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Why we should follow the rules

When most of us were much younger, we were taught some important lessons--learning the difference between right and wrong, for one, and understanding why it's important to follow rules. Some people learn those lessons better than others, of course, and some never learn them at all. Still others learn those lessons, and then choose to ignore them. A couple of recent e-mails illustrate that some of the latter are among those with whom we share the skies.

One reader disagreed with suggestions proffered by Rod Machado in "Since You Asked" (February AOPA Flight Training). A flight instructor wrote Machado seeking advice on how to handle a new client--a private pilot without an instrument rating--who told the instructor that he "flew through the clouds a few times" on his previous cross-country, climbing through 4,000 feet of clouds with a passenger on board.

"I do not think that the response to someone who has flown through clouds without an instrument rating was appropriate," said the reader, whose name is being omitted for reasons you'll soon understand. "That person showed at least two relevant and redeeming points, the first being that he decided not to 'scud run,' and the second being that he had learned his lessons well enough to be able to control the airplane solely by reference to instruments. Irrespective of aviation law, he did nothing wrong because he obtained an air traffic control clearance to assure the safe conduct of flight."

I do not condone this opinion. Is it possible that a pilot could accomplish such a flight using only the basic instrument-flying skills he had to develop in order to pass the private pilot checkride? Perhaps--if everything works as advertised. However, a large portion of my instrument training focused on instrument and systems failures, and much of my instrument checkride was flown partial panel, with covers obscuring multiple flight instruments. How well would the pilot in question have performed if, while in the clouds, the aircraft's vacuum pump had failed? That's not an everyday occurrence, but it does happen--and much of what we'll learn throughout our flying years is anticipating and handling emergencies.

The author of the e-mail, now a commercial pilot with an instrument rating, goes on to share his own background. "When studying for my instrument rating, I gave up scud running for the safer climb to VFR on top--with a clearance, naturally. The only way I could be caught getting a clearance without having an instrument rating was if I screwed up. My flight instructors made sure that I knew what I needed to know so that it was inconceivable that I would screw up. I will not admit to the number of instrument approaches I made before I had obtained the instrument rating."

Sorry, this still doesn't sound like a good idea to me. Rescheduling your flight is the preferred alternative to scud running--and it doesn't involve willful violation of the regulations. Did his instructor condone this behavior?

Even more disturbing was an e-mail from a friend and CFI whom I have known for nearly 20 years. He had relocated to a different region of the country, and he applied for a full-time CFI position in a nearby city. On his first day of work, he was told to take two guys up in a Cessna 172 and search for a stolen truck. "No one had even asked to see if I had a pilot certificate, let alone conduct a flight check," my friend told me. "That afternoon I was suppose to get a checkout out in a DA40 Diamond Star. My checkout consisted of flying to a nearby airport, picking up a case of oil, and flying back. Two takeoffs and two landings--flight check done.

"The next morning I walked in and was immediately told that I was to take a 172 to another airport, where I would pick up an airplane that was in a paint shop. I was going with a private pilot who had recently earned his certificate at this joint. On the way I noticed that the oil temperature was climbing, and even after reducing power, it did not leave the edge of the red line. I told the pilot I was flying with that I didn't like the looks of that, and we turned around. On approach to landing the kid went to pull the carb heat and the entire assembly came out of the panel.

"I called the owner on his cell phone to tell him why we came back, and he snorted that the plane always runs hot, but 'if I was concerned' to let the mechanics check it and then get on our way. They fixed it, all right; when I went to apply power the temperature was good but the oil pressure shot completely off the peg, and I aborted the takeoff.

"Then the chief flight instructor shows up and tells me we are going to do a checkout in a twin-engine airplane. No ground time, but hey, 'It's just an airplane, right?'"

The e-mail continued with similar events. Soon my friend was asked to sign an employment agreement stating that, among other things, if he left the flight school he would not work in any related activity within 100 miles for at least one year. When he declined, he was fired.

Needless to say, my friend was demoralized, and he signed his message "former CFI." Fortunately, it didn't take him long to find a job as an instructor at another flight school in the area--one with a better regard for the regulations and a more professional attitude.

Anti-authority is the first of five hazardous attitudes that flight instructors are encouraged to recognize (the others are impulsivity, invulnerability, macho, and resignation). "Attitude will affect the quality of decisions," notes the FAA's Aviation Instructor's Handbook. "Hazardous attitudes can lead to poor decision making and actions which involve unnecessary risk."

The antidote to the hazardous attitude of anti-authority is "Follow the rules. They are usually right." Many of today's federal aviation regulations resulted from fatal accidents. If there's a regulation that you don't understand--or consider silly or unnecessary--ask your instructor why it's important. As pilots, some of the easiest lessons we can learn are from the mistakes of others. Those of us who choose not to do so should carefully consider the wisdom of George Santayana's timeless quote, "Those who do not remember the past are condemned to repeat it."

If anything in aviation ever seems suspicious to you, do a little research. Ask your flight instructor, a mentor, or another trusted pilot friend. If you still don't understand--or if you have any doubt that you're getting the correct answer--call AOPA's Pilot Information Center at 800/USA-AOPA. Share your concerns with a knowledgeable pilot (most are also flight instructors), and know that you're getting the best information available.

E-mail Mike Collins, editor of AOPA Flight Training, at [email protected].