving the airport until transition of mindset is complete.
 
...You follow in your Cessna another pilot jangling his keys along the transient ramp to take his parking spot
 
... you understand the reason for the bumps and bruises on Bruce C's forehead.

... you are well on your way to competing head to head with Ron or Steven in an FAR and Head Counsel quote off.
 
... you catch yourself trying to program your Garmin Nüvi GPS with Airport codes.
 
...when some asks you to spell your last name, without thinking, you respond phonetically ("Foxtrot Alpha Romeo Lima Oscar Whiskey")
 
I've done the get down, get in the car, and oops! I'm going 90m.p.h! :eek:
 
...you respond to your significant other's requests with "Roger."
 
DrewG said:
...you respond to your significant other's requests with "Roger."
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Or worse, your suggestion of getting frisky gets an "Unable" response.
 
....the main justification you tell your friends and family you purchased an iPad Mini is so you can use FF, WX, other EFB of choice.
 
txflyer said:
I've done the get down, get in the car, and oops! I'm going 90m.p.h! :eek:
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Isn't that even outside the red arc for your plane?
You know you're a pilot when you can tell the cloud heights just by looking at them.

And when you start to tell people it's a nice day even though it's full overcast, because the clouds aren't that close to the ground (even when you don't plan on flying).
 
When you don't want your kids to understand what your saying you spell it out to your wife phonetically.

Honey ... "Sierra Echo Xray" ??

I usually get the big smile with an stern "November Oscar Papa Echo" !!
 
I've been driving home from work and upon seeing some nasty weather up the road, I have reached down to try to turn on the wx radar....


Time to unplug.
 
Oh, and finally... You know you're a pilot when everyone you know knows you're a pilot :)
 
... upon driving home after doing practice landings, you catch yourself lined up in the center of the highway rather than in your lane.
 
... before starting your car or truck, you provide a pre-drive briefing to your passengers, explaining where the exits are, how to operate the doors, asking to watch out for nearby traffic, and to keep quiet when you're working the AM/FM/MP3 radio.

... upon arriving home, you push your car/truck backwards into the garage.
 
... you catch yourself pulling into the local shopping mall and announcing, "Any Traffic in the Parking Lot Please Advise"
 
...from the sound alone, you can recognize a O320 or O360 aircraft engine as easily as a motorhead can recognize a Hemi or Chevy 350 and a biker a Harley panhead or knucklehead.
 
...you walk into a pilot dive bar, and you try to impress the good looking gal by introducing yourself as Henning Heinemann.
 
....someone offers you a drink and you say "no thanks, I'm flying".
 
After parking your car you try to shut off the engine by pulling on the radio knob :mad2:

you try to steering the car tighter into a turn by pushing on the clutch or the gas pedal.:yikes:
 
PilotAlan said:
Yep. I am very conscious of using cruise control when leaving the airport until transition of mindset is complete.
Click to expand...


After the instrument rating I found myself using cruise control because it could paint the needle on a speed in the flatland better than I could. And it'd let me stare at the speedo needle longer. LOL.
 
I ask the wife and kids to clear me left and right as I near intersections.

I walk around my vehicle before getting in. Seems to always get strange looks.

I watch for 65 kts on FF as I accelerate while pulling back on the bottom of my steering wheel.

Stick my hand out the window at 65 kts to see what my wings feel at lift off.
 
...... When you loose something and someone asks if you've found the item yet you say " negative contact, still looking."

..... All week long at lunch time at work you find yourself looking at trade-a-plane or controller.com trying to find the plane you wish you had the money to buy.
 
In the car on the way home from the airport when first learning to fly, I would, without thinking, accelerate in gentle right turns and decelerate to the left, since every "aileron" input gets a "rudder" input.

I also added "Say Again" to my everyday vocab. :lol:
 
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