mastery

Ball flying and baseball

By Dave English

This was sent to me by an Art of Airmanship reader, who is an active USN F/A-18 pilot. It was written sometime in the 90’s, and is credited to Lieutenant Commander James Winnefeld, Jr. He was a US Navy pilot, a real TOPGUN instructor, and worked on the movie Top Gun. He is currently an Admiral, serving as Vice Chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff. It’s on the reading list at LSO school, and is a fascinating deep dive into the practical mental aspects of high performance flying. Most of us don’t “call the ball” to land on an aircraft carrier. But … Continue reading Ball flying and baseball

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The two attributes needed to make a seaman

“I think that the two important attributes needed to make a seaman are, first, that he should perform all his actions at the right speed (many people fail through trying to do things too fast) and, second, that he should be the master (rather than the slave) of every piece of equipment on board his yacht.”

~ Peter Kemp, ex Royal Navy, ex The Times of London, author/editor of 20 books on sailing. One long sentence in the second-to-last paragraph of his 1983 book ‘Seamanship’. It applies equally well to pilots, of both sexes.

Right speed, not too fast.
Master, not slave, of every piece of equipment.

The very last sentence is good stuff as well:

“In a way a voyage is a work of art. True, there is nothing left when it is over as there is when an artist has completed a painting, sculpture or piece of architecture. Nevertheless, the seaman too is an artist in his own right, and if his work is successful it will live on into posterity through the happy memories of all who shared it.”

 

Seamanship