AOPA Pilot Magazine - November 2013 - 22

LICENSE TO LEARN

Two minds—
if you don’t mind

BY ROD MACHADO

You are only as good as your basic training
MY FATHER TOLD ME, “Never to go to bed without
having a really good question on your mind.” I told
him I’d think about it.
In fact, I have faithfully followed that advice
for decades, although I occasionally find myself
asking, “Why am I not getting much sleep?” One
lobe-worthy question that’s kept the sandman away
over the years is the aviation educator’s response
to the question, “Why do I need to spend so much
time practicing the basic fundamentals of flight?”
Despite flapping our regio oralis (lips) in support of sustaining higher skills by practicing basic
ones, we offer little more than lackluster responses.
At least I’ve not heard an answer that would inspire
anyone to leap from their couch, race to the airport, and perform precision dead-stick landing
simulations.

Your conscious mind can and does go temporarily
AWOL on almost every flight, especially when
adrenaline—or other liquids—is involved.

ROD MACHADO

is a CFI who began
instructing in the
1970s. He has
produced a
number of books
and videos on
learning to fly.

So, why do you need to be proficient at entering and exiting slow flight at minimum controllable
airspeed? Why should you practice forward slips,
stall and spin-entry recoveries, or even coordination rolls? Why should you spend your flying cash
on strengthening these and other basic flying skills?
If you stop and think about it, there really is a
good answer to this question and it has everything
to do with not thinking about it.
Pilots are of two minds during flight. There’s
our conscious mind, which asks the questions,
plots strategy, and executes a plan. Then there’s
our reflexive mind, which works behind the
scenes to control almost everything the conscious
mind doesn’t think about. It’s our reflexive mind
that responds based on habit formation (training)
and biological programming (instinct), generally in
that order.
When your conscious mind is engaged by
a good distraction or adrenaline-induced tunnel vision (i.e., an emergency, for instance), your

22 | AOPA PILOT November 2013

reflexive mind has the helm to itself. The more
you’re focused on something other than flying the
airplane, the more your reflexive mind is PIC. This
is especially true when the chips are down.
Here’s an example of how your conscious mind
attends to more pressing concerns while relying on
your reflexive mind to do the flying. Suppose you’re
in cruise flight and experience a sudden and urgent
need to visit the loo. You’re now piloting a Loo2.
As you make a harried descent to a nearby airport,
you attempt to obtain the loo-down from unicom
on the loo’s airport location and whether or not it’s
presently occupied. All the while, you’re having a
devil of a time concentrating on flying your airplane
(that’s the work of loo-cifer).
With your conscious mind distracted, do you
have any doubt that your ability to make a coordinated turn from base to final is now primarily
dependent on how well your reflexive mind has
mastered the basic fundamentals of flight? You
know this is true. Don’t deny it. You certainly aren’t
thinking about how P-factor affects your turn (at
least not that type of P-factor). Here is where insufficient airspeed and cross-control malfeasance
might easily offer you a ticket to Spin City.
The fact is that your conscious mind can and
does go temporarily AWOL on almost every flight,
especially when adrenaline—or other liquids—is
involved. It can happen when passengers distract
you, your engine hiccups, or if you’re worried about
finding fuel. It’s an endless list. When it happens,
you are only as good as your basic training.
And that, my friends, is the answer to the
question, “Why do I need to spend so much time
practicing the basic fundamentals of flight?”
On your next flight, when passing through the
practice area, take some time to fly really slowly.
Test your proficiency at coordination. See how
quickly you can establish yourself in the attitude
for a power-off glide at best glide speed. These are
just a few of the basics we depend on to keep us
safe in flight.
Me? I’m going to try to get some sleep. AOPA
WEB

www.rodmachado.com

http://www.rodmachado.com

AOPA Pilot Magazine - November 2013

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