How Not To Get Experience

Its said we learn to make good decisions by experience, and that experience results from making bad decisions. The flaw in this plan is that in flying, bad decisions can have awful consequences. How can we learn to make good flying decisions without exposing ourselves and our passengers to undue risk? What are we as an industry doing wrong, that pilots regularly make such poor decisions about safety of flight? After all, as much as 80 percent of all aircraft mishaps result from a chain of poor decisions on the part of the pilot, with actual mechanical issues being secondary if they indeed are a factor at all. I think whats going on is the whole culture of how we "learn to fly."

Key Takeaways:

• A majority of aviation accidents result from poor pilot decision-making rather than a lack of basic flight skills, indicating a deficiency in how pilots learn to handle real-world scenarios after initial certification.
• Pilots should view checkrides as the beginning of their learning journey, actively continuing flight instruction with CFIs (even new ones) and seeking mentors to safely expand their flight experience.
• To enhance safety and decision-making, pilots must proactively utilize diverse learning opportunities such as peer discussions, online forums, educational resources, and scenario-based flight reviews, rather than relying on dangerous personal experience.

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