Can I be a safe pilot with just my PPL?

CC268

CC268

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CC268
This might be a silly question to some of you...but it is something I have thought about. I have five hours of flight right now towards my PPL...

I do plan on getting my Instrument Rating (and maybe even my Commercial Rating down the road) - hopefully not too long after my PPL. Unfortunately, as most normal people do, I have other financial things to take care of besides getting my Instrument Rating after I get my PPL.

There seems to be so many general aviation accidents out there that it really makes you want to be the safest pilot you can possibly be - but can you really be a "safe" pilot with just your PPL? I don't have enough knowledge to answer this yet...

For instance, my dad has his PPL, but doesn't really seem to have much interest in getting an Instrument Rating. He says, "well I would never fly in anything other than clear VFR weather" (we live in Arizona so that helps). I guess I just think that is a dangerous attitude to have. It's like wanting to have just enough knowledge to go and fly a plane, but not have any desire to actually improve and become a safe pilot (not necessarily directed towards my dad, but you see my point). My dad just got current again, he hasn't flown since I was a baby - I have never flown with him so I can't really gauge his "safety".

Anyways...just throwing some of my thoughts out there...let me know what you guys think.
 
Flying safely is mostly about your attitude and judgment. Fly like you learned, don't show off and don't take unnecessary risks. The IR is a good thing, but you don't have to get it to be safe.
 
Without any question yes.

Being a safe pilot has far less to do with ratings and far more to do with practice, hours, and using you head. Safe pilot are people who know what their personal limits are. They are people that make good decisions about go not go. They basically do not put themselves in dangerous situations with weather, overloading the plane, RUNNING OUT OF FUEL. They practice, landings, and emergency situations. But most of all they fly.
 
drotto said:
Without any question yes.

Being a safe pilot has far less to do with ratings and far more to do with practice, hours, and using you head. Safe pilot are people who know what their personal limits are. They are people that make good decisions about go not go. They basically do not put themselves in dangerous situations with weather, overloading the plane, RUNNING OUT OF FUEL. They practice, landings, and emergency situations. But most of all they fly.
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This. Seriously.
 
IR (and current proficiency) makes you a safer pilot if you fly in IMC. If you only fly in clear VMC, you don't need the skills it requires. Fundamentally staying within your abilities is what makes you a comfortable pilot. (This needs to be balanced with stretching your comfort zone, gently and with consideration.)

"A truly great pilot exercises his (or her) great judgement to avoid requiring his (or her) great skills."

In addition, a moderately skilled pilot exercises his (or her) moderate judgement to avoid exercising his (or her) moderate skills.

John
 
Lots of opportunities exist to incorporate your own safe practices. And look for discussions about what "personal minimums" are and examples of same.

In other threads, you shown an interest in reading the various texts that apply to your training and questions. So this one from the FAA on Risk Management might be of interest.

The basics break down to you evaluating yourself, the aircraft, the environment, and external pressures to determine if all is within your standards and norms to make a safe flight.

In your reading and study, look up the PAVE and IM SAFE risk management models.

And keep asking questions like this to both the crowd here on PoA and your instructor.

Oh, and go check out and sign up on www.FAASafety.gov There are many free live seminars and webinars at that website on a wide range of topics, including ones that relate to your question. Perhaps one or two of those help you.
 
Shorter version of what @jsstevens just said..

"There are many old pilots, and some bold pilots. Bit there are very, very few old bold pilots."​
 
Being a safe pilot is up to you. It's not the rating that's important,it's how you choose to fly after you get the rating.
 
While you certainly can be a safe pilot without the IR, I can't help but think you would be even safer with it... That is unless you never want to fly at night, or in haze where you have no natural horizon.
 
You can sit in the airplane and make airplane noises and never start the engine and die the safest pilot in the world. Or at least tied with thousands of others who've never had an accident.

So I'd say, yup.

Any PP can be safe. Always. Easy button. Next! LOL.
 
Just a minor contrarian view - assuming you fly something in or near the Cesnna 172 class - safe is relative. You don't need an instrument rating to avoid the main killers, for sure. Avoid the bad weather, keep enough fuel in the tanks, watch your airplane handling in the pattern. . .you'll be relatively safe.

But, the airplane can break. Another airplane can hit you. You can be distracted turning base, etc. You can be prudent, conservative, careful, and experience a gruesome death.

If, after you fly a while, you find yourself giving the worst case outcomes a lot of thought, if you worry about failure modes regularly, if the joy is dampened by grim resolve to eek out every ounce of saftey possible, flying may not be it for you. My unscientific opinion is a large-ish number of pilots are not comfortabke flying, worry excessively about the risk, and will give attention to safety trivia items far out of proportion to the items signifigance.

If it ain't fun. . .
 
Attitude, judgement, and staying current. You can absolutely be a safe PPL. Having a commercial does not automatically impart wisdom on oneself. I know a lot of frittata commercial pilots.
 
drotto said:
Without any question yes.

Being a safe pilot has far less to do with ratings and far more to do with practice, hours, and using you head. Safe pilot are people who know what their personal limits are. They are people that make good decisions about go not go. They basically do not put themselves in dangerous situations with weather, overloading the plane, RUNNING OUT OF FUEL. They practice, landings, and emergency situations. But most of all they fly.
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Summed it up perfectly
 
Good decision making is paramount, as is knowing your limitations. I'm instrument rated, but about 14 years out of instrument currency (took a long break in flying). At this time I personally wouldn't launch into any conditions that were likely to deteriorate into IMC. Could I keep a plane under control in IMC? Absolutely. If it was life and death could I still fly an ILS with vectors to the approach? Sure, I imagine I could. But, there's no way I'd call it safe to do any such thing with as far out of curfew as I am (not to mention it's illegal).

I believe it's entirely possible to fly safely as a VFR only pilot. But, to do so safely requires good decision making to ensure that you don't unintentionally find yourself in IMC conditions that you can't handle. If I had any intention of launching into MVFR conditions, or conditions that could likely become such, I'd get IFR current again first.
 
A very good question CC268, nothing silly about it at all. That you asked it tells me you are on the way to being a safe pilot. You were wondering about "so many general aviation accidents out there." Some food for thought. Most accidents are pilot error. Most of those errors occur before the airplane takes off and a lot, if not most, occur before the engine is started. Keep that in mind when you plan your flights and preflight the airplane.
 
I'm a VFR, tailwheel pilot and have no desire to become IFR. I fly for fun. I think a VFR only pilot is safer than an IFR pilot who rarely flies IFR in real conditions. It's like anything else, know your limitations and practice a lot. If you want to be IFR, stay proficient.
 
Sometimes, even when you're the best, it's not good enough. Scott Crossfield comes to mind. Made a very bad choice on his last flight. I like the limitations my old girl puts on me.
 
Well thanks for the answers guys!
 
drotto said:
Without any question yes.

Being a safe pilot has far less to do with ratings and far more to do with practice, hours, and using you head. Safe pilot are people who know what their personal limits are. They are people that make good decisions about go not go. They basically do not put themselves in dangerous situations with weather, overloading the plane, RUNNING OUT OF FUEL. They practice, landings, and emergency situations. But most of all they fly.
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This for sure!

Also, good pilots stay sharp on the airplane handling. The best pilot I know flies airwork maneuvers regularly; every flight includes something (depending on who's riding along of course). Every landing has a goal. He regularly greases his landings and is very precise and fluid in his aircraft handling.

Good pilots have their heads in the right place.
 
I'm not even as far along in the process as you, but I would bet your father knows more about instrument flying than he is letting on to? I'm glad you asked the question and the answers are interesting. I too want to be a safe pilot, seems like every time you take it up (from reading the scare stories of course) you are going to definitely get ising in the carb, etc. (just going from where EVERY book mentions you can get it in almost all conditions of temp, humidity, etc. I'm imagining it is nothing but solid ICE up there) etc.

I'm just focused on going all the way to PPL, but am sure I am going to want to learn more, if not get certified in IFR, at least get training for when something comes on unexpectedly and I'm in it.
 
While I agree that safety is more a state of mind than a matter of ratings on your certificate, I will throw out this concept for consideration.

Many of us as pilots are goal-driven. I think you have to be to be a pilot. However, we're also people. So in general terms, if we don't set a goal, we end up not achieving anything.

Goals, of course, could be anything. To get better at aerobatics. To improve your landings. Increase comfort in crosswinds. All good goals.

But what advanced ratings provide is not only a goal but a well-defined way to get there. I know that I am far more likely to pursue a goal to completion if I have a well-defined path that I know I need to follow. A set of standards to strive for and achieve. I'm sure this is true for many others. We see it all the time in society - people start something but never quite finish (like the New Year's resolution to lose weight and get in shape - the problem is that having that as a resolution is ill defined.) And through achieving this goal you have taken training that makes you a better pilot.

So it's not the ratings themselves that make you a better, safer pilot. But the training required for them can, and pursuing the rating gives people something to focus on - a carrot, a light at the end of the tunnel, whatever.
 
I think in your position, with 5 hours under your belt, it's common to be very enthusiastic and think - "I'm going to bang this out, then get my IR then commercial..." You may be filled with dreams of "missions" that you may, or may not end up undertaking. For right now just take a breath, concentrate on the PPL and see where it goes. You don't need to overthink all of this stuff that's further down the line.

and to answer your question directly - Yes, there are thousands of very good, safe pilots out there that don't have instrument ratings and there are more than a few who do that are extremely poor pilots. Poke around on YouTube, you'll find some of them.
 
One key to being a safe VFR-only pilot is to be flexible in your plans. That means being willing to change your departure and return dates and times as conditions dictate, and being willing to turn back or divert if needed.

Even with night flight, you can be relatively safe with good planning. One way is to stay on airways above the minimum altitudes on IFR charts. Another way is to draw your course line on a VFR chart and stay well above the printed maximum elevation figures. Never fly over an unlighted area unless you are sure of the elevations of terrain and other obstacles. Etc.
 
I feel you can absolutely be as safe as any other pilot with just a PPL, but a big part of it comes down to picking good days to fly on.
In addition to picking good days to fly I think we should be as prepared as we possibly can in the event of an unforeseen situations arising.
For example, you can do everything absolutely right with preflight planning and weather on a long XC flight, but the weather could still unexpectedly turn against you and put you in a tough spot.
So, in my case I'm going through all of the regular PPL ground school stuff, but I'm also going through the IFR ground school. I will still do everything I can to always avoid IMC, but if it happens I want to have options beyond simply sucking my thumb and balling up my plane. Even if it's as simple as entering an ILS approach and letting the auto pilot take me to minimums I'd rather have that option and never need it than have the technology with no idea how to use it.
That being said, I plan to do an accelerated IFR program as soon as I finish my PPL because I don't want to be restricted to flying only on blue sky days.

I watched this video a few weeks back. It's a great example of how the weather which was forecast VFR the rest of the day can turn unexpectedly.
 
Palmpilot said:
One key to being a safe VFR only pilot is to be flexible in your plans. That means being willing to change your departure and return dates and times as conditions dictate, and being willing to turn back or divert if needed.
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Fixed that for you. Having an IR does not change any of those requirements.
 
drotto said:
Without any question yes.

Being a safe pilot has far less to do with ratings and far more to do with practice, hours, and using you head. Safe pilot are people who know what their personal limits are. They are people that make good decisions about go not go. They basically do not put themselves in dangerous situations with weather, overloading the plane, RUNNING OUT OF FUEL. They practice, landings, and emergency situations. But most of all they fly.
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+1000

I think you will find that in most accidents, pilot error (or pilot decisions) is a contributing factor. In a lot them, it is 100% pilot error. Letting fuel run out, weight and balance issues, getting into IMC conditions when you don't have an IR, and many many more.

Getting your IR should make you a better (more precise) pilot, but doesn't necessarily make you a safer pilot. Lots of IR pilots have managed to kill themselves.

I got my PPL last year. I would like to get my IR at some point but the time just isn't there right now. I have been flying on a regular basis, and feel safe up there. Like your father, I get a good weather briefing, and only fly on good VFR days. I set personal limits (and I don't push them) as far as weather/clouds cover/winds, I don't showboat, I follow my training, I don't take shortcuts, I use checklists, and if I need help, I ask for it.
 
There is no question that an instrument rating can help.

But it's not essential. You do, however, have to learn things beyond what you do in private pilot training, especially weather. You need to know when it's going to go bad, and how to recognize it actually is going bad early.

Any pilot that thinks of a private pilot checkride as the end of all learning will be an unsafe pilot. There is constant learning going on. That learning does not need to be formalized, but it does need to happen.

Currency and especially proficiency are key. Pay attention to what you can do and what you can't, as it's dynamic.
 
Silvaire said:
Fixed that for you. Having an IR does not change any of those requirements.
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True. It expands your range of flyable weather, but there are still limitations. The day I got my instrument rating, I realized I was suddenly licensed to get in a whole lot more trouble than I was before.
 
LongRoadBob said:
I too want to be a safe pilot, seems like every time you take it up (from reading the scare stories of course) you are going to definitely get ising in the carb, etc. (just going from where EVERY book mentions you can get it in almost all conditions of temp, humidity, etc. I'm imagining it is nothing but solid ICE up there) etc.
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You should always be careful and of course always have carb heat on when the engine is below the green arc, but don't be too paranoid.

I've had it once and it was during my PPL training, early on a very moist and misty summer morning with the plane idling around 1000rpm while I ran through the checklist. The CFI didn't say anything because he was going to let it go and teach by demonstration what can happen in the air, but I caught it in time. ;)
 
I once had carb ice in cruise on a hot summer day.
 
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