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0 pointsEMM_3862y ago0 comments

> There is an algorithm for everything in aviation

This is how I got my commercial pilot's license, and I'm a senior software engineer.

It just "clicked" with my brain to follow specific procedures ("algorithms") for absolutely everything. Checklists, strict rules, "flows", handling emergencies. It all felt natural to me.

They will throw random stuff at you during checkrides. Pull the power back on one of the engines right after takeoff saying it failed, fail instruments that you were using to navigate, blindfold you ("foggles") and put you almost upside down and then say "recover!".

But you have everything so ingrained in your mind by that point that it's almost robotic. You just look at the inputs (almost upside down, engine #2 is gone, no attitude indicator, whatever it is) and know what the output is supposed to be (roll to unload Gs, lower the nose, full power, check the standby AI, etc).

I happen to work well when there are strict rules and procedures. If this, then that.

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vwcx2y ago

I got my CPL the same year my first kid was born. The procedure/checklist culture transferred really well between baby tasking and training.

peteradio2y ago

When you are robotically rolling to unload Gs does it still make your heart go boom!?? I love the idea of flying. I see crop dusters and private planes flying in all the time and it makes me wonder if I ought to try it out.

HeyLaughingBoy2y ago

My Private Pilot training was almost 30 years ago, but after a while it stops being exciting. And that was a big part of why I dropped out: it had become about as interesting as driving in rush hour traffic.

Like the situation OP says: you scan instruments to analyze the situation, determine what to do to recover and apply that procedure. If it doesn't work, or something else goes wrong during that procedure, you adapt to another procedure. Remember, that during every flight with an instructor, you're being trained on one thing or another, so after a while all the "emergencies" seem routine. You'll be turning onto Final to land and suddenly your instructor will decide that your flaps failed so you have to land without them, or just as you're flaring for a landing he'll tell you to go around, etc.

It certainly results in well-trained pilots, but it also gets very boring.

wkat42422y ago

That's why I like gliding more. It's really all seat of the pants. Not dominated by procedures and endless circuit practice.

tverbeure2y ago

I once loved the idea of flying as well, and I have a miserly 18 flight hours on my record, accumulated 23 years ago.

The immediate reason to stop was the fact that the more I did it, the more nauseous I got, but by then I had already decided that flying was not nearly as exciting as I expected it to be. Stopping was an easy decision to make.

That said, I also have friends who still totally love it.

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