A warm evening, a grass strip, and thou....

Jay Honeck wrote:

Just like *that* my senses are heightened, my stress level goes back
up (appropriately), and I'm once again operating at peak
efficiency...constantly looking for landing fields, scanning the
engine instruments...


There are several "levels" of "awareness" that can develop over time in
a pilot. The most dangerous is a level of complete relaxation where one
moment in flight passes on to the next moment without any elevation from
that state of relaxation. It's in this state that a pilot gets "caught"
suddenly when something goes wrong. It's here that the adrenalin flows
through a panic state before settling down into whatever training
response is triggered. This takes precious time and this mental state
can literally kill you in an airplane.

There is another level where the pilot mentally prepares himself/herself
for flight; before each and every flight; no matter how trivial or
inconsequential that flight might be....even one trip around the pattern
qualifies.
It's on this level of awareness a pilot should operate at all times when
flying is involved. To reach this level a pilot must literally train
himself/herself to think professionally. It's not easy to reach this
level and many pilots never actually make it. Those who don't make it
end up preparing themselves for flight with no more concern than they
would have preparing to perform a non flying activity. This is a killer
in an airplane.
The level of awareness you want and need as a pilot preparing for flight
is one where the senses are heightened but not overly stressed. You want
to be JUST on the razor edge of "serious concern". You want to be on a
level that "expects" and "anticipates" rather than one that simply reacts.
In other words, when you fly, you should literally at all times be
"looking for trouble".
This is a fine line to draw and as I said, many pilots never actually
reach this level. You need to be constantly alert to things that can
hurt you when flying, and this means you have to teach yourself to
operate on a level that allows you this increased state of stress
without going over the stress line. Going too far into this enhanced
state of alertness can actually have the reverse effect and put you into
over stress which is a extremely bad condition.
Every pilot has to find this "ideal level of alertness" when flying. It
comes easy to some and never to others.
I believe that if every pilot is simply aware right from the start that
seeking a personal mental attitude based on professionalism is the goal
to seek, then half the battle has been won.
The goal is complex. Have fun, relax when flying, but never REALLY
TOTALLY relax when flying. Ride the edge of that razor mentally, and
enjoy yourself!!! :-))

--
Dudley Henriques

Every now and then I'll be droning along, fat, dumb and happy at 8500
feet, watching the world unfold beneath my wings, utterly relaxed --
when I will suddenly realize PRECISELY what I am doing. I mean, my
God, I'm a mile and a half STRAIGHT UP, in a vehicle made out of
recycled beer cans, behind a single 1940s-era engine! This is
LUNACY!!

Just like *that* my senses are heightened, my stress level goes back
up (appropriately), and I'm once again operating at peak
efficiency...constantly looking for landing fields, scanning the
engine instruments...

;-)
--
Jay Honeck
Iowa City, IA
Pathfinder N56993www.AlexisParkInn.com
"Your Aviation Destination"

Jay,

I had that happen to me once on the way to Oshkosh, and again on the
way home... I found myself looking at the wings each time and hoping
that they didn't just suddenly fold up on us, dropping us straight
down.

I know its irrational, but it sure does wake you back up to where you
are and what you are doing! It also makes me wish I had a parachute
(on me or the plane).... :-)

Dean

wrote:

I landed at Marion IA just outside of Cedar Rapids on the way to Osh.
That was a nice little airport in its own right. I assume you have
been there as well?

Did you see the corn fields?

On Aug 26, 3:22 am, "Really-Old-Fart"
wrote:
wrote:
I landed at Marion IA just outside of Cedar Rapids on the way to Osh.
That was a nice little airport in its own right. I assume you have
been there as well?

Did you see the corn fields?

Right off the end of the runway? How could I miss it? One guy
clipped the tassles of the corn as he made a low fast approach in his
homebuilt.

Dean

wrote:

Right off the end of the runway? How could I miss it? One guy
clipped the tassles of the corn as he made a low fast approach in his
homebuilt.

Actually, I was commenting about the fact that in Iowa, it seems that
everywhere there are cornfields.

Right off the end of the runway? How could I miss it? One guy
clipped the tassles of the corn as he made a low fast approach in his
homebuilt.

Actually, I was commenting about the fact that in Iowa, it seems that
everywhere there are cornfields.

You got that right! We just returned from a flight to Davenport from
Iowa City, and I can vouch for the fact that there is huge, lush,
beautiful, tassling corn literally everywhere between here and there.

It's quite a sight, at this time of year, viewing the breadbasket of
the world from above...
--
Jay Honeck
Iowa City, IA
Pathfinder N56993
www.AlexisParkInn.com
"Your Aviation Destination"

It's quite a sight, at this time of year, viewing the breadbasket of
the world from above...
--
Jay Honeck
Iowa City, IA
Pathfinder N56993www.AlexisParkInn.com
"Your Aviation Destination"

We have a fair amount of corn in Idaho as well. There is a large
field of it adjacent to the Caldwell airport. I hardly paid attention
to it before, but after seeing all that corn in the midwest, when we
got back home I looked over at the corn field and wondered if I was
really home...

Dean W
AeroLEDs LLC
www.aeroleds.com

Jay Honeck wrote:

You got that right! We just returned from a flight to Davenport from
Iowa City, and I can vouch for the fact that there is huge, lush,
beautiful, tassling corn literally everywhere between here and there.

It's quite a sight, at this time of year, viewing the breadbasket of
the world from above...


Uh, wouldn't that be the "cornbreadbasket"?

"Really-Old-Fart" wrote:
Jay Honeck wrote:

You got that right! We just returned from a flight to Davenport from
Iowa City, and I can vouch for the fact that there is huge, lush,
beautiful, tassling corn literally everywhere between here and there.

It's quite a sight, at this time of year, viewing the breadbasket of
the world from above...


Uh, wouldn't that be the "cornbreadbasket"?

I composed a similar response and just before hitting send had second
thoughts and trashed the response instead. I guess I did that because I
thought the witticism to Jay's poetic license would be, ahem, corny.

I mean really, who (besides those of us who were born and lived there) rags
on Lobo for singing about the "wheat fields of St. Paul" in the song "Me
and You and a Dog Named Boo?"

;-)

(Okay - there might be one wheat field in St. Paul - probably near the St.
Paul campus of the University of Minnesota. I mean gee, it's an urban area
after all! The breadbasket for the North American continent is a bit
farther north and west and spreads into Canada for shucks sake! :-))

Morgans wrote:
"James Sleeman" wrote

I'd hste the group to lose such a vibrant member because he chose to
"damn the fatigue" one to many times is all I'm saying.



I feel certain Jay know the difference between being too tired to fly
safely, and being ragged out after a long day. This was a 17 minute flight,
remember, with another full and current pilot in the front seat with him.

Yeah, the second pilot in the plane is a great help most of the time.
When we flew around Australia with a group there were a couple of days I
wasn't really feeling well (I hate getting sick on vacation) so Ron
flew. If I had been single pilot I could have flown, I wasn't THAT
sick, but it was great no feeling like I had to fly.

Margy