Flying Keys
Line Up and Wait
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- Jul 2, 2021
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Flying Keys
I’ve also observed that there is a personality trait that many (but not all) pilots possess that seems to restrict their ability to do a proper self critique of their true skill level/abilities. I wouldn’t be surprised if 100% of the YouTube pilots possess this trait, to some degree.
That’s Dunning-Kruger and we are all susceptible to it. I don’t know if the camera adds ten pounds in this case. I think it’s more that people who are younger and/or have more recently delved into aviation have themselves been surrounded or inspired by content creators, something they strive to emulate. Not all, mind you, but a good proportion.
But being young and new is a combination that puts you on the inexperience side of the curve. And when you don’t know what you don’t know, you’re going to get bit by things, camera or not. The difference is that the camera enables you to gleefully put your mistakes and ignorance all out there for everybody to see, and you’re simply not able to discern them yet.
Sure, there might be an additional distraction by the camera equipment in the cockpit in some cases (looking at the guy who constantly mugs and talks to his followers). But rather than the inability to self-critique (which is, again, fairly universal), I think it more comes down to the fact that the content creators are often rushing beyond their unknown unknowns, and putting themselves into situations in which they’re created self-imposed external pressure, get-done-itis, really, by trying to please their community, who blindly validate and encourage them to continue, despite the mistakes that more experienced pilots observe. And they don’t admit it, at least externally, but who knows what’s going on inside their minds and how any of it is internalized. Either way, a bunch of us old f*rts here briefly become a more proportional part of that community after a crash, almost in a “see, you should have listened to the experts,” kind of way. Morbid, really.
This is one of several reasons why I never put my videos out there. Actually, I can’t tell you how many times I forgot the camera was in the plane and had to go back out to the ramp to get it! I actually had to put it on my postflight checklist.