What good looks like

You’re able to see that he/she needs to slow down to avoid blowing through the localizer. That the flaps could have been extended to help slow down. That he/she forgot to turn on the landing lights, or was late in getting the ATIS. That the inbound final approach course wasn’t set in the CDI. All of this is plainly apparent because in your calm, detached state, you’re aware in a way that someone behind the airplane, task-loaded and fixated, isn’t.

At times like these, if you ask why some procedure or other wasn’t yet completed, the beleaguered pilot is apt to say, “I was just about to do that!” or “I knew that!” But there’s a big difference between knowing and doing.

Having that perspective in a right-seater is valuable. It’s a huge part of the benefit of two-crew operations. It’s also an essential quality of a good instructor. That’s the role that AOPA Pilot Turbine Edition contributor (and designated pilot examiner and master CFI) Neil Singer plays in a video series—What Good Looks Like—sponsored by the Citation Jet Pilots (CJP) Safety and Education Foundation Inc. and discussed in this month’s Mentor Matters article (“What Good Looks Like,” p. T-7). In the videos Singer, a widely respected mentor pilot for owner/pilots of Cessna Citations, Embraer Phenoms, and other types, observes a Citation pilot-actor making common mistakes. Then he analyzes the situations and explains how to prevent them.

Some other videos show how to prepare for recurrent training maneuvers, handle single-engine takeoffs, and stay ahead of the airplane. We’ll have links to the videos in the digital edition of Turbine Pilot so you can follow along. They’re also on a CJP webpage (citationjetpilots.com/safety), and on YouTube (TheCJPChannel). I hope you find them as useful as they are entertaining.

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