AOPA article: The Art of Airmanship

This is an interesting article: The Art of Airmanship, from AOPA’s Flight Training magazine (Aug 2006). A nice read, but I do have some comments. Like why oh why is the word Art at the start of the title but never mentioned in the article! The author states “Airmanship used to be about basic stick and rudder skills.” I disagree. The earliest use of the word (7th of July, 1859 in the New York Times) mentions resource management, and the basic FAA definition includes “exercise of sound judgment.” The article claims: In the end, airmanship really is about pride-pride in learning as … Continue reading AOPA article: The Art of Airmanship

Counting the hours

“I was counting the hours at the end, not because I was eager to land, because it was the only hours left for me to enjoy my time in this cockpit.”  ~ André Borschberg, Solar Impulse 2 pilot, regards his historic 118 hour flight across the Pacific. Report in Wired.com   

I know my personal limits

“I knew my personal limits. It was my pride to know my abilities and those of the airplanes I flew. Still, there was always a part of me that knew I could dart outside the limits for a bit and sneak back in quickly.” ~ Ryan Lunde This quote is from an excellent personal article well worth reading: Impact, online at BackCountryPilot.org

The aircraft is our tool

Formation aerobatic pilot Christophe Deketelaere on the perpetual pursuit: He flew for 18 years in the French Air Force, and currently is on the Breathing Jet Team. Quote is in an article on the Breitling Jet Team in the July, 2015, AOPA Pilot magazine.

Automation addiction

In 2011, before the Asiana B777 crash, before the UPS A300 crash, industry experts were talking about automation addiction. It’s in an excellent AP news story, Automation in the air dulls pilot skill. Think they were onto something? How do you stay sharp?