Letters

I just read Greg Brown’s article in the July 2010 edition of Flight Training about making tough takeoff decisions (see “Flying Carpet: Prudent Pilots”). As an emergency-room physician, every day I am called upon to make thousands of decisions. Many of those decisions will directly affect the life and well-being of those who call upon me. It took me years to become comfortable making those decisions.

I now look at every decision as a balance between risk and benefit. I realize that everything we do has some amount of risk attached to it, and some amount of benefit attached. As the scales tip toward the risk or benefit side, the decision is made. The balancing point is different for each person.

After the decision, there is plenty of time for second-guessing, but I resist that urge. Instead, I use that time to learn. I look at the information sources I had and compare them to the result and see how much fidelity there is. Assessing fidelity, how reliable a source is, allows the decision maker to figure out how to rely upon on that source in the future. As experience accumulates, the assessment of risk becomes easier and the decisions lead to more good outcomes.

Jim Custis Jr.
Birmingham, Alabama

With the wind

Ian J. Twombly’s article on crosswind landings (see “Technique: Crosswind Landings,” July Flight Training) is the best I have read.

Virgilio Vincent
Pinehurst, North Carolina

Learning from others

I just had to comment on your recent pilot profiles of well-known celebrities in Flight Training magazine (see “Debrief,” p. 56). It is an inspiration to read about the aviation experiences of people the likes of Kurt Russell, Zach Braff, and Alton Brown. Not only are these individuals well known to multiple generations of pilots and pilots in training, but in reading about why they fly and the personal challenges they faced during training—and still face today—we know that we are in good company. Keep the profiles coming and thanks for making the challenges seem normal to all of us.

Lee Barnhill
Washington, D.C.

Aileron or rudder?

Flight Training magazine has been and continues to be an aviation high point for me every month. As published, the July issue’s cover story, “Fly Slow, Bank Steep” by LeRoy Cook, is a head-shaker. The staff proofreaders should have caught or questioned the improper use of rudder versus aileron for controlling overbanking as stated in the article.

Gordon Young, CFII
Farmington, New York

The author responds: Using a bit of top rudder does keep the inside wing from going down into a steeper and steeper spiral, allowing a hands-off steep turn, as I described. I followed up my “top rudder” statement by saying, “aileron remains the primary roll control,” to make sure there was no misunderstanding about how the airplane was being flown. The rudder is only a trimming device. There’s usually more than one way to fly an airplane, and all of them are right, in some way.—Ed