“Robert’s Rules”

Words to Live By

by (the late) Frank Kingston Smith

With an active flying career spanning three and a half decades at the helms of a wide assortment of light aircraft, I am still impressed by the basic aviation wisdom of my first flight instructor.  To this day, after thousands of hours of personal flying all over the North American Continent, I still hear his voice whenever I turn on to final approach at any airport:  "Watch your airspeed, dammit!"  I hear it EVERY TIME!

Bob Angeli, the guy I learned to fly off of, was an especially gifted teacher - not just a "flight instructor."  We began my course of aero sprouts in my newly purchased Cessna 140 with his making flying an airplane seem easy but focusing from my very first lesson in basic flying techniques - safe operational techniques.  For my first few lessons, he kept our time aloft short, only half an hour at a time for the first two or three hours, not raising my lessons to 45 minutes until I had piled up seven hours of dual.  While my neuromuscular coordination, the stick and rudder mechanics of flying a small airplane, was developing slowly and some of my landings became passable - although not perfect - Bob also taught me that when it comes to flying, no one has to be perfect to be safe.

Fact is, in relaxed, almost casual conversations during our between flying sessions was when Bob taught me to fly safely.  Sometimes, on those bright, sunny spring days, we would sit on the grass, in the shade of the parked 140’s high wing and his wisdom would bubble up spontaneously.  Happily, I was smart enough to write down his musings, so that after all these years, I can still review my yellowed old notes entitled "Robert’s Rules."  I believe the following sage advice and counsel dated 1955 is the primary reason for my aeronautical longevity.  Maybe they will help others fly safely for a long, long time.

1.  Never be in a Hurry.  If you are in a hurry, you tend to overlook details sometimes, such as checking the fuel levels, or that the fuel selector is on the fullest tank.  Bob used to say that anyone who omits checking his fuel status before taking off, simply does not understand the gravity of the situation.  He put a little placard on my airplane’s panel:  "If you are in a hurry, you are in danger!"

2.  Always use your Check Lists.  Go over every item, one by one, in the Preflight, Pre-Takeoff, Climb-out, En Route, Cruise, Let Down, Pre-Landing, Shut Down and Aircraft Secured Check Lists.  It must be confessed that there were occasions when I bypassed checklists, because I knew my airplane so well - a condition alluded to as the Hot Pilot Syndrome.  Once in my "140" days, I actually got out of bed one night and drove 30 miles to and back from Wings Field, because it came to me in a dream that I had forgotten to turn off the Master Switch in my "simple" airplane.  And by golly, I had!  I have never accidentally landed gear up, but there is considerable NTSB literature on the subject, all avoidable by using that little list.

3.  Always Plan Ahead.  Program your flights so that they can be completed safely, then have an alternative plan to fall back on, if you cannot for any reason carry out your primary flight plan. (Bob used to call this creating "a feather bed"; having something soft to fall back on.)  This also means ye pilot have on board proper aeronautical charts to cope with such contingencies.

4.  Write Down All Important Radio Frequencies.  Bob said that if/when any pilot encounters what is referred to as an "in-flight anomaly"(that’s something that makes one’s nerves jangle) ye pilot’s mental abilities deteriorate with the result that he/she can’t remember such simple things as radio frequencies, whom to call for assistance, the names of one’s children, the date… So he had me prepare a memory jogger; using a heavy duty felt tip marker on a 5 x 7 cardboard card, (actually it was a stiffener out of a new shirt) on which he prompted me to write

(a) The Unicom (aeronautical advisory) frequency,
(b) the FAA enroute radio frequencies,
(c) the local Philadelphia Tower and Approach Control frequencies and
(d) the FAA emergency frequency. 

I still use memory joggers, even when flying exotically equipped high performance airplanes.  A few years ago, I realized how smart Angeli was; when we got bounced by an Air Force jet fighter while we were returning from the Bahamas.  I had the right frequencies right at hand, pronto, and Miami Center was right there to help.

5.  Fly Gently.  Don’t show off.  After I had enough aviation background to qualify as an accident analyst and spent many hours studying and evaluating fatal accident reports from the NTSB, the sheer good sense of Bob Angeli’s admonitions became crystal clear.  It is amazing how many aviators salivate themselves by "buzzing" and getting into aerial gyrations to impress mere earthlings with their superior skill.  The advice to fly gently especially applies to every pilot who takes newcomers aloft for their first flight in any light plane.  Maintaining ultra-conservative attitudes with gradual climbs, gradual descents, and keeping the turns a bit on the flat side has a strong benefit; it avoids your having to clean up the airplane’s interior afterwards.

6.  Keep Looking Out the Windows.  Bob said that if every pilot would assume that every other pilot in the sky is insane and trying to kill him, he would surely always maintain a sharp and wary lookout.  It is written that Bob said he didn’t care if I did not fly a precise heading or at a precise altitude for the first year or so, it was more important that I kept looking for other airplanes. I think he invented the phrase, "A mid-air collision can spoil your whole day."  Visual Flight Rules means ya gotta look! So Look…

7.  Never Fly When You Cannot See the Ground.  Just before Bob signed me off for my first cross country solo, he took me off to one side, impaled me with a look and unloaded the ultimate lecture of all.  "Flying VFR," he said, wagging a finger at me, "is one of the easiest, safest and most enjoyable activities anyone can engage in.  But, there is a trap in it.  Until the time comes when you are instrument rated, if you ever fly into a cloud or continue into a heavy haze and lose sight of the ground, your pretty little airplane will kill you."  Poking his finger at me for emphasis and with fire in his eyes, he continued.  "I am not saying that it may kill you, I am saying that it will kill you.  I am not warning you; I’m telling you."  He never used words like "spatial disorientation" or "vertigo" or "spiral dive" or any pseudo-scientific terminology.  I have never forgotten what he said, or the emphasis that he laid on it.  The way he snapped "will kill you" had a completely efficaciously chilling effect on my aviation forays.  I was and still am, the soul of caution aloft.  It took me several years before I got my nerve up to go for the Instrument Rating, which - when one goes through recurrent training, makes on-purpose flying in cloud as routine as taking the sunshine route.

The fundamental wisdom of Robert’s Rules must be recognized by all of us who fly.  Often, while perusing the details of reports on fatal aircraft accidents which may be evaluated as having been preventable or avoidable, I often wonder who many of those pilots-and their passengers - might be alive if they had been exposed to the common sense rules of my primary flight instructor.  What Bob Angeli said 35 years ago were, and still are, truly words for all pilots to live by.
 


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