What is AIRMANSHIP?

[John Boucher]

Popping out of the House Rules of Clubs, I made a note of "Taxing your Aircraft into the hangar!" which is regarded as poor AIRMANSHIP. RV4KER reflected on an occassion at renewal the instructor said he would have failed him if he had done that whilst testing.... WHY?

This brings the question : What do you regard as GOOD AIRMANSHIP & WHAT IS POOR AIRMANSHIP!

Constructive comments please.... this is for us to improve our AIRMANSHIP in the eyes of others.....

Thanx

BAD NAV

[John Boucher]

These are some thoughts....

Good airmanship means exercising good command

Practical knowledge is another aspect of good airmanship

Airmanship is synonymous with leadership

Good airmanship means exercising self-discipline

Airmanship used to be about basic stick and rudder skills. If we widen that definition, we can change the perception of what it means to be a great pilot. In the end, airmanship really is about pride-pride in learning as much as you can about the history and pioneers of aviation, developing your knowledge and skills to the best of your ability, honing your command qualities, and fully accepting the duties and responsibilities that come with exercising the privileges of your certificate. By reviving airmanship, we can further define those expectations and responsibilities for all aspiring aviators, and restore pride and professionalism to our part of the aviation world.

Credits : Christopher L. Parker is a CFI and an aviation author, speaker, and FAA remedial training specialist. He is director of aviation and chief pilot for a California corporation operating the Bombardier Challenger worldwide.

Off the AOPA website...

[John Boucher]

Good airmanship is that indefinable something, perhaps just a state of mind, that separates the superior airman/airwoman from the average: it is not a measure of skill or technique, rather it is a measure of a person's awareness of the aircraft & its flight environment & of her/his own capabilities & behavioral characteristics, combined with good judgment, wise decision making & a high sense of self-discipline. Airmanship is the cornerstone of pilot competency. Competency has been defined as the combination of knowledge, skills & attitude required to perform a task well – or to operate an aircraft safely & in all foreseeable situations. A flight operation, even in the most basic low momentum ultralight, is a complex interaction of pilot, machine, practical physics, airspace structures, traffic, weather, planning and risk; & when each & every flight is undertaken it is not only the aircraft which should be airworthy, the total environment – airframe, engine, pilot, atmospheric conditions & flight planning – should allow for the safe, successful conclusion of each operation. It is the perception – founded on the acquired underpinning knowledge – of the state of that total environment & its potential risks that provides the basis for good airmanship & safe, efficient, error free flight. Insufficient perception & insufficient self-discipline create a pilot at risk - John Brandon – Australian Recreational Flying Inc.

It's the sum of your attitude & airman skills. It begins with the attitude you have toward yourself & others, & includes your sense of moral & ethical responsibility to both. As an airman, your attitude is integrated with your airman skills, which are, your piloting skills, your technical expertise & understanding of the aircraft you fly, your social skills and your CRM skills. Your attitude & airman skills determine your level of airmanship & ultimately, your rank among other aviators.

If your objective is airmanship then remember: Attitude + Airman Skills = Airmanship. Ultimately if our objective is professional airmanship, our objective becomes one of learning, maintaining & enhancing our airman skills. It means we have a strategy to succeed & be examples of "Airmanship". If that is truly our objective, we will no longer think of our piloting skills as "airman" skills. We will see them as "Airmanship" skills.
www.aopa.org

[John Boucher]

60 Hits minus my 3.....

Have I posted all that needs to be commented on AIRMANSHIP?

I am just curious as to what the old fundies of flight on the forum have to say about it....

Who knows, maybe I get an awesome comment and I can include it in my monthly newsletter for the flying school I'm affiliated with.....

[cjkrit]

The basic principle will also apply to good airmanship. Do to your fellow aviators as you would like them to do to you. One can never go wrong with this in mind. Its not only a list of do's or don'ts - its a way of life.

Regards

Christo Kritzinger

[John Boucher]

A reply..... ! Thank you!

Ponder these....

It's calling prop clear to let the people outside your aircraft know what you intend to do next...
It's starting your aircraft's engine without unknowing onlookers behind getting covered in dust...
It's the way you turn your aircraft away from onlookers without restyling their hairdo's...
It's starting your aircraft in such a way that the open hangar behind you is not covered in muck just after you swept it...
It's the speed you taxi from the hangar, to the holding point, the speed you taxi on the runway before and after take off...
It is making your radio call on the ground so those in the circuit know what your intentions are...
It is you "looking out" for the direction of the windsock and for clear runway / traffic...

..... and you haven't even taken off yet!

[skidmark]

Airmanship! my biggest negatives are .....
You not flying that day. You hangar buddy decides to pull his plane out but has to take yours out so he/she can get his out. Decides to leave yours out because he's too damn slapgat to put it back while he's out flying. That is BAD airmanship. Worth a punch in the kisser.
Another is you have a taxiway in front of your hangar and the bloke decides this is a good spot to check everything out lifts the rpm's and blows the kilo alpha kilo out of you and your hangar.

[John Boucher]

Hi there Skiddie

The hangar thing is why I would much rather do my own thing! I know it's not always possible for various reasons but that would be the ideal!
I just hate everything being covered in sand! If one want to share a hangar, build the thing with 2 doors either side - then all you do is pull the aeries in tail to tail

Poor Airmanship -
It's calling to do a left hand circuit and end up doing a right hand one.... dof!
It's calling left base 02 and you are actually left base 20.... nog a dof!
Even worse, not calling at all - because you don't have a radio or it's not working or you didn't have the energy to switch it on in the first place - therefore, you never made a radio check before starting up and taxiing to the holding point!

[Morph]

Piloting is the ability to fly the plane, Airmanship is the simply good manners.

Most have already been discussed, my personal hates are especially with the larger bliks at our airfield, especially the warbirds
Using full throttle to turn the aircraft around through 270 deg anticlockwise, spraying public, cars and hangars with stones and sand, where a simple and safe 90 deg clockwise would have achieved the same thing

At Vredendal taxiing between all the parked aircraft on high power, then performing the same manouver again, clockwise, spraying all the lighter aircraft including the Bush Baby I had borrowed for the weekend, where a shutdown and more than enough willing helping hands were available to manual push the plane in.

Gyro's not listening in on the radio, you are on base, calling a full stop and the gyro enters and backtracks the runway, then sits there on the threshold to pre-rotate requiring a right orbit until the gyro, without any radio calls has finally taken off

Turning finals for 02 number 1 in circuit when a Jabi, using no radio calls takes off towards you and downwind. Then when confronted later claims not to know anything about it. Even though he had to perform serious evasive manouvers to miss me

These are examples of Bad airmanship.

[skidmark]

Hehehe....Just a thought would be nice if those guilty are reading this thread.

[John Boucher]

Now were talking.....

[Boet]

Mmmmm. At the same said Vredendal show, I moved my BRAND NEW Explorer to the upwind-side of the taxiway, to try and evade the coming dust-storm made by the BUF`s taxying in, but was pronto told to move it to he downwnd side of the taxiway. When questioning the safety officer about the reason why?: He said, it is because HE said so. NOT reason enough. Bad airmanship always pisses me off horribly, I can not even pretend to ignore it, because i simply CAN NOT. Some "Pilots" would be better of riding a ferkin bicycle.

[Petrodactyl]

Airmanship seems to be mainly about subverting the ego in the interests of safety, courtesy and the needs of others.

It is going around again when you are not 100% happy with your approach.
It is standing clear when someone else is being an @rse#ole.
It is understanding that it is better to let someone die alone than to let them take you with them.
It is understanding that in this business, size does not matter - we still have the same distance to fall.
It is expecting other pilots will do the wrong thing, and planning accordingly.

It is not losing sight of the fact that we play in an alien environment, and we can never stop learning to survive in it. Knowlege is life!

I fly with someone who sees things like this, and respect her enormously.

Christian

[Frequent Flyer]

Ok, we fly microlights - low and slow so one very important aspect of good airmanship to me is accomodating blik aeries / faster aeries in the circuit, i let them land first - gives me more time in the air, why do want to land in any way? Its not costing me an arm and a leg to stay airborn for 5 minutes longer but for them its having to wait for a trike!. Another is good radio manners! Acknowledge conflicting traffic so that they know who / what / where you are and what your intensions is and they know you've heard them.

In Kuruman we have a beeeg comunual hangar with doors opening on both sides, and a Bonanza that regularly try to create more hangar space by positioning 'himself' with the tail facing the other planes / trikes in the hangar and letting the engine cool down for a minute or so needles to say - creating havock in the hanger

just my 2c

[Boet]

It is standing clear when someone else is being an @rse#ole.

.Exactly what I wanted to do at Vredendal, and was then told by the events safety officer to move my new aeroplane back into the dust. How to piss me off in 5 seconds flat: Blow dust all over my aeroplane.