In flight training, we learn how important preflight weather planning is to a successful flight. In addition to your flight instructor’s recommendations for weather briefing sources, you may want to take time to watch the AOPA Air Safety Institute’s video, Weather Wise: Gathering Information, which provides guidance on using the various aviation weather sources, such as Flight Service and CSC DUATS, along with apps and websites that provide aviation-specific weather at home and on the go. In this first installment in a video series focused on practical weather flying, the Air Safety Institute also shares strategies for gathering important weather information at the right time, using the system that fits your needs (www.airsafetyinstitute.org/weather-wise/gatheringinformation).
Do the right thing
Personal minimums are your friend
One of the first things we look forward to after the checkride is taking family and friends to share the joy of flying. That’s also a good time to review our responsibilities as pilot in command and how we intend to make safe choices. For example, it can be tough to distinguish between our desire and our need to complete a flight, especially when we’re lured by being close to our destination or motivated by the wish to please family or acquaintances. Such pressure can compromise sound decision making, so we should have a personal minimums checklist and identify risks ahead of time while preparing a contingency plan for each.
First we’ll have to carefully assess how we are doing. Are we healthy and well-rested? Are medications we’re taking legal for flying? Are we feeling stress, perhaps because of a major life event? Next, we need to evaluate our aircraft’s condition, the weather, and our route selection.
To help guide us through the process, the AOPA Air Safety Institute’s Do The Right Thing: Decision Making for Pilots online course (www.airsafetyinstitute.org/decisionmaking) is a great resource with practical advice on how to anticipate and recognize problems and how to avoid circumstances that lead to really tough choices. Next, we can use ASI’s Flight Risk Evaluator (www.airsafetyinstitute.org/flightriskeval) to take a more formal approach in flight planning and get an objective assessment of the risks.
Related Articles
