I am a huge advocate for challenging one’s flying
boundaries. Pilots are naturally bound
by the restrictions embedded within our various licenses, and the operating
limitations of the aircraft we fly. When
we first get our ticket, most of us set personal limitations that vary from the
restrictions and operating limitations of our licenses/aircraft, generally, by
a respectable amount. Such divide, let’s
call it the pilot-regulations gap, does not need to remain fixed as time
progresses.
Experience naturally dictates a narrowing of the pilot-regulations
gap, but movement does not happen without effort. We are all generally comfortable with going
up on a day when winds are 360 at 4 knots and the active is a north-south runway. However, what is the reading on the TAF that
will make you change your plans and cancel your aircraft reservation? Is it something well within the operating
envelope of the aircraft you fly, say winds 310 at 10 knots, with gusts to
15? If conditions permit you to legally take
to the skies, consider challenging yourself and getting up in the air for some
work; it will help you become a better pilot.
I am not endorsing reckless behavior; the purpose here is to
get pilots to fly more and fly safer.
When flying excursions take you away from your home airport, you
introduce a bit of uncertainty into the equation. It is a direct relationship; the longer you
are away, the more uncertainty. This
uncertainty mostly centers on weather and airport conditions upon your return
to home base as compared to the original forecast. The longer you are away, the higher the
variability between predicted and actual conditions. If all you ever fly in are light and variable
conditions, the day you extend yourself a bit, you could find yourself in
unfamiliar territory upon return to the airport. This could mean that the weather conditions
changed, or something necessitated an unexpected runway closure, and the slight
headwind you expected is now a crosswind with a gust factor.
When trying to grow my comfort zone, one thing which helps
me is to bring along a fellow pilot or instructor for some support. Maybe it is working the radios when flying
into a class bravo airport for the first time (or this time of year, Oshkosh!),
or an extra set of eyes to help locate the destination at night when the visibility
is under 10 miles, having someone to assist with a task or two adds a ton to
the experience.
So, before you send out that cancellation e-mail to the club
and remove yourself from Schedule Master, think about whether the conditions
are permissible for you to get some flying in.
If so, call a flying buddy and
chip away a bit at your personal pilot-regulations gap!
