Button Pushing

“A musician must practice every day. A baseball player must practice every day. Heck, even a clown has to practice. So why do pilots get to push buttons on an autopilot and consider that flying? That is not flying.”

  ~ Rick Erikson, writing about automation dependency and proficiency in the June 2015 edition of Soaring magazine.

Otto Pilot from the 1980 movie Airplane!
Otto Pilot from the 1980 movie Airplane!

All dangers are over?

“He that will not sail till all dangers are over must never put to sea.”

~ Thomas Fuller. He wrote this towards the end of the 1600’s. So we’ve known for a long time that ‘perfect safety’ or zero-accidents is kinda silly. There are always dangers in the deep and in the air.

 The ship Garthsnaid in heavy seas, c. 1920. Out of copyright, from State Library of Victoria.
The ship Garthsnaid in heavy seas, c. 1920. Out of copyright, from State Library of Victoria.

Confusion over basic things?

“There is still a lot of confusion over what seems to be basic things. We haven’t done a very good job of training folks.”

~ Aerobatic instructor Bruce Williams, expressing what many experienced pilots secretly know. Interview in the June AOPA Pilot magazine. Bruce is online at www.BruceAir.com.

Bruce in his Extra 300L
Bruce in his Extra 300L