The little things
Posted: Sat Aug 28, 2010 3:27 pm
I can never help but notice how many pilots, and especially student pilots, obsess about the little things.
Its a typical busy day. Its one of those in between moments where the airplanes are all on the ground. There's the bustle of the people leaving and putting stuff away, the people getting their airplanes ready. I can't help but wish that I was one of these preparing to go, but it is my lot in life to much of the time watch over them. Its too nice of a day not to be flying. One of the students has that look on his face as he approaches, he has a concern.
Normally I don't like that look, it means something is wrong. What could possibly have happened to turn this day upside down? For the sake of the story lets call the student "Joe".
"I was wondering if I could trade my airplane with Jim's airplane."
Now I should say here that all the airplanes the school has are largely identical aside from the details. There are a few with different sized fuel tanks, a couple which have GPS's installed in addition to their basic package. I can tell you specifics relating to the differing alphabet soups of registration letters. I can also tell you a lot of the history of each plane, when it was aquired by the school, how many hours are on the airframe and engine, and some even recall their original paint schemes, some of which one might find lingering evidence of by their differing seat colors and hidden inside the inspection panels.
"Why do you want to trade?"
"I don't like the seat in that one."
Upon further query there is nothing wrong with the seat, it is much like the others, it has the full range of adjustment like the others. Being one who is often concerned with the comfort of my own ass, I can appreciate his concern. I also however try to make a point that the airplanes are airplanes and I don't put up with these things. Time to nip it in the bud. I explain that there is indeed nothing wrong with the seat, and that the airplane is as serviceable as the next. It was his choice not to fly the airplane if that was his wish, but I would not replace it with another. He chose to fly, so I can only assume that the seat was not as much of an inconvinience as he would have liked to have made out.
I'm reminded of something my uncle once said to me when it comes to stuff like this. "When I married your aunt, we made a deal. I would worry about all the big things and she would worry about all the small things. Fortunately, nothing big has ever come up."
I can't help but notice how in the General aviation crowd how much attention is focused on what I would think are the small things.
"How was it up there today?"
"Well I got my groundspeed up to 124.3 Knots!"
I have this mental image of this pilot flying square patterns, peering intently at the display, hoping for that magic number to rise to a certain threshold to which promises apparently great joy. I've never experienced it, though Mooney owners are frequently telling me about it.
There is much negativity about the small things as well. I hate that color. That heading indicator is different! This seat is too hard. That ident button is different. Or my personal favorite: Those letters are tough to say! One would almost think that many don't enjoy what they're doing at all, they're really missing the big picture I think. Eyes out the window is a common mistake many pilots fail to do, it not only leads to bad flying but also they really miss out on what the biggest picture is they're missing.
Its a moving picture, a big one too.
Its nothing less than the sky itself.
Get out there and enjoy it, let go of the little things.
Its a typical busy day. Its one of those in between moments where the airplanes are all on the ground. There's the bustle of the people leaving and putting stuff away, the people getting their airplanes ready. I can't help but wish that I was one of these preparing to go, but it is my lot in life to much of the time watch over them. Its too nice of a day not to be flying. One of the students has that look on his face as he approaches, he has a concern.
Normally I don't like that look, it means something is wrong. What could possibly have happened to turn this day upside down? For the sake of the story lets call the student "Joe".
"I was wondering if I could trade my airplane with Jim's airplane."
Now I should say here that all the airplanes the school has are largely identical aside from the details. There are a few with different sized fuel tanks, a couple which have GPS's installed in addition to their basic package. I can tell you specifics relating to the differing alphabet soups of registration letters. I can also tell you a lot of the history of each plane, when it was aquired by the school, how many hours are on the airframe and engine, and some even recall their original paint schemes, some of which one might find lingering evidence of by their differing seat colors and hidden inside the inspection panels.
"Why do you want to trade?"
"I don't like the seat in that one."
Upon further query there is nothing wrong with the seat, it is much like the others, it has the full range of adjustment like the others. Being one who is often concerned with the comfort of my own ass, I can appreciate his concern. I also however try to make a point that the airplanes are airplanes and I don't put up with these things. Time to nip it in the bud. I explain that there is indeed nothing wrong with the seat, and that the airplane is as serviceable as the next. It was his choice not to fly the airplane if that was his wish, but I would not replace it with another. He chose to fly, so I can only assume that the seat was not as much of an inconvinience as he would have liked to have made out.
I'm reminded of something my uncle once said to me when it comes to stuff like this. "When I married your aunt, we made a deal. I would worry about all the big things and she would worry about all the small things. Fortunately, nothing big has ever come up."
I can't help but notice how in the General aviation crowd how much attention is focused on what I would think are the small things.
"How was it up there today?"
"Well I got my groundspeed up to 124.3 Knots!"
I have this mental image of this pilot flying square patterns, peering intently at the display, hoping for that magic number to rise to a certain threshold to which promises apparently great joy. I've never experienced it, though Mooney owners are frequently telling me about it.
There is much negativity about the small things as well. I hate that color. That heading indicator is different! This seat is too hard. That ident button is different. Or my personal favorite: Those letters are tough to say! One would almost think that many don't enjoy what they're doing at all, they're really missing the big picture I think. Eyes out the window is a common mistake many pilots fail to do, it not only leads to bad flying but also they really miss out on what the biggest picture is they're missing.
Its a moving picture, a big one too.
Its nothing less than the sky itself.
Get out there and enjoy it, let go of the little things.
that's why I bring a memory foam mat (12 lbs) and sleeping bags for the 2 of us.
How much did that affect the empty weight?