High time pilots... Can you become your own worst enemy?

[Yoda]

Maybe this has been discussed before....
As one start to reach hours closer to 1000 it seems to me one start to become more and more confident and it almost create an attitude of: "I think I really got this thing nailed"
Perhaps that in itself is our worst enemy.
I suppose its just human nature . It seems to me a lot of "high time" pilots get killed. Maybe ones biggest risk is your own attitude as your experience grow.
I suppose one constantly have to work on your attitude and stay to the basics... otherwise you might get bitten..... Does anyone else get the same feelings?

[skyvan]

Very true, the insurance stats also show definite danger-zones in a person's flying career.

They are typically: 15 hrs (start to feel comfortable)
just after licence issue (Hey, I've made it)
60 hrs (now I know I've made it)
100 hrs (I've just got to be good with these hours)
200 hrs (I'm sure I can do that!)
500 hrs (I know what I'm doing!)
1000 hrs (I made it this far, I must be good)
2000 hrs (I could be a Shuttle commander)
5000 hrs (I nearly made it as Shuttle Commander)
10 000 hrs (been there, done that, I do know it all)

Quite scary how ego rules our decision making!!

[Slabfish]

Yoda,I think if you havent got it nailed by 1000 ours,you neve gona get it nailed. My opinion is that at 1000 ours you have had 1 in a thousand chances of stuffing it up where as on 100 hrs you only by the one tenth in a thousand chance mark,so what im saying is that the guy with high hrs stood a much higher chance of having a oopsie in his flying career than i had in my 100 hrs,or have i got this wrong? Any way,the fact of the matter is that we are in a VERY dangerous game, and that we should allways be aware of that and take extra care.I think after 1000hrs flying i would have heard of so many fatals ,my attitude will be one of being "sh!tscared and carefull",Then thats only me.So let me make use of this chance to ask all my fellow pilots to fly extra carefull and make sure you always got sufficient height so you have the time to re-act incase.................... Happy flying!!!
Kind Regards
Clem

[Morph]

I don't think there is a magic, or is it a tragic hour count that is the big killer. I do think the causes differ. Low hour pilots, it's inexperience or lack of knowledge, high hour pilots it's overconfidence and complacency. Either way as Slabfish said, this is a dangerous pastime and we must never let our guard down.

[nicow]

Just stay alert,and be safe.The more hours I have,the more alert I become.

[Arnulf]

Over confidence and complancency are probably the biggest killers.

Over confidence generally is a problem with lower time pilots, where as complacency is more a problem of higher time pilots.
Its all a question of attitude.

Regards,
Arnulf

[John Boucher]

You get old pilots and you get bold pilots....

You don't get old bold pilots!

Complacency is a killer.... for any pilot with any or many hours!

[RV4ker (RIP)]

The aerie and WX (or anything else for that matter) do not know how many hrs you have and don't really care. If you are slapgat they will bite. When I catch myself I stop, take a step back and start again usually I go back to preflight if I not started yet. If started I go back to runup checks. If in air climb and take a deep breath. As long as you have alt, fuel and light you have options.

Big thing for me is not to try to be perfect, but to acknowledge I am not and to put procedures/habits in place to minimise the known risks of flying. Most of all enjoy it. When it stops being fun I will hang up the goggles.

PS
I consider myself a competent pilot, but I have had a couple "incidents". Some slapgatish in nature and others completely beyond my control. TRUST YOUR TRAINING.

[Mogas]

I look at it this way:
Every time I fly I am just a little nervous, this bit of fear produces the trickle adrenaline that I crave. If I wanted a massive dose I would be a base jumper!
I fly in a relatively confined envelope defined by a combination of the limits of my plane and my own limitations.
I strive to learn exactly where these limits are, learning all there is to know about my machine and exploring my own capabilities with the help of my peers in a controlled manner.
I have held various licenses and ratings for 22 years now and I freely admit that I am still learning!
An excellent source of information for me is this forum and I thank you all for it.
PLEASE don't get complacent, if your heart does not beat a bit faster when you get airbourne or flying starts to become boring for you, do something else for fun.
Fly safe
Mogas

[Weg]

A good policy to have:-
Try to learn something new with every flight you take. If you go flying and you did not learn something on every single flight (even after many hours experience), then it is time to start doing just that....

[John Young]

Very interesting topic and nice breakdown by Skyvan and analogy from Arnulf.

I think that age plays a part. I am no youngster and am aware of the fact that I can no longer be as strong or quick as many of my younger flying buddies.

For this reason, I stick to a smaller envelope, and because of maturity, peer pressure forms no part in my decision making.

Four “key areas” must be in place to my satisfaction before I even begin to pre-flight, namely;

1. Current conditions?
2. Forecast conditions?
3. Condition of trike – Am I completely (110%) satisfied that every aspect of the trike is in spec?
4. How do I feel?

With any one of the “key aspects” missing, my trike has –

“A good manner because it stays in the hanger”

Regards
John ZU-CIB

[Dre'man]

4. How do I feel?

Regards
John ZU-CIB

That is the main one for me, no matter how favourable any other condition is, if gut feel is not good I won't fly.

I don't have the hundreds of hours experience to bank on, but my gut feel has never let me down before.

The events of the last few weeks is making me seriously look at the risks of continuing with the hobbie. I think the largest contributor is the lack of information with incidents and accidents, If you don't know exactly what happened how do you avoid the same situation?

[DieselFan]

What bugs me is that with MANY of the microlight accidents, 3 axis too, ballistic chutes were carried but not used

[Harlequin]

Morning.
Before I started flying, I read up on all the accidents that I could get information on. There was a section in the NOTAM’s that provided the most valuable info. Haven’t seen the same published again ??

Numbers are just data, information on the circumstances and decision making is what needs to be shared so we can all learn from the incidents.

I am involved in the mining industry that used to have a horrible safety record; much has been done to improve the situation although the media still highlights the negatives.
The process followed was to close the loop on all accidents, so as to extract learning from each incident. This was then shared amongst other mines. Further to this an approach of learning, developed to an extent where having repeat accidents was not accepted,-- in layman’s terms imposing and demanding a high standard of compliance. Lastly the “buddy” system, looking after each other, as any parachutist will know, second party double checks and advice from others can prevent catastrophes.
In this same way, let’s start informally checking, helping and even criticizing our hanger mates when we observe poor or unsafe behavior. There was reference made to this buddy system as the “wingman “ system in an article. It is behavior we need to change.
Let’s give it a bash.

Fly safely.

Graham.

P.S. For that 5% structure failure risk, I have a ballistic.

[Hot Stuff]

Diesel, would like to her the comments on this comment, this is a another can of worms