{"id":5741,"date":"2015-09-25T07:24:27","date_gmt":"2015-09-25T14:24:27","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/tailwheelersjournal.mechadigital.net\/?p=3560"},"modified":"2021-08-26T20:37:55","modified_gmt":"2021-08-26T20:37:55","slug":"139-responsibility-2","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/tailwheelersjournal.com\/139-responsibility-2\/","title":{"rendered":"#139 Responsibility"},"content":{"rendered":"

As a flight instructor specializing in precision airmanship and tailwheel flying, I find that I get more than my share of airline pilots, who come to me for a little help with their flying of significantly smaller airplanes than they fly at work.<\/h3>\n
\"Brian<\/a>
Look at all those smiles. It’s the pilot’s job to keep them there.<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

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I really enjoy flying with them.\u00a0 For one thing, they share with military pilots the ability to learn.\u00a0 They seem to have a humility which makes them far more able to accept a bit of constructive criticism than some general aviation pilots.<\/h3>\n

I\u2019ve also enjoyed discussing with my airline pilot pals a little phenomenon that I first heard from Bert Garrison.\u00a0 Bert was the one who told me that many non-flyers think that if one is an airline pilot, he can fly ANYTHING!<\/h3>\n

But there is one little thing which we never seem to talk about, but which enters my little mind from time to time.\u00a0 Tom Sanco used to refer to passengers as \u201cGeese\u201d.\u00a0 As in, \u201cya gotta give those geese in the back a nice smooth landing\u201d.<\/h3>\n

I know that when we first get our private pilot certificate and can fly at least one other, unsuspecting person, we get the first inkling of being responsible for another\u2019s well-being.\u00a0 But can you imagine being responsible for 200 or more people behind you?<\/h3>\n

I know that some would say that it doesn\u2019t make any difference whether you are responsible for 1 or 1,000 lives.\u00a0 I disagree.\u00a0 I think it makes a big difference.\u00a0 But regardless of the number, as soon as we take another aloft, we are responsible for their well-being and it SHOULD make a difference.\u00a0 We might think twice about doing something which would increase our risk. Aerobatics, low approaches, water skiing or a host of other things which the boys in polyester pants like to call \u201cmaneuvering flight\u201d come to mind.<\/h3>\n

My point is this.\u00a0 Always consider the risk, when another person depends on your<\/h3>\n
\"DSC03130\"<\/a>
Two precious lives with blind faith in the pilot’s ability to keep them safe.<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

skill as a pilot.\u00a0 It\u2019s okay to take chances with your own life, but not with another\u2019s.<\/h3>\n

And sometimes that other life isn\u2019t even in the airplane with you.\u00a0 When I was teaching in Florida, I\u2019d often ask a student where he\u2019d land if the engine quit.\u00a0 If we were near a beach, he\u2019d usually gesture toward it and say with confidence, \u201cI\u2019d put it down on the beach.\u201d<\/h3>\n

\u201cBut what about that guy shepherding his kids along the sand for a fun time in\u00a0the surf\u201d, I\u2019d ask.\u00a0 I\u2019d point out that it wasn\u2019t really fair to subject that guy to an engineless airplane smacking him from behind.\u00a0 After all, he hadn\u2019t figured that risk into his innocent journey to the beach that day.\u00a0 I told the student that he really didn\u2019t have any choice but to put the plane in the surf, rather than endanger the life of another.<\/h3>\n

And those are just some of the things we have to think about when we hop in an airplane to enjoy this amazing flying life we lead.<\/h3>\n

Happy Swooping!<\/h3>\n

Brian<\/h3>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

“It\u2019s okay to take chances with your own life, but not with another\u2019s.”<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":3,"featured_media":3564,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_mi_skip_tracking":false,"_monsterinsights_sitenote_active":false,"_monsterinsights_sitenote_note":"","_monsterinsights_sitenote_category":0,"footnotes":""},"categories":[3],"tags":[35,67,68,140,174],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/tailwheelersjournal.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/5741"}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/tailwheelersjournal.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/tailwheelersjournal.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/tailwheelersjournal.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/3"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/tailwheelersjournal.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=5741"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/tailwheelersjournal.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/5741\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/tailwheelersjournal.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/3564"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/tailwheelersjournal.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=5741"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/tailwheelersjournal.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=5741"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/tailwheelersjournal.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=5741"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}