This week I went flying with a friend in a single engine kit airplane. If you’ve ever been in the vicinity of a pilot preparing to take to the sky, you certainly discovered that there are:
Rigorous procedures and checklists to follow
Everything is tested
Everything important has a backup
The backups are tested
For example, the engine in his airplane has 4 cylinders and 2 spark plus per1. There are two magnetos, each supplying power to one plug in every cylinder for redundancy. After he started the engine a test was made to disable one magneto at a time to verify the other was working and could maintain the desired RPM for an emergency landing. Remember how we (all) say that two is one and one is none? There you go.
I won’t bore you with details but we went up with four other planes to practice formation flying for airshows. Before we even got into the plane there was a 35 minute briefing and then a practice on the ground as though they were in the air.
We performed all the maneuvers into different formations and everyone landed safely. It was really a lot of fun.
A Plan B
Like I wrote, there are Plan Bs for everything in flying. During the briefing the lead pilot stated that everyone was going to take off close together to form up at altitude. There would be no “sympathetic aborts.” That means that if the plane in front of you aborts the take-off, you still get yourself up into the sky. His performance does not impact yours.
That stuck with me the past few days and I thought through the analogues in my life. Maybe they match some of yours (that’s why you’re here reading this, right?)
I stayed up late watching a movie, guess I’ll turn off the 5:30am alarm to work out tomorrow morning
I can’t find my favorite fleece to gear up for a hike, I’ll skip it just for today since its cold outside anyway
I know I said I’d keep it under control tonight but since I’ve had two beers, why not have a few more and get into work a little late tomorrow?
My spouse and I had an argument, I didn’t follow what the counselor said and back off to cool things down. Well screw it, he/she’s wrong and I’m going to call a friend and go out to “shake it off”
I can’t pay off my Visa card this month so how would it hurt to put a few hundred more dollars on it? There’s always next month.
When you read through these mistakes taken from my own history, do they sound like they come from a man who disciplines his body, mind or tongue? (I already know the answer.)
I’ve spent a lot of time on this blog suggesting to you what to do and how to do it. I’ve based it upon the authority that “Hey, I went first.” In this post, I’m inviting you to avoid the sympathetic abort. Like the many times I didn’t.
Final Thought
There is always another morning to get up on time, another night to stay home and and opportunity to apologize over using harsh words in your marriage (I hope!) The goal, as they say, is to recognize so you can improve. You don’t have to beat yourself up but you should strive to do better. I have.
Thank you to Jim, an excellent Air Force Academy pilot and friend. Though he was more at home in an F-15 or F-16 he sure wrangled his RV-7A like a pro!
Dan
The Three Stages of Social Maturity
I care what you think about me
I care what I think about me
I care what you think about you
- Vox Day, 8-Dec-2023
Most engines only have 1 spark plug per cylinder because if that fails your car or boat won’t fall out of the air and flatten you.