If I only knew then...

[flint4xx]

Do the right thing the first time, even if nobody is watching.

Don't be afraid to admit when you are wrong.

Accept that there is ALWAYS somebody who knows more than you. Listen and learn before you speak. (eg, Avbug)

Save money NOW, not sometime in the future.

Make your parents proud of you, and teach all this to your children.

As for flying, do as you are taught by professionals, and use the above principals. The rest will happen automatically.

...and don't drink coffee before long flights if you haven't made poopie yet.

 

[bigD]

I wish someone would have told me years earlier how dorky saying "Aaand....blah blah blah" over the radio is.

I wish I would have listened to the people that kept telling me that I'd have just as much fun flying a $50/hr 150 as I would a $160/hr Seneca, $130/hr 210, $140/hr A36, or whatever.

Chicks don't dig retracts any more than fixed gear planes. They won't even notice. I took a girl on a dinner date to SAT once in an A36, feeling all cool, and about a week later she asked me how long it'd be until I can fly the "big planes where the wheels come up."

On that same flight, I also learned to make sure the marker beacon audio is turned down when you don't plan on flying an ILS. My date thought the wings were about to fall off when we passed over the middle marker to 12R.

I wish I had known earlier how treacherous dating female pilots can be. Discovering a cute aviator is like finding a drinking fountain in the middle of the desert, but do you really want to date some girl that's as type A and as big a control freak as you are?

I wish I had known that when you figure the FBO's super cute front desk girl is 23, she's actually 17. DOH!

 

[mar]

Airplanes are like bicycles

I wish somebody would've told me that airplanes are like bicycles. There are many different kinds and just because you're good at one kind doesn't mean you're gonna be good at another.

Just because you're good at mountain biking doesn't mean that you're gonna be good at road racing.

Just because you're good at flying a 421 around at night, IFR, over the mountains, doesn't mean you're gonna be good, say, on floats.

Or in a crew.

Or in a 207 *in* the mountains, during the day.

Or in an F-16.

Or in a DC-3.

All of these are different skills: just like the mountain bike, street bike, BMX bike, unicyle, tandem bike, etc.

I wish somebody would've told me that the best pilots have a hugely diverse background from which to draw in the course of their day to day flying.

Fly safe

 

[DJS]

I wish I would have started earlier..

I'll second the "I wish I would have discovered aviation earlier" post.

I've always known I was going to learn how to fly...someday. I always wanted the window seat when flying cramped in coach in the big jets. I've always owned the latest version of Microsoft Flight Simulator. I spent days after flying as a passenger in small airplanes doing nothing but thinking about amazing that was...

...and all of a sudden I was mid way through the summer of 2002, about to turn 38. And I still hadn't taken any steps towards "someday".

A private pilot certificate later and 1/2 way or so through my instrument training, I can't stop slapping myself upside the head and uttering, "You Moron. Why didn't you do this 20 years ago? This is clearly what you were meant to do."

We'll see what the future holds. I've got a few more certificates and ratings to get before I seriously think of anything drastic like changing careers. Never mind the current job market for middle-aged low-hour pilots But flying is now never far from my mind. I've found that the universe and/or luck and/or karma and/or deity-of-your-choice tends to open doors when you need them opened. It will be interesting to see where this path leads me.

...Dave

 

[skydiverdriver]

Yeah, I started early and then stopped for awhile. I suppose everyone has to find their own way.

I thought about the listening first before transmitting, but I figured this was covered in the radio pet-peeves thread.

Thanks for the suggestions, and I hope all the active cfi's read this and teach them to the new guys/gals. Good luck to all.

 

[Timebuilder]

"You Moron. Why didn't you do this 20 years ago? This is clearly what you were meant to do."

For me, I could have done this forty years ago! I have slapped myself several times over this but the reality is different.

My path took me to several different places in life, and I have learned something everywhere that I have gone. The truth is that we have a certain amount of free will in our lives, and we are constantly "counseled" along the way as we conform to the Master Plan. Perhaps that small boy that stood next to the cub at that small airport wouldn't be ready to fully explore aviation for another 30+ years.

Things that aren't covered in training:

Ask for shortcuts to your route. "Any chance of Direct XXX?"

"Affirmative" is often the better response compared to "roger".

A small amount of frozen moisture attached to your aircraft is not a reason to freak out. Anthying more than that is reason enough to take whatever steps are necessary to get out of it. Certified for known icing does not mean that you can stay in icing conditions for a long time.

Judgement is developed over time. You could never live long enough to make all of the mistakes that can be made, so learn from the mistakes of others. Especially, learn from the fatal mistakes. See icing, above paragraph.

Most of what you believed about flying before you started doing it is wrong.

Most flight attendants will remind you of your third grade teacher, as opposed to Meg Ryan.

Find out early on if you really love flying, since that is one of the only perceptions that can stand the test of time in aviation.

 

[LR25]

Should have listened to my dad more, now that he is gone, I mostly depend on myself for the right anwer, which aint always right.

Realize that other people you fly with "early in training" just to go flying, MAY KILL YOU. Just dont climb into every airplane with everybody.

Do not stop studying. (Ditto, Avbug)

Cheaper is "more" expensive.

That you get out of shape as soon as you get a driver liscence.

Dont burn bridges (especially in aviation).

Dont get pressured by anybody, or anything, your life depends on it, along with others.

Be honest, to yourself especially.

 

[310]

LR25 is right- don't fly with just anybody- Four pilots I have met and talked to at a local airport are now subjects of NTSB fatal accident reports- all of them at fault- two had a passenger that were also killed.
My primary (pre PPL) instructor warned me not to fly with one of these pilots- he was right.

 

[Clownpilot]

One more

1 Don't pee on your hands
2 Don't swim in shark infested waters if you're bleeding
3 Don't eat yellow snow
4 Don't list hookers on your tax return as a 'deductible work expense'

and most importantly,

5 Don't take advice from long winded blowholes on some anonymous aviation message board whose aviation experience is limited to flying little pieces of cr*p, reading aviation books, and watching John Wayne flying movies.

I guess some people just love to hear themselves talk.

 

[Timebuilder]

Oh, and don't forget...

...that some folks won't have anything constructive to say, despite thousands of hours flying large aircraft.