November 2012
As I mentioned the last time we met on these pages, several months ago my latest aviation-themed novel—“Captain”—was released in a print edition and also in all e-book formats. That novel was reviewed in the July 2012 issue of Piper Flyer, and now I’m sharing some of the “insider stuff” about the ingredients inside of “Captain.”
For a complete explanation of the whats and wherefores of this series of articles, go back to the September 2012 issue of Piper Flyer. But let me state again that nothing in this series requires you to have read “Captain.” If you have, you’ll be able to spot where the ideas, phrases and quotes are coming from—but it’s not a prerequisite.
Conversely, if you haven’t gotten a copy of “Captain” but intend to, nothing we’re going to discuss will tip off too much of the storyline or in any way diminish your future involvement in what happens to the passengers and crew onboard the ill-fated Trans-Continental Flight 3. To help keep the action veiled for future readers, when I’m quoting the text directly I’ll X and Z out character names and other significant clues.
Now, let’s get on to some piloting nuggets from those pages.
RULES, COMMON SENSE, RISKS:
“X is a great believer in proper paperwork and following the book rules,” Y said. “I, for one, think the rule book has nice guidelines in it. But they are not stone tablets handed down from above. They are made by men sitting in rooms, sometimes with other agendas on their minds. Quite often, the rule makers couldn’t even taxi the airplane, never mind actually fly it. Hence, on this subject, I would rather face a few seconds of exposure to being overweight for takeoff than to ever run the risk of running out of fuel.”
“I pointed out what seemed obvious, that it’s better to be a little overweight for the takeoff than to be a little out of fuel for the landing. I learned that from the men I flew with when I was a co-pilot.”
The laws of aerodynamics were inescapable: they would burn additional en route fuel to carry that unnecessary extra fuel.
“Superior pilots are those who use their superior judgment to avoid those situations where they will need superior skills.” —Anonymous aviation axiom
Most of life’s major decisions were about the risk-to-reward tradeoffs we elect to make.
The men and women who write the procedures, rules and laws that we are compelled to deal with in aviation on a daily and hourly basis will always know what is best for us—except when they don’t. The evolution of codified requirements will generally occur gradually but relentlessly, to where what began as a set of generally good ideas become a guideline, then an accepted technique and, eventually, an edict in the form of an ironclad rule.
While rigidly following a book filled with rules can offer no more of a guarantee of absolute safety than not following those rules will invariably guarantee a disaster, what real life calls for is a cool head in evaluating the inevitable risk-to-reward tradeoffs that we are called on to deal with. While doing that sort of evaluation flight in and flight out, it is always best to keep in mind what the biggest enemy to a pilot’s clear thinking can often be…
WISHFUL THINKING:
He had to balance reality against desire—there would be no operating on wishful thinking, no matter how beneficial that wish might be.
He desperately wanted that position fix. But the time for this indulgence was nearly up. More than ever, this was not the time to indulge in wishful thinking.
“That was the plan.” He knew that they needed to stick to the plan, that there could be no wishful thinking.
“I was too frightened to think clearly, I wanted to head directly for the nearest patch of dry land and not something that was nearly three times further away. It was wishful thinking.”
“Anyone on board who says they aren’t scared doesn’t understand our situation. The only difference for us is that we’ve got to keep our thoughts and actions separate from our emotions. There’s no room for wishful thinking, not for the rest of this flight.”
Just because we want (or we don’t want) something to happen, that alone doesn’t make it so. It is the nature of being the person in command of a particular vessel that it is always best to try to separate the emotional pulls of your wants and desires so that they don’t put too many layers of thick cloud between you and the view of that cold, hard truth that lies on the instrument panel or through the cockpit window.
Reality will trump everything else—rules, procedures, wishes, hopes, expectations and desires. You’re better off sticking with reality whenever you can, which is often easier said than done. But you can tip the odds in your favor if you’ve got a plan and the courage to stick with it.
“Ignorance is the curse of God; knowledge is the wing wherewith we fly to heaven.” —William Shakespeare
“A pilot’s business is with the wind, with the stars, with night, with sand, with the sea. He strives to outwit the forces of nature.” —Antoine de Sainte-Exupéry, from “Wind, Sand and Stars”
“What is chiefly needed is skill rather than machinery.” —Wilbur Wright, 1902
“There’s a big difference between a pilot and an aviator. One is a technician, the other is an artist.” —Elrey Borge Jeppesen
Yet even while the pilot is being an artist with the airplane, keeping reality firmly in sight and sticking with the plan, they will also need to keep a few other things in the back of their minds.
“Since we’ve seen the impossible,’” Z continued, “that might mean that the next thing we see is the totally unexpected.”
“You’ve got to be ready and willing to make quick adjustments in whatever direction your experience and intuition tells you. Any flight is capable of going from completely routine to your worst nightmare in less than 30 seconds.”
“Anyone can hold the helm when the sea is calm.” —Publilius Syrus
For the next time we meet here at Piper Flyer: fear and panic, pilot drills, and some useful cockpit techniques.
In addition to complete information on “Captain” and the other aviation-related novels, my new website also has sections with links to aviation movies, photographs, books, music and much more. Take an Internet excursion over to ThomasBlockNovels.com to see for yourself.
Editor-at-large Thomas Block has flown nearly 30,000 hours since his first hour of dual in 1959. In addition to his 36-year career as a U.S. Airways pilot, he has been an aviation magazine writer since 1969, and a best-selling novelist. Over the past 30 years he has owned more than a dozen personal airplanes of varying types. Send questions or comments to editor@www.piperflyer.com
