Link to Article

Can you take it?

By Dave English

There’s some excellent airmanship advice in an article about the U.S. Coast Guard in Alaska (The Red Bulletin, Sept 2016). It’s from helicopter pilot Lt. John Hess (in the picture), who has been awarded the Captain Frank Ericsson Award, the Distinguished Flying Cross, and saved a bunch of lives by flying many extreme rescues. He was asked, how does your crew prepare for tricky missions? He said: By critiquing each other. Even after simple maneuvers, like recovering empty rescue baskets. Anyone who can’t take criticism puts others at risk. Criticism is tough to take. I know. I’ve gotten plenty! But maybe if … Continue reading Can you take it?

Your only competition

By Dave English

The most insightful part of this super cool article (and video) is at the end:   “Ultimately, your only competition is yourself.” Jason Stephens, owner of Arizona Soaring Five-time national US glider aerobatics champion, who is described here as the “most accomplished American competition aerobatic glider pilot of his generation.” Quote in AOPA Pilot magazine, Zen Masters, July 2016. “The motivation is to get better. And learn more. And be more precise. And just enjoy it too.“ Lukas von Atzigen Unlimited glider aerobatics pilot

How to say no

By Dave English

Saying YES is easy, saying NO is hard. Outstanding article by James Albright in Business & Commercial Aviation on not pleasing the boss. There is an old saying among business aviation pilots: “You don’t pay me to say ‘Yes,’ you pay me to say ‘No.’” Saying “Yes” is easy; it is what the passengers want to hear. It takes real courage to look at the person who controls your fate and say “No.” Five case studies and then some useful ideas. When the boss is pushing, it explains tools we can use to push back:   Transfer ownership. Delay and redirect. Prioritize. Play … Continue reading How to say no

It’s no accident — it’s a crash

By Dave English

Interesting article yesterday in the New York Times, titled ‘It’s no accident: Advocates want to speak of car ‘crashes’ instead’. It’s about safety advocates changing language use from a car accident to a car crash. The AP recently revised their style guide. Dr Rosekind of the US National Highway Traffic Safety Administration is on board, saying, “When you use the word accident, it’s like, ‘God made it happen.’” The thinking is that ‘accident’ may make us shrug our shoulders and think, oh well, what can you do, accidents happen. ‘Accident’ may trivialize that most common cause of traffic incidents: human … Continue reading It’s no accident — it’s a crash

Travis Fimmel on passion. And work.

By Dave English

“There’s always that thing where you see people complain about their career and you know they haven’t worked hard enough. ‘Oh, we don’t get the opportunities,’ they tell me. I went to class with you. You didn’t stay there the whole time, you didn’t go watch extra classes. I grew up working hard and never wanted to blame anybody if I couldn’t make it work. I work hard with pride and I want to be good at whatever I do. My passion is kind of a pride-passion. I’ll outwork anyone. For me, you have to be really good to be … Continue reading Travis Fimmel on passion. And work.