Maurus
The Great Gazoo
As I sit at my desk with a whisky at my side I can’t help but reminisce over my career. Early on I was given a stark reality check. The day after obtaining my instrument rating my flight instructor was involved in a fatal midair collision over a VOR. During what should have been a time of celebration disaster struck. This flight instructor was one of the best I had during my initial training. He was a great teacher and most importantly a great mentor. Especially to a young 19-year-old idiot like I was.
Having a loss like this has always been on my mind during my career. Asking myself how to prevent what occurred and executing a mitigation plan has literally saved my life. The day this accident occurred I decided that I would use flight following whenever possible. I avoided many potential midair collisions because of CAK and CLE approach watching my flights. Even then, I still had many close calls over my career. These range from non-controlled airport miscommunications to military aircraft turning their transponder on near me causing an immediate RA.
Over time I have had to add tail numbers that I have flown to a list that have had accidents and even fatal accidents. More and more lessons are being learned with a form of survivor bias constantly trying to pull me back into complacency. I added another tail number to my list last night. This time it was a big one.
While I was a CA at PSA I remember a point where it felt like I had almost all the answers. Confidence was at an all-time high. Even then, I made mistakes. As an LCA I had new students tell me, indirectly, I was an idiot. They were right! My passengers were at unnecessary risk due to my own actions at times. Our two-pilot system caught those mistakes and for that I am grateful. I am also thankful that my goal of listening to every FO’s concern as a CA and taking a conservative approach to my decisions has resulted in successful and safe flights. Being "right" doesn't matter. Being safe is exponentially better.
A bit over 3 years ago I was hired at my dream job flying a big widget around. I have had the quintessential airline dream going international and all over the country. I have experienced and enjoyed places I never expected to visit. I have learned a lot from my CAs. Some things I never thought of even as an LCA at a regional.
Here I am again, recently completing IOE as a CA at a legacy airline being humbled. You can do everything right, think you know all the right answers, and yet the worst result is always possible. Last night was yet again another reminder of the reality we live in. Be careful, strive to learn from others, and don’t let a survivor bias control you. It is way too easy to allow ego to dictate reason.
My check airmen have helped put me in my place. While I wasn’t stressed about training, compared to past experiences, they showed me that there is still a crap ton to learn. Every time I thought I was on top of things they found more items I needed to think about and plan for. I was given tools that were not in my toolbox in the past and that I intend to use in the future. The training I received was excellent. I honestly wish this level of training existed at the regional level and that I provided even a fraction of it while I was an LCA.
I will say, while the LCAs did a fantastic job they also were not perfect. No one ever is perfect. Still, I learned a crap ton over a couple of trips and I hope the LCAs did as well. I know I did when I was teaching as a CFI and as an LCA in the past.
JC has been a tremendous resource in my career. I obviously have had heated debates on this platform, but that has ultimately led to me learning soooooooooooooo much more than I would have learned otherwise. I started here as an embarrassing conservative anti-union bum (seriously, look up my post history early on) and changed significantly with the input here along with other life experience. JC has impacted my focus on learning tremendously and set me up for a ton of my success. I may have been a bit of a pain in the ass (you totally can say ass here while retracting flaps in the flare) but it has been for the greater good. Thank you @derg and the rest of the JC family! @jtrain609 , you still suck but only because you don’t post as often as you should
Having a loss like this has always been on my mind during my career. Asking myself how to prevent what occurred and executing a mitigation plan has literally saved my life. The day this accident occurred I decided that I would use flight following whenever possible. I avoided many potential midair collisions because of CAK and CLE approach watching my flights. Even then, I still had many close calls over my career. These range from non-controlled airport miscommunications to military aircraft turning their transponder on near me causing an immediate RA.
Over time I have had to add tail numbers that I have flown to a list that have had accidents and even fatal accidents. More and more lessons are being learned with a form of survivor bias constantly trying to pull me back into complacency. I added another tail number to my list last night. This time it was a big one.
While I was a CA at PSA I remember a point where it felt like I had almost all the answers. Confidence was at an all-time high. Even then, I made mistakes. As an LCA I had new students tell me, indirectly, I was an idiot. They were right! My passengers were at unnecessary risk due to my own actions at times. Our two-pilot system caught those mistakes and for that I am grateful. I am also thankful that my goal of listening to every FO’s concern as a CA and taking a conservative approach to my decisions has resulted in successful and safe flights. Being "right" doesn't matter. Being safe is exponentially better.
A bit over 3 years ago I was hired at my dream job flying a big widget around. I have had the quintessential airline dream going international and all over the country. I have experienced and enjoyed places I never expected to visit. I have learned a lot from my CAs. Some things I never thought of even as an LCA at a regional.
Here I am again, recently completing IOE as a CA at a legacy airline being humbled. You can do everything right, think you know all the right answers, and yet the worst result is always possible. Last night was yet again another reminder of the reality we live in. Be careful, strive to learn from others, and don’t let a survivor bias control you. It is way too easy to allow ego to dictate reason.
My check airmen have helped put me in my place. While I wasn’t stressed about training, compared to past experiences, they showed me that there is still a crap ton to learn. Every time I thought I was on top of things they found more items I needed to think about and plan for. I was given tools that were not in my toolbox in the past and that I intend to use in the future. The training I received was excellent. I honestly wish this level of training existed at the regional level and that I provided even a fraction of it while I was an LCA.
I will say, while the LCAs did a fantastic job they also were not perfect. No one ever is perfect. Still, I learned a crap ton over a couple of trips and I hope the LCAs did as well. I know I did when I was teaching as a CFI and as an LCA in the past.
JC has been a tremendous resource in my career. I obviously have had heated debates on this platform, but that has ultimately led to me learning soooooooooooooo much more than I would have learned otherwise. I started here as an embarrassing conservative anti-union bum (seriously, look up my post history early on) and changed significantly with the input here along with other life experience. JC has impacted my focus on learning tremendously and set me up for a ton of my success. I may have been a bit of a pain in the ass (you totally can say ass here while retracting flaps in the flare) but it has been for the greater good. Thank you @derg and the rest of the JC family! @jtrain609 , you still suck but only because you don’t post as often as you should
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I haven't forgotten the flaps. We are still too slow for them to come up.