Lessons Learned from Flying

Learning

1/4/2023

Introduction

Piloting an aircraft is multitasking at its best. Handling the controls in 3D, observing the instruments, navigating, and continuously scanning neighboring flight objects for collision avoidance pose a high cognitive load on the pilot.

You might say there are GPS and autopilots, and what makes it different from driving a car? Of course, experienced pilots with thousands or tens of thousands of logged flight hours might consider their job routine and even boring to some extent, because of automation in the cockpit.

Flying small aircraft demands constant focus

I can tell you flying a glider or a Cessna 152/172 is really challenging, with the experience of a couple of hundred hours. Nothing else has taught me more than flying - apart from my marriage perhaps - about myself!

What are the biggest learning lessons I was fortunate to get from flying?

Distractions

It is not possible to remain in a state of absolute alertness all the time. Distractions occur and are necessary for the mind to relax for a moment. However, they can become dangerous if not interrupted actively. In flying, this happens when looking at the map for a long time or at one particular instrument (in gliding/soaring, the vertical speed indicator to find the best uplift). At the same time, attention to the presence of other aircrafts, or the airspeed slips, and very quickly a threatening situation builds up.

Lesson

Get into the habit of regularly scanning your environment and mental state.

Blind spots

Biased decisions are hard to recognize that you made yourself (in others, it is often easy). Complex and consequential decisions are often made by a forced simplification of the information at hand. The best remedy I have found is to be radically honest with myself and analyze what happened and why I made that decision in retrospect.

Misperceptions leading to a flawed decision can be as trivial as not listening to the airspace controller. If they say there are two aircraft on final ahead of me, I must keep searching for the second one. Ignoring this for the sake of planning the usual textbook approach - especially under high cognitive load - can lead to critical mistakes.

Once on an approach to Turku, Finland, I was surprised to suddenly see the second aircraft quite close in front of me. I was blind to the obvious! The best choice would have been to extend the approach away from the airfield until I spot the plane before safely turning into final.

Lesson

Acknowledge that in times of cognitive stress your mind wants to simplify reality by selectively applying concepts that feel easy and familiar.

Illusions

This is a hilarious one. I caught myself several times compulsively trying to reconcile the information on the map with the landscape in front of me. It's like saying: "this must be true because I want it so hard". Even when there are obvious clues available that I might be wrong, it requires effortful activity of the rational mind to overcome the misperception, even when the result might not be pleasant. The earlier the better!

Lesson

If you have the feeling of unease and cognitive dissonance, then most of the time there is something wrong!

Overconfidence

This is particularly dangerous in flying. Confidence is good because with self-assurance, challenges can be mastered efficiently. Becoming overconfident - on the other hand - is a gradual phenomenon, often remaining unobserved. This is particularly threatening when you have guests on board and you want to show off some tricks.

Between the islands of Molokai and Lanai on Hawaii, there are some shipwrecks that I wanted to fly by at low altitude and speed. I started my descent and wanted to adjust the flaps and speed to make it a great experience. But then I remembered from my flight training about the danger of getting into the back side of the power curve: an aircraft can get into a situation where even with full power and a high angle of attack of the wings to the airflow, there is no way back to normal. So I was able to make a shift in my mental state early enough because I was susceptible to some alarm bells ringing.

Lesson

Be confident with your abilities, but don't be misled by your ego and external influences fostering it.

Absolute focus and faith in times of adversity

I vividly remember my night flight with my instructor in a Cessna 152, where we were on a final approach to Bremerton west of Seattle. Suddenly, the lighting of the instruments failed. My flight instructor said: "this is bad", but I just responded that "as long as we keep the approach lights of the runway on the same level in the window, we are fine." Of course, in retrospect, it could have been fatal. In a moment of an imminent crash situation, I just wanted to calm myself, have a point of fixation, and full faith, where in fact, one could just panic and give up. (About 30 sec later, the lighting returned, but it was scary anyway.)

Lesson

No matter how threatening the situation may seem, take a moment to calmly assess your options, make the most rational decision, and commit to it.

Enjoy and seize the moment

Have fun and allow every experience, big or small, to enrich your life in meaningful ways. By remaining present and open to new moments, you enable yourself to find value in both pleasure and challenge. Cultivating a mindset of curiosity and appreciation helps transform ordinary events into opportunities for growth, fulfillment, and lasting happiness.

Satisfaction from learning and being thankful

The feeling of satisfaction after having mastered a difficult situation is very rewarding. In all self-control and critical self-monitoring of mistakes, it is essential to acknowledge the beauty of Mother Earth and the capability of the human mind to learn and adapt. We should be proud of our accomplishments and use that uplifting feeling to overcome the next challenges, or simply recognize the great gift we were given by the Creator. It is a personal decision to be open to the possibilities the Universe offers us.

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