Advanced learning

I find often times pilots can learn from other disciplines. You might be asking yourself what am I talking about? I am saying do pilots learn the bare minimum and then keep learning within one track or do they then go on to cross train with mechanics, helicopter/glider pilots, ATC, weather forecasters, and line guys?

I think the lack of cross training between various disciplines of aviation is a mistake. I went to a seminar on gliders last Saturday and found it VERY informative. And in many ways, it was more informative to me as a powered fixed wing pilot than sitting through the an FAA wings seminar would have been (which are snooze fests IMHO).

The seminar started off with a talk about emergencies and how they can happen ANYWHERE and the need to access the situation is important. For instance, if a gliders rope brakes at 100ft, where are they landing? How can you plan for this situation at your home airfield? What decisions beforehand can you make as a pilot to minimize the risk and come out alive and in one piece? Not exactly applicable to me as a powered pilot, but there are serious similarities that I use in my every day life (ironically, my checkout for doing skydiving included just this very thing).

The second speaker talked about NTSB accidents and common errors to glider pilots. Again, not 100% applicable to me as a powered pilot but still VERY applicable to myself. One accident (CHI07CA291) involved a pilot failing to reset his altimeter. A simple error that destroyed a glider. The next two accidents (LAX60LA929 and LAX05CA294) were easily preventable if the pilot had not reacted in an impulsive way (one of those hazardous attitudes). Plus, a little more training would have resulted in two less crashes and an extra person living today. The final accident was LAX06FA277A. As a powered pilot, I am SHOCKED at the damage the jet took from hitting a simple glider:

The Glider was destroyed totally, the largest piece was a spar sticking out of the Hawker's nose section...


The final speaker was talking about parachutes. I'm interested in parachutes because I am forced to wear one while doing skydivers. I have zero interest in jumping out of aircraft, but if you gotta jump you gotta jump. Let me say it was less interesting than I would have thought and contradicted some things I learned during my skydiver pilot checkout. Still fairly informative IMHO.

4 hours of learning by going to this free seminar on glider flying, and yet I still walked away with a ton of information and new skills that I can use to fly safer in my powered flight time.

If you get an ability to go to other seminars (if it was helicopters, glider, maintenance, ATC, weather, whatever), I would HIGHlY recommend it. Yes, it's not all useful stuff but it will give you a better idea of why other people do what they do, and how you can best react in situations that involve them to keep everyone safe.