Debrief

F. Story Musgrave flew in space six times, and is the only person to have flown on all five of NASA’s space shuttles. In 1993 he was the lead spacewalker on the first Hubble Space Telescope servicing mission, which brought the instrument to its full functionality.

Getting started early…I had soloed before I went in the Marine Corps at 17, and had an ATP when I went to NASA. Then I went through undergraduate pilot training with the Air Force. I owned a Cessna 172 at that time, so I actually flew to Reese Air Force Base with my family.

Staying proficient…NASA uses the Northrop T-38 to keep you sharp—aerospace sharp. Doing things right with the checklist, operating limitations, everything. It’s you and that machine and how much of a professional can you be. You had to focus on the job and be narrow as the skill required at the moment, without being distracted. That’s massively important.

The essentials of flight…If you take a hard look at essentials there are six items: Angle of attack; Angle of attack creates drag, so you need some power; Where am I? Where do I want to go? Roll takes you there; How high? That’s it, there’s nothing more to flying.

If things go wrong…When a system faults down, it has got to give you the essentials and allow you to do them. The designers of automation and the human/computer interface have got to remember that. You’ve also got to be trained on the essentials, and angle of attack is number one. That’s why an airplane is what it is, and people have forgotten that.

Advice for students…Getting in the groove is unbelievably important. If you’re not stable on an approach at 500 feet you go around, period. It’s those kinds of habit patterns that save the day. You have to be in that comfortable place where you and the machine are doing what you’re supposed to be doing. Being stable on an approach, being stable at go-around is just a beautiful principle.