Learn to Fly, Learn to Live

I recently saw a poster entitled, "Everything I need to know I learned in Kindergarten".    I don't recall too much of my time spent in kindergarten (except that Tim Brown liked my plastic Lear Jet toy so much that he tried to take it), but I have learned a lot about life from working on and flying small aircraft.  

1.  Attitude is Important.
Whether rotating at takeoff, configuring for cruise climb, descending for an approach, or flaring to land attitude is key.   Life is like that as well - a good attitude can make a bad situation a little better and can make a good situation great.   

2. Attitude + Power = Performance
For any given aircraft, placing the aircraft in a specific attitude coupled with a specific power setting will result in a specific level of aircraft performance.    Five degrees positive pitch in a wings-level attitude with full power in a Piper Arrow, for example, will eventually yield an 800 foot-per-minute cruise climb at about 115 knots indicated airspeed.    At work and in life, it's not enough to have the correct attitude - success also requires some effort to move forward with that attitude.    To be clear, I'm not referencing political power etc. here but rather plain old hard work - there really isn't any substitute for it.   Also, understand that setting the attitude and power may not result in the desired performance immediately - it can take a bit of time to settle into that cruise climb if you are just coming out of a power dive - but it *will* happen.   

3. Have a Plan, but Be Flexible
I'm not sure that I've ever completed a cross-country flight that went exactly according to plan.   Whether it was a deviation around building weather or ATC advising me, "Arrow One-Niner-Five, Chicago Center, I  have an amended clearance for you.  Advise when ready to copy.", something always pops up.    The key is to be ready and able to accept change.   Don't go charging straight into a thunderstorm just because your plan had you draw a straight line on a map - go around it.   For me, this means living comfortably below our means and saving/investing the difference.  That enables us to take advantage of opportunities that present themselves or deal with unexpected expenses without incurring undue stress.

4. Be the Pilot In Command (PIC)
Section 91.3 of the Federal Aviation Regulations states "The pilot in command of an aircraft is directly responsible for, and is the final authority as to, the operation of that aircraft."    You, not anyone else, are the PIC for your life and are therefore responsible for it - not your parents, not your boss, not the government.   


5. Maintain Directional Control
Every pilot has a certain capacity to control his aircraft - it starts with the pilot's very first flight and continues to build as he or she gains experience.    Sometimes a situation occurs which exceeds the pilot's abilities and instead of trying to correct the situation, the pilot freezes.   At that point, the pilot is simply along for the ride, occasionally resulting in a starring role in an NTSB report.    No matter what the situation is, be proactive about improving it.   Don't just give up and passively go along for the ride - you might not like where you end up.

6. Superior Pilots
An old adage about superior pilots goes something like this: "A superior pilot is one who uses his superior judgement to avoid needing to rely on his superior skills."      Often, this means studying and thinking about a situation instead of having a knee-jerk reaction.     It also means getting both sides of a story before making a decision, or knowing when to speak and when to shut up.   The best way to win an argument is to not have the argument in the first place, instead finding a solution far enough upstream so as to avoid the conflict entirely.

What about you?  What hobbies/avocations have taught you a life lesson or two?