The Most Important Skills?

[777-2H4]

Here's an interesting question for the pilots on here. What would you say are the top 3 most important skills or talents that a person should have to be a successful aircraft pilot? Let's say you were an instructor (some of you are) and you were presented a potential student, a zero-time person. What would you look for in this person in the way of abilities or skills, learned or natural, to evaluate whether this person could successfully learn to fly?

 

[ceo_of_the_sofa]

Ability to pay for training, everything else can be dealt with.

 

[UndauntedFlyer]

Almost anyone can learn to fly including your grandmother. But some people just shouldn't start if they have no inclination for such an avocation. I have found that the lowest common denominator is whether or not that person could ever learn to drive a car with a manual transmission. If a person can not now, nor could ever really learn, or would be a very slow learner in their attempt to learn to drive stick shift, then that person is a bad candidate for flying lessons. On the other hand, even if a person doesn't now drive a car with a stick but would be eager to learn and does learn quickly, likes it and really developes a feel for engine loads and needs to downshift, then that person will have no problem learning to fly. And to go further, if a person can fly any airplane reasonably well, then they would have no problem flying most any type of airline equipment, i.e., 727, A320, 777, 747, or whatever. All airline equipment is made to be easy to fly.

 

[Doozer]

1) Critical thinking/reasoning skill
2) Ability to prioritize correctly
3) Able to keep ego in check

 

[Say Again Over]

1. Plays well with others.
2. Good situational awareness.
3. Good education.

 

[Dubya]

1. 36 (natural)
2. 23
3. 36

W

 

[coloneldan]

I agree with Undaunted, Doozer and of course Dubya. The first thing is you have to have the ability to multi-task. I used to say if you can ride a motorcycle you can fly, but you don't have to have good balance to fly, so Undaunted is closer. Flying safely requires Doozers responses. Making me happy requires Dubyas.

 

[pilotyip]

1. Not getting into flying for the money
2. Not getting into flying for respect or prestige
3. Likes to fly, you will discover this after flight #4

 

[GogglesPisano]

The skill to be born into money.

 

[gkrangers]

Plays well with others is very important, IMO...if you can't get along with instructors and fellow crewmembers, or handle constructive criticism, or the occasional "DON'T EVER ********************ING DO THAT AGAIN!"...

 

[mar]

Handle constructive criticism, yeah.

Don't fixate. Scan, scan, scan.

And keep the big picture.

I've met rocket scientists who couldn't manage to keep the damn thing going in one direction.

Concentrate.

 

[P-Dawg_QX]

The most important skills

You know, like, nunchuck skills, bowhunting skills, computer hacking skills...

 

[Daveman]

You know, like, nunchuck skills, bowhunting skills, computer hacking skills...

Just like a Liger. It's pretty much my favorite animal. It's like a lion and tiger mixed......bred for it's skills in magic.

 

[FN FAL]

Plays well with others is very important...

Why would a customer have to cater to the instructor's whim that they be "buddies"?

 

[VNugget]

While obviously I haven't really been 'around the block' yet, I think I've started to notice some patterns.

I think the top things that make a pilot aren't really 'skills,' but rather personality traits.

The first one is that the person tends to step up and take charge of a situation, rather than be meek and go along with the flow. The prime example I have of this is something that was not serious at all, but it illustrates my point very well. I was riding along with a friend of mine on a navigation exercise, and during the run-up he noticed that a piece of equipment was not working. When he discovered that, he sat there with a sheepish look, and I jokingly prodded him "come on, it's PIC time. What do you do?" Then he reached for the POH and started flipping through the equipment list. With a sigh, I reminded him that even if the item was not required, it still had to be deactivated and placarded for the flight to be legal, which is something he knew. So it's either play dumb and go, or play by the Good Book and not go. And then here's the kicker... he hesitated some more and went on the radio to ask the club MX officer (who was also in the runup) what to do! Now... come on, dude. If somebody can't make a decision for such a leisurly, non-critical situation on the ground imagine the cluster that's gonna develop with a more serious situation when the clock's ticking.

The second trait is to always have the big picture in sight, and not miss the forest for the trees. I've got a couple of stories for this one. I was right-seating on a navigation exercise, where the pilot plots a course over several checkpoints, does all that fun Private Pilot prep type nav log stuff, and then flies it. So we get over a checkpoint, turn to our next segment, and the pilot remarks about how even if he sets his DG meticulously, and then holds his planned heading, he's heading in a direction that feels wrong. Now, keep in mind this is all a VFR exercise. I show him how his course line is drawn straight over a lake, and there's the like right there, just fly to the lake, easy cheesy. He still has his head buried in the DG stuff and is mumbling about WCAs, deviation, precession, blah blah blah. Again, I show him the line on the lake, just fly to the lake... SIMPLE! This went back and forth several times until he saw the forest.

Or the time I was riding in the back of one of my friends doing a complex checkout for another one. He fails the engine abeam the numbers at TPA, and you can probably already see where this is going. The guy-getting-checked-out buries his head in the cockpit doing checklists, and by the time he's done, his closest landing spot to the runway is half a mile short. Deal with the important stuff first! If something's gonna lead you to un-make a made landing spot, it's just trees.

Or later, when he was on the ground about to take off again. (remember, this is in a light single, and at a really busy airport.) "Takeoff checklist complete, line-up checklist.. err, wait, I will do the lineup checklist once I'm on the runway." HUH?

Ohh, and this one really got me pissed off at the rote memorization BS. This guy had just come over from a big flight school in Florida, and I welcomed him by taking him up for his first taildragger flight and familiarizing him with the local area. So we were just leisurly playing around with the airplane, doing slow flight, little stalls, deep stalls, etc. all power off. Just completely casually playing around, and feeling the airplane. All of the sudden he pipes up with this mantra that had been hammered into his head... "remember, don't forget you have to add power when executing a stall recovery." Yes, that's true if you're flying a checkride or are in a real-life accidental stall, but that is comletely not the case here... do you see what I'm talking about?

All that being said, I am not casting stones here. I myself have done things stemming from both the good and bad ends of the spectrum in the above traits. But, without being hypocritical, it's still important to analyze the traits and qualities that make a good pilot, and looking at ourselves as well as others. I think this is an excellent question that hopefully turns into an equally excellent discussion, and bravo to 777-2H7 for starting it. I'd love to hear from you guys that have been around the block if you think I'm going wrong somewhere.

Here's something that ties in all that I said together. There is a girl in my aviation dept. with a really frail personality. She has talked about how she got her private back home, but did not feel comfortable or confident at all, and had at least one episode of freaking out, screaming, and letting go of the controls. Now, it has been a really long time since she has flown and she barely remembers anything. Even then, she was not confident when soloing. She wants to become a professional pilot, but is seriously questioning her chosen career field because she does not have the personality to take command of a situation, and she has trouble learning. Keep in mind, all of these are things SHE herself has said, at one time or anther. (As a side note, she is an excellent school student, it's the pilot stuff that she says is too complex for her.) During one of these discussions, in an attempt to be encouraging sooth-sayers, one of the guys started talking about how there's not a thing to worry about, dear, as everything in flying is procedural, and "there's checklists for everything." As an examle, if your engine quits, 1. You pitch for best glide airspeed. 2. Find the best landing field. 3. Go through your checklists. While, on one level, that of course is true, it COMPLETELY misses the point she was trying to make! Did you catch it? When you're dealing with an emergency, you need to have the right stuff and be in charge of yourself and the airplane, while executing all the "procedures!" NOT "it's OK, there's procedures for everything, so it's all taken care of." Now, between the above parties, who do you think sees the big picture?

P.S. A hugely disproportionate number of my friends and acquaintances from the aviation dept. drive manual transmissions.

 

[coloneldan]

Hey Nugget, you seem to have an unusually good grasp of the type of judgement and decision making skills that are needed in the cockpit, for someone with your total time. I hope you can transfer most of that from the ground to the air. I have been going to Simuflite and FlightSafety for initial and recurrent training for years now. You wouldn't believe the number of times I have had sim partners initiate a go around, or start a checklist, or shutdown an engine, or what ever, inside the the final approach fix, because of a failure of some sort. Your inside the final approach fix, land the d*mn airplane!! I don't care if the engine IS on fire, let it burn. I would rather be on the ground running from the thing than in the air hoping it will go out. Like you said, don't un-make the airport.

Just remember to take those skills to the cockpit with you. I once had an instrument student who could explain, in detail, anything I asked him on the ground. When we got in the airplane, he actually could not track a VOR.

Just so you know I can be as big a bonehead as anybody else, I'll tell you about my last Sky King move. I was in the sim flying a single engine, backcourse approach to RNO. It was the end of the last day of training and I was tired. (Note excuses inserted here.) As we got to the Final approach fix, I called for gear down, the FO said gear down, but I never actually looked at the lights. Shortly after crossing the fix, we broke out, field in sight, dirt down, sky up, everything good. I looked over and no green lights. I pulled the good powerlever back to check for a gear horn and didn't get one. Made a few other quick checks and everthing except the lights said go. So.....I bit. All the rest of the way down final I kept saying to myself, the gear is up, you know that don't you, the gear is not down, etc.... Guess what happened when we touched down? The instructor had failed the gear AND the squat switches. I turned to the instructor and said, Six munce ago I couldn't spell piwut, now I are one.

 

[mcjohn]

I turned to the instructor and said, Six munce ago I couldn't spell piwut, now I are one.

:laugh:

I think the top things that make a pilot aren't really 'skills,' but rather personality traits.

Right on with that concept! Especially for CFIs. There are plenty of folks out there that can get through the checkride due to skills but instructing involves skills that go way beyond flying skills.

All of the sudden he pipes up with this mantra that had been hammered into his head... "remember, don't forget you have to add power when executing a stall recovery." Yes, that's true if you're flying a checkride or are in a real-life accidental stall, but that is comletely not the case here... do you see what I'm talking about?

So...If you're not on a checkride or a real-life scenario you're not going to add power on recovery?! If I were on board you better have a good reason that is stated clearly in advance of this 'stunt.'

...in an attempt to be encouraging sooth-sayers, one of the guys started talking about how there's not a thing to worry about, dear, as everything in flying is procedural, and "there's checklists for everything." As an examle, if your engine quits, 1. You pitch for best glide airspeed. 2. Find the best landing field. 3. Go through your checklists. While, on one level, that of course is true, it COMPLETELY misses the point she was trying to make! Did you catch it? When you're dealing with an emergency, you need to have the right stuff and be in charge of yourself and the airplane, while executing all the "procedures!" NOT "it's OK, there's procedures for everything, so it's all taken care of." Now, between the above parties, who do you think sees the big picture?

I decent instructor knows that building a student's confindence is extremely important. Say what ever it takes (within reason) to build that student's confidence and get improved performance. That's part of the big picture IMO.

O.K. Here's my three things:
1. Staying ahead of the plane.
2. Recognizing when not ahead of the plane and doing something about it quickly.
3. Never assume ANYTHING in the air. Always have multiple resources available to back up your thoughts regarding Wx, Airport runway configurations, what to expect/do next on a flight, etc.....

 

[TurboS7]

1) memorized procedures
2)ability to push the right button under pressure
3)Good communication skills.

 

[Say Again Over]

VNugget, all your points are well taken, the part about the transmissions did go past me me though, I would only add that some people bring a lot more to the table than others, my advise to you is to try to develop your perceptive ability into a training position. Most of us that have been around the block have flown with all those people before, with the right environment they will all be good crew members and will appreciate your patience and understanding.

 

[satpak77]

1. People skills/get along with others
2. Personal money management skills
3. Ability to maximize Marriott Points