Page 12 - Dear aviator...

Accidents

During the two years of training my flight school experienced several incidents and
accidents of varying seriousness (none fatal); they ranged from procedural such as
runway incursions and airspace infringements to actual crashes with injuries,
mostly upon takeoff or landing. The former were usually the object of snarky
comments and jokes in the briefing room; in the worst circumstances you might
need to write up a report and explain to someone over the phone what happened
and promise you would never do it again. On the other hand, the latter brought
with them moments of somber reflection, especially if you were acquainted with the
pilot. Whenever these events occurred I made a point of going to see the aircraft
after it had been dragged to the maintenance hangar; I believe it is important to see
first hand the wreckage, the shattered glass, the blood splatter in order to drive
home the seriousness of the consequences of improper procedures, of carelessness
and of lack of responsibility.
I also believe it is just as important for the school to have a moment with students
and staff during which the accident is discussed openly and honestly, without
turning it into a fault-finding exercise, but rather to talk about the context in which
the accident occurred and what can be done to limit the chances of it happening
again, hopefully without bringing in new stifling regulations.
Some may consider this unnecessary and even a bit morbid, and that it may put
students off and keep them from continuing their training; in my opinion this is not
so. Flying is serious. The consequences of exercising our pilot privileges incorrectly
are serious and should not be taken for granted. When we fly we are responsible for
ourselves, our passengers and anyone on the ground who could be affected by our
decision making, so getting a little “real” once in a while to remind us of the
potential consequences of our actions is a pretty tame price to pay.

Maintenance

Instructors and manuals, but most importantly common sense, taught me that
before you even think of taking off, you want to give the aircraft a thorough pre-
flight. You will be told to look for “nicks” in the propeller, “leaks” from the fuel and
hydraulic lines, “missing rivets” in the skins, “areas of abrasion” and “cuts” in the
tires. That is all well and good and it all makes sense. The first time I went out to
an aircraft to pre-flight it, I looked for exactly that. I found 13 nicks in the
propeller, counted 5 drops of fuel dripping from the fuel line after I drained it, noted
24 scratches in the canopy, a squeaky noise in one of the ailerons, checked 12
scratches in the left tire and 8 in the right, noticed a couple of spots of rust on the
pitot tube. I gave up on the engine ‘cause it looked like junk as it was dirty and oil-
stained.
“Well, this plane ain’t going nowhere” I told myself.
Of course it went somewhere. And I was in it with my instructor.
The moral of this story is that we as student pilots get told what defects in the
aircraft to look for; but unless you are mechanically inclined and have experience
in what these defects should look like in order to qualify as critical, you don’t know

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