6 Life Lessons From Flight Training

March 10, 2009

There was a time, a few years ago, when I used to fly constantly. I spent more time airborne than anywhere else. I was always looking for people to fly with me, and places to take them, just so I could get aloft once more. “San Diego to El Paso for lunch? Sure!” “Georgia to Costa Rica, and back? Why not?” Those were the days!

I don’t fly much anymore, for all sorts of reasons. But I think about flying all the time, particularly since there are several lessons I learned from flight training that I have carried over into my day-to-day life. I would like to share my top six with you today.

1. Go Around

Sometimes, when you are coming in to land, something is just not right. Maybe it is something you did, or the weather changed, but it is clearly not working. In these instances, if you can recognize that you are off track, don’t force the landing. Add full power; pull up the flaps, and Go Around. Try it again in a little while, when you can get your bearings.

I find that this lesson applies to almost anything I do: getting frustrated with a new project, struggling to learn a new skill, getting technology to work like it should, and having conversations that don’t seem to be getting the point across, among other things. I have honed my ability to recognize when what I am doing is NOT working. I stop, go away, regroup, and come back later to try again. I usually get it right the second time around.

2. Commit to Land

There comes a point, on final approach, when Going Around is no longer an option. At this point your only choice is to land, and try to make the best of it. Sometimes in life we don’t get to choose to Go Around, or try again, or take a break and regroup; we just have to face whatever is thrown at us. We have to accept our circumstances because there is no alternative. At those times, all we can do is take a deep breath, stay focused, brace ourselves for potentially difficult times, and do the best we can.

3. Trust Your Instruments

When I was training for my instrument rating, I had to fly without looking outside the cockpit (using Foggles that cover everything but the instrument panel). The reason for this is there are times when we cannot rely on our senses. When flying in the clouds, through a storm, or on a hazy day, our senses get confused. We think we are climbing, but the plane is really descending. We think our wings are level when, in fact, we are banking into a turn.

During those times, we have to learn to ignore what our own brain tells us, and trust the instruments instead. This is easier said than done, I promise you. In life, there are times when our judgment is clouded for a variety of reasons. Maybe we are under the influence of a drug, enraptured by the allure of an illicit affair, or suffering from a mental or emotional condition. We have to learn to trust someone who has our best interests at heart, and can help us navigate safely home. Choose reliable “instruments”.

 

4. Use Your Senses, Too

Once, my dad and I were flying to a small Mexican beach town, with my brand new Instrument Rating (the ink wasn’t even dry). He was not instrument rated, so I was showing off my skills and elected to fly a DME-Arc approach into the airport. I focused all my attention on the instruments and the landing charts. Suddenly, I hear my dad in the headsets saying, “I may not know how to read those charts, but I DO know that is a mountain, and the airport is behind us.” Basically, I missed the turn into the final approach. A little common sense kept us from hitting a mountain… a hill, really.

5. Calmly Level Yourself

When you get disoriented, often because of poor visibility, you are at risk of going into a graveyard spiral. You think you are flying straight and level when, in fact, your wings are banked and you are pitching down. You feel the descent, notice your nose is below the artificial horizon, panic a little, and pull hard on the yoke thinking you are going to raise the nose of the airplane. BUT, since you did not straighten the wings first, you end up tightening and accelerating the descending spiral (towards the ground!). The correct response is: calmly, level the wings first, and then pull up.

How does this apply to real life? Often we will find ourselves in situations that we recognize to be out of balance, out of control, not heading in a good direction. We panic and start desperately trying to do something, anything, often making poor decisions that aggravate the situation. Instead, we should calmly assess what is going on, get balanced first, then work towards our objective. Calm, thoughtful action yields better results than panic-induced force.

6. Find Your Way

We look up at the sky and see planes flying this way and that, and it seems as if they can just go wherever they want. In fact, it is not like that at all. There is a whole system of assigned altitudes and directions for Visual Flights, and actual Airways (freeways in the sky!) for Instrument Flights. Those planes are flying specific routes on an invisible “road” system.

This, to me, is a reminder that just because we can’t see the system, the order, the reason why things work the way they do, doesn’t mean it isn’t there. I believe everything has a reason, even if we don’t see it or understand it yet.

Well, ladies and gentlemen, we have reached our destination. I hope you enjoyed your “flight.”

Further Reading: The Little Prince | Fate is the Hunter | Jonathan Livingston Seagull

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Posted in balance, inner peace, serenity