You don’t want to make these flying mistakes because at the very least you’ll look silly, and at worst you could get really hurt.
I have made every single mistake on this list, and if you can just avoid them, I promise it will make you a better pilot.
I also cover all of the material in this article in the video below. 👇
#1) Safety Slips in Small Stages
I was flying in the mountains of Idaho following a good friend in his Cessna and we were descending into Johnson Creek, probably the most iconic strip in all of Idaho. I was a couple of miles in trail and as we were descending, I didn’t see the airstrip until way late and realized I was almost right over it.
I thought, it’s okay, I can just drop down. So I kept going.
Then as I was making a descending turn over the airport to try to join a downwind, I heard a formation flight of RV’s about to enter the downwind. I thought, no problem, I can just tuck in in front of them and be out of their way. So I kept going.
As I turned base and then final, I realized I was WAY too fast and way too high, but I didn’t brief the go-around procedure since I was following my friend and I had been there before.
I should have gone around but wasn’t confident in the go-around procedure. So I kept going.
I’m not proud of this but I came in SO fast that for a moment there I really wasn’t sure if I was going to be able to get the airplane on the ground and get it stopped before the trees at the end of the runway.
So I forced it on the ground and slammed on the brakes. I pulled over, shut the airplane off, and said, “what did I just do?”
It took me about a year to tell anyone about that experience because I was so freaked out and ashamed of it.
But once I told someone I realized I could learn from it instead of just carrying the weight of it. And I realized I could help others try not to make this mistake too, which is why I’m sharing it.
And I learned that I made one critical error over and over… do you know what it is?
I kept going when I shouldn’t have.
And that’s when I learned an important phrase… safety slips in small stages.
It’s probably not going to be some big obvious decision that gets you hurt. It will probably be a series of decisions that aren’t harmful by themselves but once you add them all up can put you in a really bad spot. And it’s really really sneaky, so don’t do what I did.
#2) Assuming Things Are Where You Left Them
Another time, I got in my Cessna 182 that had just gotten out of its annual inspection and I was flying around making sure everything was smooth. It was one of those really smooth, cool mornings where you don’t want the flight to end.
So I thought, I’ve got enough gas, why don’t I fly to one of my favorite $100 hamburger places about an hour and a half away. I’ve got enough gas to get there.
I debated and thought I better get back so I ended up going back to Addison and landed. As I was putting the airplane away, I spotted something that really could have hurt me.
I noticed that my fuel selector was not on BOTH tanks but just on the right tank the whole time.
So had I decided to fly to that restaurant, I probably would have ran that tank dry and the engine would have quit.
That completely freaked me out because I wasn’t very far from that happening and I would have had no idea it was coming. And that taught me a REALLY valuable lesson….
Never assume that things are the way you left them.
I always leave my fuel on both so honestly I kind of glazed over the part of the checklist with fuel on both. But when it was in the shop, they turned it from both to the right tank and I didn’t catch it.
I felt SO stupid for not checking it, when it’s part of the checklist. So, never rush the checklist! Take the half a second to actually do what it says and never assume.
#3) Not Checking ALL of the Circuit Breakers
Another thing that’s easy to miss is a mistake I made in the Kodiak 100. It’s a single-engine 10 seat turboprop and it’s awesome.
I was in recurrent training in a full-motion sim and I got in and went through my checklist and began to start the engine when I noticed it wasn’t actually starting. Something was wrong.
So I aborted the startup sequence and felt puzzled. My instructor came over my headset and said “did you check the circuit breakers?” and I said “….yeah.”
And he said “did you check all of them?”
I paused and said “….no.”
And he replied “well you need to do that.”
Sure enough, the circuit breaker for the ignitors in the engine had been pulled and it’s on the very bottom row. I just slid my hand over them but was lazy and didn’t get all the way to the bottom and figured it’s our first flight in the sim today, everything is fine. But, it wasn’t.
So when you’re checking your circuit breakers, don’t just rush your hand over them and assume they’re fine. The shop might have pulled one out while they were working on your plane and it’s easy to assume they’re all in where you left them and that might not actually be the case.
#4) Listen When You Join a New Frequency
This next mistake won’t kill you but it will definitely make you look dumb.
I’ll never forget one time it was SO busy talking to approach control in the Dallas Class B airspace and the controller just said “Everyone stop talking. No new airplanes checking in for a moment, I need to get through some handoffs.”
A couple seconds later you hear “[flight school plane] 15 miles east of Addison at 2,500 with information delta”, and I could just FEEL the whole frequency going awkward.
And that’s why it’s so important to just listen for a moment when you join a new frequency.
It’s easy to just join the frequency and immediately start transmitting. But the AIM even suggests to listen before you transmit.
Now, this guy might have just joined at a really unfortunate time and not heard the controller tell everyone to pause for a second, but if he had just listened for a minute he also would have heard the controller go through a really fast list of calls he had to get out then followed by “okay did I miss anyone trying to check on?”
So, listen when you join.
#5) Getting Rusty
Another sneaky mistake is that once you get your license, you’re probably tired of studying and you just take a big sigh of relief.
I don’t need a flight review for a whole two years!! FREEDOM!
But you’ll realize that you’ll quickly get rusty and it’s sneaky and happens fast. Aviation is just like a language that you have to stay fluent in.
And when you have to study for that flight review, you probably aren’t going to go back and rewatch all of your ground school videos or re-read books, it’s just not practical.
So that’s why I made my own set of super high quality private pilot flashcards. It’s got 350 cards covering pretty much everything you need to know organized into six color-coded sections.
For my flight review it was really easy to just pull out cards on topics I know needed review, and make my own little custom set to stay sharp.
If you’d like to learn more you can visit airplaneacademy.com/flashcards.
#6) Getting Spoiled on Long Runways
Another sneaky mistake and habit that has taken me a while to unwind is getting spoiled on long runways.
If you are constantly landing a third down the runway and there’s no penalty for floating down the runway, that will come back to bite you when you need to do spot landings on cool short airstrips.
So even on 7,000 foot runways like I have here my home airport at Addison, you can still practice spot landings and try to make the first taxiway turnoff (pictured below). Don’t let the long runway spoil you.
#7) Lazy Approach Speeds
It’s the same with getting lazy constantly landing too fast. Carrying an extra 10 knots is easy to just say “well, I’m close enough and it’s stable”.
That might not really matter on a long runway because you’ll just float but have plenty of room left. But on cool short airstrips, you don’t have that kind of margin.
And you’re only a couple trim adjustments away from nailing your airspeed anyways, so try to be disciplined on this.
Don’t get lazy on your approach speeds.
If you can treat your 7,000 foot runway like a 1,500 foot runway it will keep you sharp. And it’s fun to practice.
#8) Incomplete Radio Calls at Non-Towered Airports
Now THIS mistake really drives me crazy, though I’m guilty of it too!
Tell me what’s wrong with this radio call:
“Gillespie county airport, Skylane 916DF is turning base”… well was it right base or left base? And for what runway?
The sneaky way that I sometimes fall into making this mistake is that I’ll do perfectly good radio call outs leading up to that moment…
“Gillespie County airport, Skylane 6DF is midfield right downwind, runway 14, full-stop, Gillespie County.”
And then a moment later it’s easy to just update that transmission as though everyone else heard the original one and say “Gillespie, 6DF turning base.”
But the problem is what happens if people didn’t hear or just forgot the previous transmission?
You might be updating everyone using short hand but it’s better to assume that everyone else is drunk. Tell them the full, correct, transmission…
“Gillespie County airport, Skylane 6DF turning right base, runway 14, full-stop, Gillespie County.”
Don’t say “Gillespie County, cub is over the Wal-Mart” (which I’ve actually heard).
Don’t get lazy in your transmissions and make incomplete radio calls at non-towered airports. It doesn’t help anything and really just confuses everyone.
#9) Get-There-Itis
Another sneaky thing you’ll always have to be careful of is the pressure to get to your destination no matter what. It’s called get-there-itis.
And I think the biggest antidote to get-there-itis is this…
Instead of being bummed by what canceling the trip means, ask yourself, “what does this enable me to do that I couldn’t do before?”
I once had to cancel a 2 hour flight because of weather and make a 5 hour drive instead, and I REALLY wanted to push it, but once I realized it’s 5 hours in a car by myself and I can catch up on podcasts and call a friend, it made it way easier to ditch the 2 hour flight.
If you can find the silver lining in changing your plans, it’ll help you treat your get-there-itis.
Final Thoughts
Now, if you’ve made any mistakes and scared yourself in the process, I really think you’ll be encouraged by the video below. We don’t talk about this enough, but in this video, I do. You’re not the only one who’s been there.
