jspilot
Cleared for Takeoff
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- Oct 22, 2011
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jspilot
I’ve proudly had my PPL for the past 6 years but a recent experience made me really appreciate how serious aviators take safety compared to other similar recreation hobbies.
I have a small boat that I use for fishing and am a member of a similar forum as this one for boaters. A few weeks back the northeast got rocked by a really intense line of thunderstorms. I went to that website and found a thread about people bragging about and sharing how they “made it through the storm while out on the boat” filled with pictures many boaters had taken while out on their boats in the storm. The safety conscious pilot in me felt the need to step in and point out that there is nothing brave or worth bragging about when someone puts himself into a dangerous and highly predictable situation. Boy was I met with resistance, anger and it got to the point where boaters defended themselves by saying “ well the weather channel said only a 10% chance of storms that afternoon and storms close in on people all the time.” One guy even said, “well my friends really wanted to go out on the boat so I just did it even though I knew it was better not to( when I pointed out that in aviation we call that “ getthereitis” because you allow other factors to influence your best decisions, the guy got even more irate.)
Multiple things struck me about this experience. First, how defensive and aggrevated the boaters who posted became. I expected them to defend themselves but what stunned me were how few people posted anything about poor judgement. Contrast that to when we read about a pilot flying into IMC or taking off in bad weather. No one on here says “ well you know weather changes a lot.” In fact the opposite is the response most often read and most pilots rush to learn from and probably pass negative judgement about the fellow pilots poor decision making. Second, I was amazed by the lack of basic weather knowledge some people have. I think most of the boaters simply check the weather channel and consider that adequate. Compare that to the deliberate and careful weather briefings we are all taught to get before any flight. Lastly, I was struck by how cavilierly almost all of the boaters took their responsibility to protect themselves, their passengers and their boats by responsibly making safe decisions. When I pointed out that aviators don’t get to screw up so badly and then post pictures about how they made it through the storm— I became even more proud to be a pilot because we really do need to be good when it comes to safety.
Now I get it that boating is, at least on many levels, not even close to as risky inherently as flying, and I know boaters receive no training at all( at least pleasure boaters) but I was struck by how healthy aviation’s safety culture really is. Us pilots are not always perfect and there are plenty examples of how pilots failed to excerise a safety first mindset but we are in good shape— way better shape than many other similar hobbies— and for that I think we all should be proud.
I have a small boat that I use for fishing and am a member of a similar forum as this one for boaters. A few weeks back the northeast got rocked by a really intense line of thunderstorms. I went to that website and found a thread about people bragging about and sharing how they “made it through the storm while out on the boat” filled with pictures many boaters had taken while out on their boats in the storm. The safety conscious pilot in me felt the need to step in and point out that there is nothing brave or worth bragging about when someone puts himself into a dangerous and highly predictable situation. Boy was I met with resistance, anger and it got to the point where boaters defended themselves by saying “ well the weather channel said only a 10% chance of storms that afternoon and storms close in on people all the time.” One guy even said, “well my friends really wanted to go out on the boat so I just did it even though I knew it was better not to( when I pointed out that in aviation we call that “ getthereitis” because you allow other factors to influence your best decisions, the guy got even more irate.)
Multiple things struck me about this experience. First, how defensive and aggrevated the boaters who posted became. I expected them to defend themselves but what stunned me were how few people posted anything about poor judgement. Contrast that to when we read about a pilot flying into IMC or taking off in bad weather. No one on here says “ well you know weather changes a lot.” In fact the opposite is the response most often read and most pilots rush to learn from and probably pass negative judgement about the fellow pilots poor decision making. Second, I was amazed by the lack of basic weather knowledge some people have. I think most of the boaters simply check the weather channel and consider that adequate. Compare that to the deliberate and careful weather briefings we are all taught to get before any flight. Lastly, I was struck by how cavilierly almost all of the boaters took their responsibility to protect themselves, their passengers and their boats by responsibly making safe decisions. When I pointed out that aviators don’t get to screw up so badly and then post pictures about how they made it through the storm— I became even more proud to be a pilot because we really do need to be good when it comes to safety.
Now I get it that boating is, at least on many levels, not even close to as risky inherently as flying, and I know boaters receive no training at all( at least pleasure boaters) but I was struck by how healthy aviation’s safety culture really is. Us pilots are not always perfect and there are plenty examples of how pilots failed to excerise a safety first mindset but we are in good shape— way better shape than many other similar hobbies— and for that I think we all should be proud.
