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Flying airplanes is all about pilots doing the “little” things right.

If you compromise on doing just these “little” things, you could find yourself in a world of hurt.

So today, I wanted to review a few of these “little” pilot things and hopefully the next time you fly you will be that much sharper.

1. Airport Centerline Taxiing

If you stay on yellow taxi lines, you are, for the most part, guaranteed to clear any obstacle near you. Obviously, you still have to keep your head on a swivel and clear the area you are taxiing into because since we can’t read minds (yet), you don’t know what that fuel truck driver or push tug is going to do, so you have to watch out for them.

Also, there might be a ground power cart or baggage cart parked outside the “safe” area that could potentially strike your wing.

If you have co-pilot or someone flying with you, ask them to watch one wing while you watch the other and ask them to report clear if they don’t see any conflicts. Most importantly, taxi your airplane slow. This will save you every time.

2. Obstacle Departures for IFR and VFR Flights

Because I fly a CRJ200, sometimes I have to fly into and out of uncontrolled airport. One that always comes to mind is Durango – La Plata (KDRO) County Airport, Colorado. This a truly beautiful destination airport surrounded by the beautiful Rocky Mountains and hills.

Hence, part of the problem.

It is also an airport that has no control tower, no weather observation other than an Automated Surface Observation System (ASOS), and the potential for really bad weather.

So, every time I fly out of there, whether the weather is Visual Meteorological Conditions (VMC) or Instrument Meteorological Conditions (IMC), I still have to turn to the Jeppesen Durango-La Plata County airport diagram chart and review the obstacle departure procedures which is usually on the back of the airport diagram.

I do this for several reasons.
 
First of all, it is good practice because the obstacle departures can be a little complicated and it takes time to sort out my “plan of action.”

Second, the Denver Center controller is expecting me to fly this procedure once I depart the airport.

Finally, there is usually a really good reason to fly the obstacle departure, like a mountain or tower in your way. If you fly the procedure, you assure yourself adequate terrain and obstacle separation.

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3. Airport Weather Reports

When I was a new pilot and later as a flight instructor, when I would fly cross-country, as I would be flying over one of my checkpoints, which sometimes was an airport, I would tune in the Automated Terminal Information Service (ATIS) or Automated Weather Observation Service (AWOS) or ASOS and just check the weather.

I did this for several reasons:

1) It helped me and my students maintain situational awareness (SA). It kept us looking at our sectional charts and knowing where an available airport was in case of an emergency.

2) It gave me an idea of what the weather was doing on the ground. This was important if I was flying into an area of bad weather. By knowing the trends of the weather below, it would help me prepare for what lied ahead.

3) If my engine failed right then and there, I would know which way the wind was blowing so I could prepare for my emergency landing.

And even though I fly the CRJ now, I still get weather reports along my route. For instance, the other day we were flying up into Canada and the weather at our destination was nasty. One mile visibility with blowing snow. So about one hour out, we started planning for the diversion, if needed.

It turns out that if we couldn’t get into our destination, our dispatcher wanted us to go to Edmonton (CYEG). Well once we started looking at that option, with the way the winds aloft were, there was no way that we would make that alternate.

The headwinds would have been 135 kts., so we picked another alternate, just in case. Luckily, we got in but we had a plan if we couldn’t.

So if you’ve made it this far in the reading, I am sure that the next time you go fly, you will remember to try out a few of these pilot tips. If you do one of them three times, then it will become a habit and you will do it every time. The funny thing about implementing simple techniques and new techniques into your flying is that every time you do, you become a safer pilot and you enjoy flying just that much more.

To Your Flying Success,

Jeffrey