Nick Cyganski of Friendly Skies Film posted “Top 7 Mistakes You’ll Make as a Pilot.”
He notes that “although you should always do your best to be the best pilot you can be, it’s ok to make mistakes, and that’s often how we learn.”
The video chronicles “just a few of the silly things, and some not so silly things, that will likely happen to you in your first 250 hours of flying.”
There’s a reason they are called “1800 RPM Chocks”.
You don’t need to apologize for being on the wrong frequency. Just switch and talk…brevity is better than making excuses on air.
No one cares what runway you use in a non towered…..as long as no one else is trying to use the other end. And you don’t try to land with a stiff tailwind.
Taking off with carb heat and/or not full rich is far more dangerous than flying a bit with a notch of flaps in as long as you don’t exceed the flap limit.
One tip for hobbs time is to check flightaware.com and see your flight duration and add 5% for ground time on your log and you are good to go. Otherwise check hobbs on your preflight checklist…and ALWAYS use your checklists.
Fuel management is the most critical of all preflight checks and in flight tank switching the most critical thing to manage. No excuse for having more than 10% more fuel in one tank versus the other…and NO EXCUSE for ever taking off with too little fuel no matter how short or long you fly.
Of course renting a plane leaves you open to all kinds of potential hazards from the previous ‘customer.’
For me, 4 out of 7. LOL
I have been an active private pilot for 34 years and I have made every one of these mistakes except #7.
Thanks for taking the time to bring to life our everyday foibles.