I have often repeated a saying that I heard many years ago when it comes to being a safe pilot that goes, ?I would rather fly with a pilot who has average skills and good judgment than with the ace of the base who doesn?t know his own limitations.? In my years of flying, I have seen the truth of this demonstrated many, many times ? in fact, it is no secret that the vast majority of aviation mishaps are caused by poor pilot judgment, so just think of the reduction in the accident rate if more people demonstrated good judgment more often!
That sounds awful simple, doesn?t it? ?Just show better judgment?..? But what does it mean? We can come up with lots of examples of bad judgment ? flight into worsening conditions, poor fuel planning, Go/No Go decisions based on what we ?wish? rather than what is ?real?. But how do you define ?good? judgment? It would be interesting to see if we can collect some ideas from the 9,000 people registered here on the forums, many of whom have multiple ten?s of thousands of flight hours ? indicating at least that they have figured SOMETHING out in order to survive!
Personally, I think that one very important aspect of showing good judgment is the ability to be self-critical. I get a little nervous around the ?hangar-flyer? who never has a story about their own bad judgment ? never claims to have done anything wrong, never had a close call (that was his or her fault at least), and never admits to breaking a sweat. I have a lot more respect for those who can honestly analyze their own errors, in public. The ability to admit that one has room for personal improvement is the first step in accepting new knowledge ? without an admission that there is more to learn, how can our mind accept something new? So for me, the first sign of good judgment in a pilot is to be able to accept that he or she has more to learn, and to actively seek ways in which to absorb new information. This constant striving for new information will become a habit that will carry through into the cockpit itself when you most need to be looking for options and dangers down the airway.
Paul
That sounds awful simple, doesn?t it? ?Just show better judgment?..? But what does it mean? We can come up with lots of examples of bad judgment ? flight into worsening conditions, poor fuel planning, Go/No Go decisions based on what we ?wish? rather than what is ?real?. But how do you define ?good? judgment? It would be interesting to see if we can collect some ideas from the 9,000 people registered here on the forums, many of whom have multiple ten?s of thousands of flight hours ? indicating at least that they have figured SOMETHING out in order to survive!
Personally, I think that one very important aspect of showing good judgment is the ability to be self-critical. I get a little nervous around the ?hangar-flyer? who never has a story about their own bad judgment ? never claims to have done anything wrong, never had a close call (that was his or her fault at least), and never admits to breaking a sweat. I have a lot more respect for those who can honestly analyze their own errors, in public. The ability to admit that one has room for personal improvement is the first step in accepting new knowledge ? without an admission that there is more to learn, how can our mind accept something new? So for me, the first sign of good judgment in a pilot is to be able to accept that he or she has more to learn, and to actively seek ways in which to absorb new information. This constant striving for new information will become a habit that will carry through into the cockpit itself when you most need to be looking for options and dangers down the airway.
Paul