AOPA Pilot Magazine - November 2018 - 24

FLYING LIFE

Mind your manners

BY NATALIE BINGHAM HOOVER

Pilot lessons from childhood
AS A MOTHER OF TWO YOUNG CHILDREN, there is a
constant focus on manners in our home. As a rule,
we try to eat dinner together at the table every night.
My hope is that those dear, wild hooligans may one
day be able to sit down at a restaurant and have a civilized business meeting or perhaps a romantic dinner
(when they're 40) without scaring off their dates. It
seems that all of us, children and adults alike, sometimes forget our manners.
As pilot owners and renters, we often get into the
habit of being less than gentle with our airplanes, leading to higher operating costs and more time spent in
maintenance. In the hopes of avoiding those unpleas-

How many of us have walked out to an
airplane, excited for an early morning flight,
when our plans were foiled by a bald spot on a
tire or a burned-out light?

NATALIE BINGHAM
HOOVER is a
designated pilot
examiner and
corporate pilot.

ant consequences, here's a little reminder of the
manners most of us learned as children but have forgotten somewhere along the way.
Always put your toys away when you're finished playing with them. As kids, we learned the
hard way what happens when we park our bike behind
dad's truck. It's just as important to use proper securing procedures when we finish with our airplanes for
the day. If the airplane is parked on the ramp instead of
in a hangar, we have to master the art of effective knot
tying-the important thing is that the knot is secure
with no slack in the lines. The flight school where I
work once lost three airplanes in a single storm. One
of them was flipped upside down. The other two collided, causing wing and tail damage. In addition to a
proper tiedown, don't forget the gust lock and the pitot
cover. Your favorite airplane will thank you.
No hitting your friends. During checkrides, just
prior to takeoff, it is not uncommon for the applicant
to ask me to beat on the inside of my door to make sure
it's locked. But rather than possibly damaging the door
panel and wearing out the latching mechanism, why
not simply open the window and run a hand along the
frame where the door meets the fuselage? If it's flush,
you know the door is closed. Another option is to look
at the inside seam around the closed door. If you see
blue sky, then you know you've got a problem. Rough

24 | AOPA PILOT November 2018

handling of the airplane during preflight is another
common practice that seems unwise. The flight controls check should simply consist of smoothly making
a box by turning the yoke or stick all the way to the
left, then full aft, then full right before moving it forward again. You don't need to roughly turn the wheel
back and forth numerous times as if you're trying to
test the strength of the cables and pulleys. Likewise,
when checking the security of hinges and bolts on the
walk-around, use a gentle touch when manipulating
control surfaces. Vigorously shaking the flaps to test
the integrity of the bolt is counterproductive at best,
and could, over time, cause the very damage you're
trying to prevent.
When playtime is over, clean up after yourself.
An airplane should be treated no differently than our
own homes. Picking up used water bottles and trash
is an easy task and will go a long way toward enjoying a clean, well-maintained airplane, rather than one
that looks like it's been abused and neglected. Another
frequently forgotten item is a postflight walk-around.
How many of us have walked out to an airplane, excited
for an early morning flight, when our plans were foiled
by a bald spot on a tire or a burned-out light? The problem could easily have been addressed after the last
flight, if only someone had noticed the issue.
If you play roughly, your toys will break. My
son loves crashing his little plastic trucks into one
another, or into the brick fireplace, or generally into
anything that will make a loud noise. Much to his dismay, most of the wheels have fallen off or broken. In
an effort to get the best performance, we pilots sometimes treat our engines the same way. We run the rpm
right at the red line during cruise, or abruptly slam
the throttle to full or yank it back to idle. Whether
these things actually cause shock cooling in an engine
is debated, but regardless, rough handling will cause
all manner of issues over time, including more frequent overhauls.
While I don't think any of us would intentionally
cause harm to the aircraft we love, we sometimes get
so focused on the business of preflighting and flying that we forget the manners that would usually
come naturally. So here's hoping we can all take better
care of our aircraft, and in doing so, enjoy more time
in the air.
AOPA
www.myaviation101.com

http://www.myaviation101.com

AOPA Pilot Magazine - November 2018

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