Some people are naturally well organized and others — just aren’t. I place myself mostly in the ‘aren’t’ category, and over the years, I’ve adjusted my flying style to accommodate that element of my personal style. In the late 1980s, my friend and former colleague at Flying Eric Weiner (now the author of a bestseller The Geography of Bliss) wrote an article titled, “The Perfect Flight.” He outlined his own dearth of basic organizational skills and how he compensated as a pilot. As Eric eloquently showed, it can be done. And just as safely, if not necessarily as efficiently, as that other kind of pilot. You simply have to have some basic rules to fly by that are somewhat different from those of better organized thinkers. And as Clint Eastwood said, you need to know [and respect] your limitations.
I set some boundaries on what I will and will not take on based on my how recently I’ve flown in the system or in real weather. For example, even if I’m legally current for IFR flight, I won’t launch on a complex flight if I haven’t been in the system for a while. There are just too many nuances of aviating, navigating and communicating that can get stale after too much time has elapsed. So I’ll be sure to plan for some recurrent training, a light-weather flight or both before one of my important trips.
