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There is More to Flying Than Skill
Paying for a ticket and boarding a commercial airline is usually a low stress occasion for
the passengers. This is because the passengers know that the flight will arrive to its destination
on time and safely. Aircraft do not do anything without human interaction, and the reason the
flight arrives on time and safely is due to the training, experience, and good judgment of the pilot
or pilots operating the aircraft. A pilot can develop their skills, and pilot an aircraft very well, but
if their ability to identify hazards and mitigate the inherent risks from those hazards is not well
developed, the flight would be anything but safe. The Risk Management Handbook has plenty of
valuable information to assist a pilot in the ability to conduct a safe flight.
Honing the skill to identify hazards and mitigate risks does not only apply to commercial
pilots, but it also applies to all aviators. Student pilots who are just learning to fly have just as
much responsibility to develop this skill, as professional pilots have the responsibility to
maintain and enhance it. As a private pilot working on my instrument rating, I must ensure I am
paying close attention to the hazards of flying in IMC, and the risks that come along with
accepting those hazards. As an instrument student, aside from the obvious risks of flying in
weather that severely limits visibility, special attention should be paid to the pilot checklists of
PAVE (Pilot, Aircraft, enVironmant, External pressures) and IMSAFE (Illness, Medication,
Stress, Alcohol, Fatigue, Emotion) (FAA, 2016.) before, during, and after the flight.
Before any flight, regardless of if it is in IFR or VFR conditions, I always conduct a
thorough preflight check of the aircraft I will be flying, and I also conduct a preflight check of
myself to ensure I am ready and able to safely operate the aircraft, by using the IMSAFE
checklist. Am I or do I feel sick? Am I taking anything that could affect my ability to safely
operate the aircraft? How stressed do I feel? When was the last alcoholic drink I had? Am I tired
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or burned out? Am I upset about anything? Even though these questions almost always come
back as a positive result, I still ask myself before every flight. The one time I do not ask could be
the one time I unintentionally overlook something that could have serious effects of the safety of
the flight. If I am satisfied with the answers to these questions, I will continue to prepare for the
flight by using the PAVE checklist
The checklist I just completed covers the P in PAVE, so I continue to A (aircraft) in the
checklist. The aircraft being used can make or break a flight, especially in instrument flight. I
have cancelled a few flights because the aircraft I would be using, I was not familiar with the
instrumentation. The displays in the aircraft are effectively my only way to see anything, and if I
am not comfortable with how to operate them, I would be inviting unnecessary risk into the
equation. Since weather in IMC is never ideal, special attention must be paid to the weather
along my route, and at me destination. I also ensure to check what the forecast calls for at my
destination around the time I am scheduled to arrive. It could be bright and sunny when I check
the weather, and by the time I get there, the weather could be below minimums for me to land,
effectively making that airport unusable.
Every pilot has external pressures that affect them. As a pilot who is attempting their
instrument rating, one pressure I almost always must monitor is the desire to prove my abilities
to my instructor. I do push myself past my personal minimums sometimes, but they are
calculated risks taken in the effort to improve my abilities, and they are never taken without
informing my instructor about them before we ever get in the plane. This way, the instructor
knows my intentions, and if they see things getting out of hand, they are ready to assume control
if my reach exceeded my grasp. Though I have needed my instructor to intervene when I push
myself, that does not mean I do not need to inform them of my intentions. Keeping everyone in
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the cockpit up to speed also keeps everyone safer.
The PAVE and IMSAFE checklists are designed to be used before, during, and after any
and every flight. By using these checklists, I am constantly enhancing my abilities to detect,
identify, and mitigate risks and hazards before they have the potential to affect the safety of
flight. The Risk Management Handbook (FAA,2016.) is filled with a large amount of valuable
information that I believe all pilots, new and old, should learn to implement into every flight
decision.
