Until they changed the min crossing altitude of the Julian VOR, on wave days,
we routinely lost pilots or in one case while I was flying a glider in the
same area an instructor and student. Pretty sure they got into serious down
air, pulled back to best climb speed in their CE 172. I find the young
airplane only guys I know are frightening in what they do not know. Don't
know how to read clouds, don't understand wind flow in the terrain....
- - - - - -

Warning!!! - Philosophical riff follows...

When I was a wet-behind-the-ears, 150-hour, glider-only, tyro, flying nut, I
had the opportunity to ride along with a power flying buddy sucking
brain-knollich from a one-time Alaska bush pilot. At that time I'd ride with
anyone, greedily slurping through the knollich straw myself. To my (great)
surprise, perhaps 90% of the "generic mountain-centric" - i.e.
non-power-centric - words of wisdom proffered by the bush pilot was "stuff" I
was already aware of through glider instruction and continuing self-education.
(Mercy!)

Some years - and a whole lot of additional personal
mountain-soaring-experience later - a friend gave me a copy of Sparky Imeson's
"Mountain Flying" book...power-centric of course, information-dense, and (IMO)
well worth internalizing despite (for me) not containing very much
glider-centric new knollich/tidbits.

Fairly recently and many more years later (thanks to the web), I learned
Sparky Imeson "had killed himself" while (apparently) engaged in some
thin-margin, (at-least-semi-)mountainous-terrain flying in his
personally-owned airplane. Though I'd never met the man, it saddened and
(further) sobered me to the inherent, unavoidable, risks associated with
flight (of any sort) *near* essentially-immovable things to hit.

"What's your major point?" I hear impatient readers ask. I think I have several...
- It's entirely normal - unavoidable! - for Joe Pilot to progress *away* from
the state of "Beginner's ignorance" and *toward* "Experienced pilot," until
death stops piloting fun.
- That progression's gonna happen *regardless* of Joe Pilot's mindset (e.g.
curious or incurious, prudent or imprudent, etc.).
- It's entirely normal (IMO) for "more experienced pilots" to (eventually)
bemoan the state of affairs of "today's tyros"...but doing so (to me, anyway)
is (choose whichever you wish): more self-indulgent than meaningful?
kinda-sorta off-target?
- YOUR (i.e. Joe Pilot's) mindset *matters* to your continued-survival chances
inside the cockpit. Lots of aphorisms exist addressing this (non-obvious?)
truism (e.g.): Never carry a package by the string. Always have an out/Plan B
(and C and D). Flying is unforgiving of inattention or "general foolishness."
Ignorance can kill. Etc.

With winter approaching in the northern hemisphere, some easy-reading, daily
skimming of (e.g.) the (somewhat-funky/clunky) Kathryn's Report website (with
which I have zero involvement), easily/entertainingly/sadly shines
real-world-light on some of the above obvious (to me, anyway), aphoristic,
generalized, musings. In Joe-Pilot-centric terms, the "vast majority" of
(typically, entirely avoidable) piloting deaths are due to:
ignorance/poor-judgment/off-target or non-internalized training. "Kids, don't
DO those things!!! Your chances of continuing opportunities for additional
stick-hours will be increased by working really hard at having *ONLY* those
sorts of accidents that will fall into the category of, "Man! I wonder
what-in-heck underlies this particular set of fatal piloting circumstances?"

Bob W.

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