Who Wouldn't You Fly With?

On Tue, 10 Jul 2007 22:54:22 -0400, Dudley Henriques wrote:

I'll usually know
from the way the preflight is handled whether or not I want to fly with
that pilot.

I wish I'd known that. But, from my own experience, I agree: a
problematic preflight is a good indicator of what's to follow.

But I was slow, and the fellow was a friend. The final straw was being a
minute or two from entering a pattern on a 45 to downwind having just
observed someone take off that had indicated he'd be staying in the
pattern. I suggested to my friend that we turn a bit so we'd fall in
behind that plane. My friend demurred, claiming that the [class D] tower
would prevent any collision.

More recently, there was a midair in that downwind with exactly that
scenario. Just to emphasize the point.

There were other symptoms too, looking back at it. The person was (and
probably is) a fine "stick", but just a little too "trusting" of his
environment.

- Andrew