How do you know when you're hot?

[Guest pelorus32]

I was thinking about this on Saturday when I was flying. Here are a few questions to kick off a discussion:

 

1. How do you know that you're flying well and that you are responding to the cues from your environment and have the head room to respond to emergencies?
    
    
   
2. How do you know that your perception that you are flying well is not just over confidence on your part?
    
    
   
3. Does how much you fly affect your capacity to fly well? If the answer is yes then how much is enough?
    
    
   
4. Does the input of an instructor matter and if so how often do you need that input?
    
    
   
5. Does the total hours you have make a difference? In other words did you need to fly more as a new pilot than as a pilot with more hours in order to remain "current".
    
   

 

I'm NOT talking about the regs here, I'm talking about your perception of how well you are flying.

 

For me it goes like this:

 

1. I feel like I am flying well when there is a flow to my actions, when I am several steps ahead of the aircraft, when I don't feel rushed and flustered and when my S&R feels tight and precise. These to me are a few of the "symptoms" that I'm flying OK. I'm never satisfied but if it's like this then I don't feel concerned.
    
    
   
2. Two ways: First always question and challenge myself and never accept that I am "good". Second fly with an instructor regularly;
    
    
   
3. Yes, I reckon on 3-4 hours a month being the bare minimum and 8 - 10 being better. When I fly 20+ hours a month I tend to feel very sharp;
    
    
   
4. Yes it does matter because it's an outside check of what I'm doing and my perceptions of myself. It is also a way of ensuring that I continue to learn new things. Try to do it at least every 6 weeks and to learn something new every time;
    
    
   
5. Don't know!
    
   

 

It would be great to hear others' views.

 

Regards

 

Mike

 

 

[Guest airsick]

For point 5 I think there will be a few different views but here are mine.

 

I think that as a new pilot practice makes perfect. More hours when you are low will yield a lot of benefit. The more experience you get the better.

 

As you increase your hours you are going to be exposed to more situations and learn to deal with them appropriately (hopefully!). Your existing knowledge will be embedded and things will become second nature (although that shouldn't stop you thinking...).

 

I think the marginal returns to more hours are therefore less for a high hour pilot than for a low hour pilot. Having said that I think that every 'recent' hour is still valuable regardless of your total time.

 

 

[Guest Redair]

OK, here's a thought, now don't start screaming at me for asking this, but... if you say that you should have a regular check from an instructor, to make sure you are not getting into bad habbits from many hours of flying, then how do instructors not fall into the same bad habbits themselves, or even develop other ones from all of their flying? And this then leads to my next question, which is, if you go on to become an instructor, does this mean you will not have any bad habbits and always fly at 110%? Not trying to be clever here, but I have been aware in the past of driving instructors that had been doing it so long that they had developed some really bad habbits, which weren't being picked up on their reviews, and more worrying were being passed on to their students.

 

And before the lynch mob come to look for me, I am NOT saying that any RAA instructor is in any way defective, I am merely interested to know when or how you can reach a point where you really are a good pilot?

 

Redair.

 

 

[motzartmerv]

Well, for mine, i am only a newbie...got about 100 hours total, and i make mistakes on evry flight...evry one... 99% of the time they are small ones, like, forgetting the carby heat back off on fnal, or forgetting to turn the fuel pump off at the top of climb.. or sinking or climbing oin the cct by 50 ft..

 

I think check ride with an instructor would pick up on one or two of these things depending on what ya did wrong during the flight.. I consider flying accuretly to be a major point regarding how well im doing, ie, if im accurate, right height, right speed and i mean dead on, then the rest seems to fall in line.. I am my own worst critic, at the end of evry flight i evaluate what mistakes i made, and i reckon if we are all honest with ourselve's we will find things we can do better next time.. The goal is perfection and i feel i will never fully reach it while i am so picky with myself, and thats the idea i think, to keep picking holes in even the smallest of mistakes...

 

Regarding the instructors.. i think that because they spend most of there time flying in a learning environment that it should instill all the airmenship quality's to a higher level then that of joe flier who skootes around the countryside with missus cranky beside him.. But, that being said, i have seen some bad habbits from instructors, but they only become apparent when you fly with someone else.. And students wouldn't really know a bad habbit would they, they just see and do what there told...so its a good point i think..

 

 

[Guest brentc]

or sinking or climbing in the cct by 50 ft..

I've got well over 1,000 hours and that 50 feet becomes 500! so you're doing well!

 

 

[Guest airsick]

Geez Brent, 500ft in the circuit! You'll be crashing into helo's and jets at that rate! :)

 

 

[Yenn]

I like to try and keep every flight as a training experience, but i can't carry an instructor along, also I have known a few instructors who don't impress. One in particular who has tried about every stupid trick in the book and got away with it. Nice bloke but forgets to turn brain on sometimes.

 

Personally I find it hard to assess myself, but if I survive I must be doing something correctly, also I am too stupid to frighten myself, although i have frightened those on the ground, such as when a tappet cover came loose and dumped oil on the exhaust.

 

 

[Guest disperse]

when things happen the way you want them to, and when you want them to. your on the ball.

 

as soon as you start haveing little oopsie's cause you nearly forgot. your getting rusty.

 

 

[Mazda]

Personally I find preparation very important. I find I keep on top of things best when I've flight planned thoroughly, know the aircraft numbers and "bold face" checks off by heart, considered any navaids or airspace, thought about the wind/weather and destination runway layout, and given myself a good pre-flight "what if" briefing (both for what happens if things go wrong and for what do to if things go right). Once I've considered all of that I know what to expect and the flight is more inclined to flow smoothly.

 

If I'm fumbling around looking for checklists, reading ERSA for special precautions/frequency/runway layout (instead of just reviewing it) etc that's when I'm more inclined to miss things.

 

Every now and then I try to really make myself think so routine checks are done properly, not glossed over. Did the numbers really increase and decrease when taxiing? Did the compass match? Is my rudder moving on taxi turns?

 

I think the mind has a lot to do with it too. If you make checks of utmost importance rather than a simple thing that doesn't really matter, that may help.

 

Mozart be really careful with things like fuel pumps and carby heat. They might not seem like much, but on some aircraft if you leave the fuel pump on you can start a fire. On low powered aircraft if you leave the carby heat on you might not have enough power for go around. Two people were killed in a C150 at CN some years back because of that. (Well, actually it was Swiss cheese thing - they were heavy, may have had a tailwind, and tried to go around with flap out and carby heat on.)

 

 

[motzartmerv]

Mazda, thnanx, i didnt realise the fire potential with the fuel pump.. I have only forgotten it a few times but i consider it a "mistake" lke i said...

 

The carby heat is quite noticable 2 up in the jab on a warm day... Some instructors say not to worry about carby heat on warm days, and others say to pull it on anyway to keep the habbit and i'd have to agree with the later..What do you do??

 

 

[Mazda]

Mozart, I don't know if it causes a fire hazard in the Jab (I haven't flown one!) but in some aircraft it can do - especially in aircraft with fuel transfer pumps and the tank runs dry.

 

The carby heat question is a really good one. When I first started in C152s I was told not to use it in the circuit. Then when I flew Citabrias I was told to use it in the circuit. Some schools operating Warriors say yes, others say you don't need to. It has a lot do to with the weather at the time and with the type of engine. When I was flying a C172 out of Bathurst, I'd get obvious carby ice (rough running, RPM drop) even when on the ground. Just before taking off I'd re-do the carby heat to make sure it was clear. So for that 172 at Bathurst I always used carby heat in the circuit and listened for an RPM drop enroute.

 

My current aircraft has the same engine as a C152 and it has a carby temp gauge. This takes the guesswork out of it! I generally don't use carby heat on this aircraft in the circuit at CN because the gauge says I don't need to. When I first got the aircraft I did try using carby heat in the circuit and it ran really roughly, then smoothed out as soon when I got rid of the carby heat. So for me in that aircraft, my pre-landing checks include checking the gauge and ascertaining if carby heat is needed (usually not).

 

Not knowing the Jab, all I can suggest is to ask your instructor, or other Jabiru pilots, or even contact the manufacturer and ask for their recommendations?

 

 

[motzartmerv]

Mazda..thanx for the tips.. ill deffinatly take the issue regarding the carby heat up with the chieff..

 

I see you also fly out of CN.. who do you fly with?? i have been flying with Gostner and hope to soon be doing some RAA instructing with them..

 

You don't happen to fly a twin engine from CN do you.. I had an incident there a few months bak, a bit of a close call with a twin in the cct, the pilot was a female and ive never been able to track her down to have a talk with her about where I went wrong and weather she saw me or not..(check out "close call at camden" in the incident threads)..

 

anyway, thanx again

 

 

[Mazda]

I'm flying with CN aviation.

 

I have been known to fly a twin from CN (the Party) but no, it wasn't me. A girl was flying a Duchess there recently (with Ray Ekinci perhaps?)

 

 

[Yenn]

motzartmerv.

 

What is all this about where you went wrong. Ive had a good look at that post and my impression is that the woman pilot was travelling at circuit height directly above the duty runway. That is a position where you would expect to find traffic on crosswind prior to joining downwind. Don't put yourself down.

 

It would be good to see the other pilots point of view, and in my opinion it was just a regrettable incident that turned out well, not only by their being no accident, but we all got to learn something.

 

 

[motzartmerv]

Thanx Yenn for the kind words... I agree that being at cct height on upwind leg over head the strip was probably a major contributor to the incident, but i feel my actions where the other peice of the swiss cheese, i turned to close to the strip and didnt give myself enough time to 'see' the traffic on upwind.. thats the main 'learny' i took away from the incident anyway...

 

Thanx again;)