Around the Patch

But I can tell you that even though you’re technically solo, you’re most certainly not alone in that cockpit. You will hear the voice of your CFI talking to you, probably at every stage. Many of us still hear our CFI’s voice when we fly, and our CFIs say a lot. A few years ago I collected some of the best from social media.

Landings:

“Watch the runway, your airspeed, the runway, your airspeed, the runway, your airspeed….” —Sergio Rodriguez

“On final, ‘keep the nose down, keep it down, hold it, hold it, don’t flare too early.’” —Daniel Thompson

“Don’t let it touch, don’t let it touch, don’t let it touch.” —Janis Horn

“Hold it, hold it.” —Nancy Rice

“Watch your airspeed, watch your airspeed, watch your airspeed!” —Hicks Dunlap

“He’s hollering, ‘More left rudder!’ in a big crosswind landing. Me: It’s all the way to the floor!!” Him: ‘OK, then that’s enough.’”—Brian McDaniel

“I still hear ‘Watch your speeds!’ on every landing.” —Gary Veduccio

“Fly the aircraft to the ground. Keep flying ’til the wheels touch.” —M. James O’Connor

“Don’t get flat! Don’t get flat!” —J.P. Wing

“The right airspeed determines where you land; the wrong airspeed determines where you crash.” —Doug Heun

“Don’t let it touch, keep it off, keep it off.” —Johnny Ramm

“Dance on those rudder pedals!” —Nichole Stacey

“Breathe, please! Did you know you stop breathing between calling finals and landing?” —Anne Hughes

“‘On final, numbers one-third up the windshield and on speed.’ Hasn’t let me down yet.” —Lindsay Petre

“‘Bad horsey, bad horsey’ on final approach and a reminder to keep my feet on the rudder pedals fighting crosswinds.” —Joshua Carroll

“Go arounds are free.” —Lisa Osantowski

“Fly every approach expecting to go around. Actually landing should be an unexpected bonus.” —Jay Beckman

Airwork:

“No gorilla grip.” —Nichole Stacey

“Keep your feet on the pedals, or I’ll start calling you a Piper driver!” —Michael Owens

“Heading, attitude, airspeed, ball in the middle! I teach my students that as well.” —Ron Johnson II

“Look outside the airplane!” —Jason John

“Pretend you don’t have GPS and find your way home.” —Liam Wilson

“Clear right, clear left.” —Jay Phillip

“Your mind needs to be five minutes ahead of your aircraft; whatever is behind you has already passed.” —Terry Barton

“Aviate, navigate, communicate (in that order).” —Scott Jeanes

“Scan for traffic. Then, scan for traffic, and finally, scan for traffic.” —Victor Huerta

“Keep the ball in the middle.” —Duncan Malloch

“Airspeed and attitude are your friends.” —David A. Brown

Emergencies:

“When the defecation hits the rotation, fly the plane, fly the plane, fly the plane!” —Ace Adair

“My instructor used to cut power at 6,000 feet and say, ‘Where are you going to land now?’” —Lloyd Stowe

“You fly the aircraft; the aircraft doesn’t fly you.” —Norbert Saemann

Thanks to all flight instructors for drilling good practices into your students. We hear you.