FROM PIT TO POT

Pressed into service means bent out of shape:  Robert Frost

     Two tow pilots I’ve known have landed on a busy day and run to the restroom, intending to refuel before going up again – but in each case some team-spirited fellow pilot jumped in to relieve a backup on the launch line without checking fuel... Both gliders got back to the field okay, but the tow planes not so much.

     Another tow pilot added oil and forgot to replace the filler cap. She did get back, landing with no forward visibility as oil covered the windscreen. (On that occasion it was the sailplane that didn’t return – until hours later, because I climbed out from the emergency release and went cross-country!)Joey, a fine ride pilot had been up earlier and left his bird parked for an hour. Meanwhile, someone else thoughtfully placed a gust lock on an aileron. Later, launching without a thorough checklist (CONTROLS FREE AND CLEAR), Joey was suddenly in mortal distress. Identifying the problem, he frantically shook the stick and, lucky for his innocent passenger, persuaded the gust lock to fall off and restore full control. Too late for safety, just in time for survival.If you conduct a single moment of any launch or flight or landing without planning for the worst, you are flying irresponsibly. Sometime soon, tomorrow or in forty years, your pleasant reverie will be interrupted by impartial reality. And when that does happen, it will happen NOW.With human factors under control, flying is quite safe. Otherwise it’s just plain deadly. Any pilot with a future ALWAYS expects the UNEXPECTED!