| You've trained long hours, you've studied | | | | fuel. That's right - flying headstrong into |
| hard, and you've finally passed the test. | | | | the skies over a blizzard in Buffalo is |
| Congrats pilot! You can now fly your own | | | | probably not the best idea for you, my |
| plane. You want to celebrate by flying all | | | | friend! Storms of all types have the |
| day every day as often as you can because, | | | | capability of preventing pilots from |
| well, your certificate lets you do that. You | | | | maneuvering the plane the way they were |
| feel the same sense of freedom and adventure | | | | trained to. Essentially, poor weather |
| as you felt back in 1992 when, against your | | | | conditions can lead to such inability to fly |
| mother's wishes, you bought a motorcycle and | | | | a plane that would cause a passenger to |
| obtained your license to drive it anywhere | | | | believe the plane they were in was being |
| you wanted to. Ahhh once again you can feel | | | | piloted by a first-timer. Experienced pilots |
| the wind in your hair, the world at your | | | | and crew can oftentimes find themselves in a |
| fingertips, and ironically, the same | | | | tricky situation when entering treacherous |
| statistical probability of death or loss of | | | | weather in order to reach a destination. It |
| limb as when you were driving that old | | | | is a hard decision to make but pilots of |
| motorcycle of yours back in the 90's! Oops. | | | | small planes should always err of the safer |
| | | | side. |
| Sorry for the scare. The truth is that | | | | |
| aviation safety is easy when you follow the | | | | Nevertheless, there will always be pilots |
| guidelines and stay smart. The way for a | | | | young or old who overestimate their |
| pilot to insure the safety of him or herself | | | | capabilities while in the sky. Risky flight |
| and those on board is to follow the normal | | | | habits are not common amongst the flying |
| safety precautions and to use common sense | | | | industry, and hopefully it stays that way. |
| before flying a plane. | | | | When making decisions as a pilot of a small |
| | | | plane, one must keep in mind the fact that |
| 4 important tips: | | | | they are not only dealing with the risk of |
| | | | their own life, but also that they are |
| *Don't run out of fuel | | | | passing a judgment that will have an effect |
| | | | on the lives and futures of the crew, |
| *Avoid bad weather conditions at all costs | | | | passengers, or cargo on board. In addition, |
| | | | planes are not cheap toys; the rental fees |
| *Don't make bad decisions / don't be risky | | | | alone will run you thousands of dollars per |
| | | | year, and repair costs are hefty. You don't |
| *Pay attention to proper plane maintenance | | | | want to run the risk of damaging the plane |
| techniques to avoid mechanical error | | | | that you're in. |
| | | | |
| Running out of fuel is never a good thing, | | | | Proper airplane maintenance is probably the |
| but it is easily preventable. In early 2006, | | | | most important way to insure your safety in |
| a small plane had to be guided on an | | | | the air. It's not always a one-man job; in |
| emergency landing on a major freeway in | | | | fact, there is an entire school built solely |
| California. Luckily, the landing went | | | | around the teaching of aviation maintenance |
| extraordinarily perfect and the pilot and | | | | and repair. The bottom line is knowing who is |
| passenger were both unharmed. Clearly this is | | | | taking care of the plane that you are flying, |
| very rare but the situation would've been | | | | and making sure that all standards have been |
| avoidable if the pilot had taken the obvious | | | | met before taking off. |
| precaution of coordinating the amount of fuel | | | | |
| in his plane with the amount of fuel needed | | | | Control of your plane is literally at your |
| for the trip he was taking. Things like these | | | | fingertips, but this control can easily be |
| seem so trivial when compared to other | | | | taken away in an instant if the regulations |
| responsibilities of a pilot, but sometimes | | | | have not been met, precautions have not been |
| it's the small things that are easy to miss. | | | | taken, or if the risk has not been properly |
| | | | evaluated before the flight. So, congrats |
| Bad weather conditions are less foreseeable | | | | pilot! Be smart, be careful, and fly safely. |
| than knowing that you're about to run out of | | | | |