Complacency

Not only have I been a trucker for over 30 yrs, I also fly airplanes and study aviation. One thing I can tell you that I've learned from those two fields is that "No matter how good you are, no matter how long you've been doing it, IT can happen to you."

Pre-trips or pre-flights as we call it in aviation, can quite often seem monotonous. You check this and check that day in and day out and you never find anything that concerns you. In aviation we even use checklists starting with pre-flight, before starting engine, pre-taxi, before take off and the list goes on. We even have emergency checklists for different emergencies.

Sometimes I just want to throw the checklists away, start the engine and go. Everything's fine, it always is and it's all a waste of time anyway right?
WRONG!

I can tell you a few lessons that I learned the hard way from being complacent. One area that I had gotten complacent in was checking my brake lights. I was coming out of UT and entering ID where there just happened to be a DOT man doing random checks at a Rest Area. He just wanted to do a quick check of my lights and view my BOL. Didn't even ask to check my funny book. We soon found out that all was ok. All except my brake lights. I started out in Odessa, TX and had probably been without them the entire trip. I sat for 3 hrs waiting on help, another hour getting it fixed. It screwed my whole trip and weekend up. If I had checked it out prior to starting my trip, it would have taken less than an hour at the shop.

I had a wheel come off one time. It probably started out as a crack in the rim. I heard someone talking about it on the CB as I pulled into a rest area to fix my funny book but had no idea it was mine. Pulled into a MI chicken house with a wheel missing. LOL A simple walk around would have saved me much trouble.

Most of these incidents in my carreer developed when I was either in a hurry or tired. In conclusion, I would like to say that after 30 yrs, I don't claim to be a great driver or pilot but I continually strive to be one.

 

That's a good one. I'll have to remember that. "We never have time to do it right, but we always have time to do it over...."

Thanks

 

The problem is that flying airplanes in the beginning don't pay diddly squat. Aviation is suffering from the same problems as the trucking industry. The corporate push to train to drivers/pilots and reduced wages.
In aviation it's not uncommon to graduate with about $100K of bills for education. And a starting wage of about $26K Right seat regional airlines. Now you have to have 1500 hrs. logged before a regional airline will even look at you. For the record: I am a Private Pilot/Instrument/ Single Engine Land.