I Can Fly

My sympathies go out to the flight that was going from Brazil to France Monday.  Searchers found some debris in the Atlantic today and they are sending ships to investigate.  No one yet knows what happened with Flight 447, and I am sure we will find out in due time. 

I know the chances of finding any survivors is small, and coming from a pilot’s perspective, it reminds me of the amount of respect one must always give to the aircraft one flies.   Between the accident in the Hudson, the iced up airplane in upstate New York, and this Airbus crash in the Atlantic, there have been some terrible occurances lately which is not encouraging many to fly.  This past year, I have logged over 400 hours with about a quarter of it in IFR and night and safety is always something that should be foremost in the pilot’s minds.  Luckily I have never flown into tricky conditions, and I contribute that to my flight instructors keen words about checking weather and being ok with saying no.  His saying was, “You can be a bold pilot or you can be an old pilot.  But you can never be an old bold pilot!”

For those of you who read this and are behind the yoke in the cockpit, please remember your checklists and be ok with saying no – whether you fly for a company or for yourself.  Aviation is a small family and we don’t need to lose anyone else.  I know I need to refresh on my emergency procedures and it looks like this weekend may be just the weekend for that.