Don’t let someone pressure you into doing something foolish. You probably heard this sentiment (or some form of it) as a child—as a pilot, foolish mistakes can be deadly, and sometimes very public. You may know someone who did something foolish with an airplane and ended up on the local or national news.
This isn’t just stunt flying gone bad—it can be a pilot who bows to external pressures such as get-there-itis or makes decisions when compromised by fatigue. Saying no to a flight, especially when you have passengers on board, can be very difficult—but sometimes it is necessary. When you read accident reports, you see the red flags—the mistakes or questionable decisions made by the pilots. This makes accident reports a valuable teaching tool.
