Fly within your limitations and your plane’s limitations. My personal limitations always change depending on currency and my well-being on any given day. One of the benefits for me, an aviation insurance broker, and also a pilot, is that we get constant reminders of pilot mistakes, as we view the accidents that come across our desks from our clients’ mistakes, and also in discussions with insurance company claims adjusters.
After flying Idaho’s airstrips for years, I know it’s true: you can’t fool Mother Nature. She is just there, day after day, year after year, waiting for someone to do something stupid. The laws of physics for lift and drag and performance are real. I have been on the edge of my seat enough times while landing on a short one way mountain strip, or Crossing a windy mountain ridge with downdrafts, or stretching my fuel range to know that it has to be done the right way…
These planes are built well, and can overcome many situations we put ourselves in. If it is just one error to overcome, it usually works out ok. But when we combine mistakes it’s not a good ending. Every accident is a combination of two or three factors to overcome, like too high and too fast on short final. Good landings are the result of a good approach. . Every time you have to make a major adjustment on the landing approach you’re setting up the possibility of a bad landing. Get the plane set up correctly and Early on final approach, leaving only minor adjustments to be made and you’ll handle most situations.
Bill
Bill White Insurance — Aviation Specialists since 1977
Continue Reading
