I have to agree on the "exercising good judgment" thing being the
hardest. It's not just because it is difficult but it is also because
the payback for doing it well can be so negative.

I was thinking of landing some difficult to handle tail dragger in a
strong crosswind landing as being one of the hardest. Yes, it can be
difficult, but the feedback is so immediate and direct and the
successful conclusion so damn satisfying, that it's somehow easier to do
than...

....canceling a flight to the beach with 2 excited friends because a
brake is a little spongy.

....or successfully making a precautionary off-field landing when you
know that extraction will cost many bucks and much time.

Exercising good judgment is the hard one.

Tony wrote:
The hardest and most important aspect of flying is the continuous
exercise of good judgement. We all have lapses, and those lapses can
put us in conditions that test our skills at times when we didn't
intend those tests.

For example: deciding to land for fuel within a hour''s flight of home
because reserves would be marginal.

Or continuing an approach just a little lower than minimums because "I
think I see the field."

Or taking off not feeling quite right physically.

I'm a fairly high time PP Instruments, been there and done that, and
still sometimes driving back from the airport I realize I had made one
or more really stupid decisions, but you know what? There are always
new stupidities to commit.

As for the easiest? It's deciding to fly!


Clear!



Flyingmonk wrote:

wrote:

What in your view are the easiest and hardest aspects about flying? I
mean in the phase between takeoff and touchdown, so the obvious
"taxiing" doesn't count

Hardest would be countering windshear on finals or flying IFR through a
storm at low altitude, I'd imagine.

Hoping this thread gets responses

Ramapriya

Flying in general:
--Hardest: Communication with ATC, and as Peter has pointed out,
weather interpretations.
--Easiest: Straight and level of course.

Flying Airplanes:

--Hardest: Remembering when to use flaps and how much. I suppose,
taxiing a jumbo might be hard because you'd be way out ahead of the
front wheel, having to pass your turn off thirty feet to turn into it
gotta feel strange at first, but I can only immagine.
--Easiest: Straight and level of course.


Flying Helicopters:

--Hardest: At first learning to hover was the hardest thing to do;
after getting the hang of that, it is performing autorotation with the
CFI or the examiner in the cabin with you. Although we 'are allowed to
practice autos on our own, I experienced carb icing once and was able
to do a very good autorotation right down to the ground. While
practicing, we were not permitted to auto all the way to the ground. We
had to do a "power recovery" at the bottom.
--Easiest: Straight and level of course.

Monk