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My Worst Flight Was My Best Lesson |
By Wayne Arbon
My worst flight was my best lesson and may one day save my life. More importantly, it may just have saved the lives of my future passengers.
Learning to control an aircraft is easy: pull back to go up, push forward to go down, turn left to go left, turn right to go right. Learning to fly, navigate and make command decisions safely is a totally different skill.
I have just discovered the two words that kill pilots: over confidence. I'll talk more about that later but basically, for student pilots, it means that relying on your instructor and being able to fly set patterns does not mean you are a pilot and able to handle unexpected problems.
Most of us try to "get my licence" but that is the wrong way to think - forget the licence, learn to fly.
I was guilty of putting the credentials before the knowledge and it has made me a better pilot.
This is what happened:
Ironically, my worst flight was my PPL flight test. The weather was nice, I had flown the course before. Everything should have been simple.
After a normal pre-flight, my instructor, a CASA official (my instructer was applying to become a CASA testing officer) and I headed off for the first leg - Murray Bridge to Meningie, an easy 38 nautical mile flight with an NDB at nearby Lake Albert.
The first leg was perfect but everything fell apart as we neared Meningie. To this day, I still do not know what happened or why it happened.
I picked a runway and my instructor asked me to land on an adjacent runway to see my crosswind landings. For some reason (I found all this out later) I had the power setting about 200 RPM too low.
The landing itself was OK, but after we had touched down and I had powered up for a touch-and-go I noticed two kangaroos near the edge of the runway. My instructor asked if I had seen them before we landed and I said I hadn't. I later found out that he hadn't seen them either but that was when the doubt started - did he see them? Did I make a bad mistake? Should I have gone around?
As we climbed out I asked if he wanted me to do another touch and go (which wasn't my smartest idea because of the kangaroos) and his reply was a little sharper than I expected. Remember, this was the mild-mannered man who trained me but he was also under pressure because he was being tested also.
From then on, I lost it. I assumed that I had failed because I thought that I had to get everything exactly right.
The rest of the flight was a nightmare and was actually cut short. I set the DG and compass correctly, but then followed the wrong course. My power setting was too low, my groundspeed low and I got way off course.
We did some IFR flying and then my instructor asked me to tell him where we were. I looked down, saw a town, checked my WAC chart to see what nearby town had a silo and then I told our instructor that we were over the wrong town. Here's a tip: never rely totally on one feature. The town below me had a silo but on my WAC I coudn't find a town with a silo in the general area. Do you know why? The new WAC chart was wrong and was missing silos for about 10 towns.
Well, that was it. My worst flight ever came to an ignomonious end, shattering my confidence and self belief. I drove home that night thinking I that was the end of my dream, that I would never be able to become a pilot.
Looking back now with my PPL safely in my wallet, I realise the true value of that flight and I realise it was the best thing that ever happened in my flying career.
In the few days after this flight, I had to stop and evaluate everything. I realised that I needed to learnt to fly, not just "get my licence".
I discovered that I did not have to do everything perfect to pass my test - the wording is "no sustained errors". Which means, if I get 200 feet high, I need to make the effort to get to the right altitude. If I wasn't happy with my steep turns, I could tell the instructor and do it again.
If I got lost, I could retrace my steps backwards, fly back to Merningie via the NDB, I could take 10 minutes to work out where I was. I could even have flown back to Meningie, landed and had a 10-minute break.
Even worse, I was born and raised in the country we were flying over - from where I was "lost" I could actually see my parents farm if I had looked to the left!
The test is structured to cover a wide varity of skills, but the testing officer wants to see you make safe command decisions. Remember, they are testing you for a licence which will allow you to fly anywhere in Australia with passengers. Safety is the issue, not whether you get to the destination 10 minutes faster than anyone else.
I spent a few weeks re-reading the training manuals, did one training flight in the training area, learnt a technique called "flight plotting" (which is basically a guesstimate based on your 10-mile markers on your map) and the day before my PPL test flew the course with my instructor.
My second flight test was totally different.
This flight was from Murray Bridge to Strathalbyn to Loxton to Stonefield and back to Murray Bridge.
I flew a few circuits early that day and felt comfortable as we took off for the 10-minute flight to Strathalbyn, where I did a normal landing and a flapless with a go-around.
Leaving Murray Bridge I dialled up the Tailem Bend NDB and overflew for Loxton. At Wanbi I was exactly on track and my instructor asked me to do a stall and divert to Mannum. On the way we did some low level flying and the IFR requirements before hitting the training area where we did steep turns, practiced forced landings and a precautionary search before heading back to Murray Bridge for a short-field landing.
Finally, after a 2.6-hour flight and 15 years of dreaming, I was a pilot.
The feeling - still - is like nothing I have ever felt. It's one of joy and pride and accomplishment, but most importantly it's one of confidence.
I now know that I am able to make correct decisions in any circumstance and get my family and friends safely to where we are going, no matter what may happen during the flight.
Remember, no flight is perfect. Learn from your mistakes and never stop trying to improve your skills. With many years left in my flying career, my best lesson will always be my worst flight.
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