By: Rebecca

Rebecca — Fri, 29 Oct 2010 14:28:38 +0000

You’re absolutely right about reward and risk. So often, when I’ve taken the cautious approach and canceled or diverted, my “reward” was feeling like a coward and inconveniencing my customers, co-workers, and family. In the meantime, the risks that I have taken have (so-far) worked out. I felt guilty about taking the risk…but at the same time, I also lived to tell the tale and got home in time for dinner.
Life is not designed to train us for good decision making. The rewards and punishments that we experience are neither consistent with our behaviors nor are they commensurate when they happen. So often a big mistake has a small consequence or none at all. Sometimes the little momentary lapses have life-changing results.
All we can do is manage our risks as objectively as possible. I commend the aviation industry for all of the advances in human factors training and management in the century+ that we have been flying. From the invention of the checklist and user-friendly cockpit layouts to crew resource training and models such as “PAVE” for systematic decision making, the aviation industry has done what it can. Now it’s up to each and every pilot to push past the lessons from our own risks gone right and learn from others’ risks gone wrong.

By: Jeff S.

Jeff S. — Fri, 15 Oct 2010 21:09:30 +0000

It’s amazining how much more stress free a trip can be when you have options planned before a flight. And having an ace up my sleeve has paid off more than once over twenty or so years of flying. Sometimes the best alternate, either VFR or IFR, is the one you passed just a few miles back. A flight is dynamic and subject to change. Be flexible, and don’t be afraid to use Plan B. Even if messes up your flighgt log.

Comments on: Tip of the week #2

By: Rebecca

By: Jeff S.