Good Airmanship

A good airman spends a lot of time thinking about What if…. And as we're in cruise you should be doing the same thing. You should be thinking about what would I do right now if this engine failed? Where would I land?

Take a look around. Select a field; practice selecting the fields. Do you really know which way the wind is blowing? Check out the surrounding trees, water, clouds and gather up clues. Think about an alternator failure. Think about a loss of oil pressure. What would the instrument panel be telling you and what performance hiccups could you expect. Just review mentally what you would do, and that way you'll be better ready if you ever have one of those issues to deal with.

Think about structural failures that would impede performance and how you would cope and bring yourself to a safe landing. What type of coordination would you need with power and trim to compensate for a faulty elevator and land in one piece? Aileron, elevator and rudder structural failures can be simulated at will and practiced when local flying becomes monotonous.

Another good airman technique is to maintain situational awareness with a sectional chart. It's so easy to just push the direct button on the GPS nowadays, and watch the numbers count down. But if you have an emergency, that's not going to be very helpful. So keep that sectional chart out and practice map reading.
One of the things you can do to enhance your map-reading skills is find those little private strips. They're really hard to find. And they get you really looking at the map and really looking at the terrain. And who knows -- having found them, you might actually use one of them some day."

The best way to never get lost is to always know where you are. And quite frankly, I think technology gives us a false sense of awareness. Yes, I can tell you exactly where and point to a moving map. But where are you really in time and space? And mentally I think that gives you a much better feel of being in command and really being in charge of the situation versus being along for the ride."
Practicing your sectional reading skills -- your map-reading skills -- is going to be very helpful some day when you really need them when that electronic gear doesn't work for you.

It can not be stressed enough that preparation is the key to success. What if… is a terrific way to save valuable reaction time and avoid the deer in the headlights confusion that accompanies most crises. Complacency of preparation is responsible for most pilot error and tragedy. Mental preparation and physical execution are great ways to keep a pilot active during flight and hone their airmanship.