Pilots who are afraid of the airplane

RumpleTumbler

RumpleTumbler

Well-Known Member
Why are there so many pilots who are afraid of the airplane? I see CFI's all the time who are afraid of the airplane, afraid to allow the student to make mistakes, afraid to fly in weather, afraid of wind......on and on.

Guess what kind of pilots these CFI's produce? That's right.....pilots who are afraid of the airplane. Pilots who won't get utility out of the airplane and who breed more fraidy cats. Pilots who will never rent when the wind is more than 10 kts or when the weather is less than 3000/7 even when they have an instrument rating. Then these pilots after a few years of white knuckle teaching go on the the regionals or something similar and haul a load of people. It's dangerous. I don't want someone up front when I'm in the back that's afraid of the airplane.

I'm not suggesting that pilots should behave carelessly, recklessly, etc. just that maybe you should own up to someone and find a way past your fear if you're going to be in this profession.
 
All pilots should have a healthy fear of the airplane. The airplane can and will hurt you if you don't have respect for it. That being said, I know what you're talking about.

The reason for a lot of fear though is the fact that those people haven't gotten out of their comfort bubble. I trained with a handful of other people for my private through CFI at the FBO. There were about 5 of us who started our training together, all similar aged so we used each other for help. Myself and one other are the only ones who pushed ourselves out of our comfort bubble on a regular basis. We'd do XCs on days where it was VFR, but extremely hazy (maybe 10mi vis max at times), but the others wouldn't even dare go up in the pattern. I actually remember one time when 4 of us in two planes were going to go on an XC, and immediately after takeoff the other plane told us they were going to turn around because it was too hazy. I'd fly the river at ~1000' on calm summer evenings, where the others wouldn't dare get that low unless near an airport.

After my buddy and I got our IFR tickets, we found a "gentleman's IFR" day and went flying through the clouds. The others wouldn't leave the practice area. It's all about slowly getting out of your comfort level. If you simply go up to the practice area every time you fly, or limit the airports you go to, you'll never escape that bubble. Especially when it comes to professional flying, there's def a cowboy-esq mindset to get the job done at times.

You can't be reckless, but you can't be afraid of everything either.
 
RumpleTumbler said:
Why are there so many pilots who are afraid of the airplane? I see CFI's all the time who are afraid of the airplane, afraid to allow the student to make mistakes, afraid to fly in weather, afraid of wind......on and on.

Guess what kind of pilots these CFI's produce? That's right.....pilots who are afraid of the airplane. Pilots who won't get utility out of the airplane and who breed more fraidy cats. Pilots who will never rent when the wind is more than 10 kts or when the weather is less than 3000/7 even when they have an instrument rating. Then these pilots after a few years of white knuckle teaching go on the the regionals or something similar and haul a load of people. It's dangerous. I don't want someone up front when I'm in the back that's afraid of the airplane.

I'm not suggesting that pilots should behave carelessly, recklessly, etc. just that maybe you should own up to someone and find a way past your fear if you're going to be in this profession.
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So what happened/prompted you to write this post? It smells of a story.
 
RumpleTumbler said:
Why are there so many pilots who are afraid of the airplane? I see CFI's all the time who are afraid of the airplane, afraid to allow the student to make mistakes, afraid to fly in weather, afraid of wind......on and on.

Guess what kind of pilots these CFI's produce? That's right.....pilots who are afraid of the airplane. Pilots who won't get utility out of the airplane and who breed more fraidy cats. Pilots who will never rent when the wind is more than 10 kts or when the weather is less than 3000/7 even when they have an instrument rating. Then these pilots after a few years of white knuckle teaching go on the the regionals or something similar and haul a load of people. It's dangerous. I don't want someone up front when I'm in the back that's afraid of the airplane.

I'm not suggesting that pilots should behave carelessly, recklessly, etc. just that maybe you should own up to someone and find a way past your fear if you're going to be in this profession.
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Your ability and comfort zone must match (better yet exceed) the machine.


Sent from Seat 3D
 
Jet said:
I've known a few people who lost all fear and whether we are talking about an airplane, sport bike etc, they are now six feet under.
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There is a big difference between having a healthy respect for the airplane and being "afraid" of it. All smart aviators have a respect for the airplane, and respect for the fact that poor decisionmaking can kill you. People who are "afraid" of the airplane are likely to be unable to fly it (or make good airmanship decisions) when something out of the ordinary happens, and are likely to get themselves or their pax killed.

I think the real issue is that we just don't go explore the actual limits and capabilities of the airplane and the environment when training. We stick so close to the "warm, chewy center" of the performance envelope that new pilots never actually see what the airplane - and pilot - are actually safely capable of. Obviously there are reasons during initial training or with inexperience that pilots should mostly stay in that safe center of the envelope, but the failure is when we never develop the confidence in the machine to step further outside those artificial limits, and never develop the confidence in ourselves to be able to take the airplane there under our control and bring it back safely under our control.

In the USAF we have what are known as 'confidence maneuvers' that we teach students; they are quasi-aerobatic maneuvers designed to show students the handling characteristics of the aircraft in "high performance" corners of the flight envelope. It allows students to explore those corners under controlled conditions, and gives them the confidence that the airplane isn't going to bite them if they somehow end up there. I think these AHC maneuvers, along with aerobatic training, go a long way toward removing the 'fear' students and new pilots have about the aircraft they are piloting.

As aviators, we need to fly the airplane, not let the machine fly us (or allow ourselves to just be passengers who just happen to provide control inputs occasionally to herd the airplane where we want it to go). Students who fear the airplane, or even fear operating the airplane in certain regimes, will find themselves often in the latter category. The cornerstone to being able to overcome the passenger complex is really knowing your machine and its capabilities.
 
Hacker15e said:
There is a big difference between having a healthy respect for the airplane and being "afraid" of it. All smart aviators have a respect for the airplane, and respect for the fact that poor decisionmaking can kill you. People who are "afraid" of the airplane are likely to be unable to fly it (or make good airmanship decisions) when something out of the ordinary happens, and are likely to get themselves or their pax killed.

I think the real issue is that we just don't go explore the actual limits and capabilities of the airplane and the environment when training. We stick so close to the "warm, chewy center" of the performance envelope that new pilots never actually see what the airplane - and pilot - are actually safely capable of. Obviously there are reasons during initial training or with inexperience that pilots should mostly stay in that safe center of the envelope, but the failure is when we never develop the confidence in the machine to step further outside those artificial limits, and never develop the confidence in ourselves to be able to take the airplane there under our control and bring it back safely under our control.

In the USAF we have what are known as 'confidence maneuvers' that we teach students; they are quasi-aerobatic maneuvers designed to show students the handling characteristics of the aircraft in "high performance" corners of the flight envelope. It allows students to explore those corners under controlled conditions, and gives them the confidence that the airplane isn't going to bite them if they somehow end up there. I think these AHC maneuvers, along with aerobatic training, go a long way toward removing the 'fear' students and new pilots have about the aircraft they are piloting.

As aviators, we need to fly the airplane, not let the machine fly us (or allow ourselves to just be passengers who just happen to provide control inputs occasionally to herd the airplane where we want it to go). Students who fear the airplane, or even fear operating the airplane in certain regimes, will find themselves often in the latter category. The cornerstone to being able to overcome the passenger complex is really knowing your machine and its capabilities.
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You can choose whatever word or words you like but the bottom line is that what you call a healthy respect is a fear, a fear of dying or causing damage. It is a natural emotion we are all born with to help keep us alive. Having too much is bad but having none at all is worse.
 
Jet said:
You can choose whatever word or words you like but the bottom line is that what you call a healthy respect is a fear, a fear of dying or causing damage. It is a natural emotion we are all born with to help keep us alive. Having too much is bad but having none at all is worse.
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Thanks, I've been shot at in an airplane -- I know quite well that fear keeps you alive.

However, having also been so scared in an airplane that for a few moments I was completely paralyzed in my decisionmaking ability, I also know that confidence, knowledge, and experience is the antidote to that fear.
 
This is precisely why I stopped teaching at a 141 school and did freelance flight instruction instead. The school was so afraid to let its students fly their airplanes, and it turned out scared pilots. If the crosswind was greater than 6 knots, no flying for you! Ceiling less than 2000'? No fly for you! I understand the school has to cover its 6, but come on..... don't produce pilots who can't fly in wind or clouds!
 
wildfreightess said:
This is precisely why I stopped teaching at a 141 school and did freelance flight instruction instead. The school was so afraid to let its students fly their airplanes, and it turned out scared pilots. If the crosswind was greater than 6 knots, no flying for you! Ceiling less than 2000'? No fly for you! I understand the school has to cover its 6, but come on..... don't produce pilots who can't fly in wind or clouds!
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I feel ya. I used to teach at Riddle. They'd shut that place down if there was a stationary thunderstorm 25 miles from the field, even on the other side of the mountains. Ridiculous.

What cured that for me? A healthy dose of Northeast SPIFR. :D
 
Hacker15e said:
Thanks, I've been shot at in an airplane -- I know quite well that fear keeps you alive.

However, having also been so scared in an airplane that for a few moments I was completely paralyzed in my decisionmaking ability, I also know that confidence, knowledge, and experience is the antidote to that fear.
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Same here (not in a plane though), although I didn't freeze up it was an indescribable for lack of words type adrenaline rush. Thanks for sharing your experience with us though.
 
From what I've seen over the years, this fear can largely be attributed to either a pilot's personality or motivation.

Just as there are numerous personality traits a person might have in life, like introversion/extroversion, confidence, leadership abilities, talkativeness, and so on, some pilots are just prone to being fearful no matter who trains them. They have unusually low confidence coupled with unusually low tolerance for risk. The reasons for this probably go every bit as deep as any other personality trait. It's a combination of nature and nurture. Genetics and upbringing. Even PhD level psychologists can't quite pin it down precisely.

There are also a wide range of reasons why pilots begin flying. Some love the physical, hands on experience of operating the machine, similar to the enjoyment of driving a manual transmission car. Others do it for the ability to travel long distances quickly. Others love the adventure of seeing new places and meeting new people. A few do it for the money and women. :rolleyes:

Oftentimes these reasons relate to a person's level of fear in the cockpit. If they originally got in to flying in order to get from Point A to Point B quickly and have little interest in operating the machine, they see little reason to become proficient in power on stalls, or whatever they're scared of. Scary tasks seem unnecessary to their goals. They want what they consider to be the benefits without having to deal with what they consider to be the downsides. Not that I blame them. Don't we all?

The best ways I've found to deal with these pilots is through role modeling (not being scared of much myself), patience to let them develop at their own pace, having a lot of dialogue about what they're ultimately scared of, and finding ways to show them why learning at a deeper level than the minimum is so important.
 
Other than an over-confident pilot, an overly nervous pilot can be just as bad. There will be days where wind changes and increases and ceilings will drop on you, when your on final you can't be thinking "this was not in the forecast" and you had better fly the airplane.
 
dasleben said:
I feel ya. I used to teach at Riddle. They'd shut that place down if there was a stationary thunderstorm 25 miles from the field, even on the other side of the mountains. Ridiculous.

What cured that for me? A healthy dose of Northeast SPIFR. :D
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NESPIFR should be a new AIM acronym.

Leveling off in the soup..."Advise when able to copy new route...."
 
I see/saw it at UND all the time. In fact, that was the only reason I did aerial survey. I wanted to get WAY out of my comfort zone, and did many times.
 
jrh said:
The best ways I've found to deal with these pilots is through role modeling (not being scared of much myself), patience to let them develop at their own pace, having a lot of dialogue about what they're ultimately scared of, and finding ways to show them why learning at a deeper level than the minimum is so important.
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Yep, this is it.

What you're actually getting at here is the fact that judgment and airmanship cannot be taught in a classroom. Since it takes experience to actually develop judgment, there are two ways to ensure inexperienced pilots make safe decisions: constructing an environment with a lot of rules where pilots don't have to use any actual judgment (just follow the rules), and modeling good judgment and decisionmaking as an instructor that your students can emulate.

In places like a university, a 141 school, or the military, both can be done. In the 'wild west' of the Part 61 world, it is difficult to have a tight rules set, so an instructor's demonstration of making good and bad choices is going to be the most influential piece. If the instructor is nervous or unsure of themselves in the tasks they're performing, then their student will follow and likewise be unsure. Just as importantly, if the instructor is calm and confident when something new or "dangerous" (as perceived by the student) is performed, the student has the greatest opportunity to NOT be afraid of it.
 
I can relate to this. I was trained and later instructed in a very rigid part 141 environment. If the weather was less than VFR, we did not go. If there was more than a 10 knot crosswind, we did not go.

I was cured of that during my first month of flying freight. I went from being a fair weather pilot to dodging thunderstorms without radar, flying through the outer bands of tropical storms, and hand flying ILS approaches down to 1800 RVR. It was definitely a baptism by fire, but it worked Today I am flying better equipment and I don't even blink when I have to do an ILS or GPS approach to minimums. That is just another day at the office for me.

I still have a healthy respect for flying, and I do know when to say no to a flight, but I am no longer afraid of the airplane.
 
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