I’ve come to believe there’s a direct inverse relationship between how sure someone is of something and how likely it is he is correct. It doesn’t matter if the fact is the V-speed of an airplane or the score of last night’s game, the result is the same. I would say that I’m absolutely sure I’m the first person to think of this, but then I would be a hypocrite. No, two psychologists actually have studied this relationship between perceived knowledge and the truth, and everyone from Shakespeare to Charles Darwin apparently has written about it. Confucius probably said it best: “Real knowledge is to know the extent of one’s ignorance.”
It may seem counterintuitive that anything other than true decisiveness be brought into the cockpit. We call the persona necessary to safely take to the skies “pilot in command.” But a lack of complete resoluteness and PIC authority are not mutually exclusive. They’re actually complimentary.
Whether it’s a flight instructor who has to look something up or a private pilot who asks ground control for a progressive taxi route, admitting you don’t know all the answers is a healthy attitude in aviation. This practice is commonplace in professional cockpits, where the days of the overbearing captain who told the first officer to sit down, shut up, and not touch anything are long gone. In its place is crew resource management, which at its root is nothing more than the realization that two highly qualified pilots are better than one blowhard and an overpaid seat warmer.
In the world of recreational flying it means embracing the responsibility to act and the realization that you won’t always know the answer. It also calls for a curious mind and the desire to pursue the information. It’s in that spirit that we start off the new year with a back-to-basics approach. Flight instructors, experienced pilots, student pilots, and even astronauts need to review the basics on occasion.
Flying is primarily a mental game, and each flight begins with some form of mental preparation. Author Matthew Bauman identifies what it takes to have
a have a great flying mind in “Wise Words.” An experienced military and civilian pilot, Bauman has every reason to think he knows it all—which is exactly why he knows he doesn’t, and why he says humility is a key ingredient to a successful life of flying. You can read more beginning on page 38.
Once most of the mental preparation is done, it’s time to preflight, a skill many of us take for granted. Technical Editor Jill W. Tallman reins us back in with this month’s “Technique,” beginning on page 42. It covers all the fundamentals of flying’s most important ritual.
This month's cover story, “From Ground to Sky,” begins on page 28. Author Budd Davisson examines the lowly takeoff—that one maneuver we rarely practice, yet perform for every flight. Davisson makes a case for taking time to stop and examine the basic takeoff, and analyze whether or not we’re meeting our full potential. This year, realize your potential by gaining some real knowledge. Safe flying.
Two highly qualified pilots are better than one blowhard and an overpaid seat warmer.
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