The airlines (Part 135 and 121 operators) have an impeccable safety record despite flying thousands of hours daily on a set schedule in often challenging meteorological conditions. Why is that? A big factor is strict adherence to standard procedures and pre-set limitations. What we as GA pilots can learn from the airlines:

Preflight: A complete physical pre- and postflight walkaround inspection including all required paperwork should be part of every flight. Make sure you know your destination airport well and have an alternative plan of action in mind.

Takeoff: A standardized takeoff briefing containing criteria for aborting takeoff, engine failure after takeoff, weather considerations, departure procedure, inoperative components, landing minimums at the departure airport and a plan of action in case of any abnormality should be conducted before every takeoff. During the takeoff roll always check the following items: airspeed rising, engine instruments in the green, and engine developing normal power.

Cruise: Whenever available make use of ATC services (e.g. Flight Following)

Approaches: Always conduct a thorough approach briefing (VFR and IFR). Review the terrain, safe altitudes, local procedures, frequencies (Nav and Com) before workload increases on the approach. Set your own minimums depending on your level of proficiency, currency and experience.

Landing: Plan to always touch down in touchdown zone. Plan approaches to touch down in the first 1/3 of the runway. If you are not in your final landing configuration by a certain altitude (actual value depends on your experience e.g. 400 AGL), plan a go-around. Remember that a landing is nothing but an aborted go-around (always be in a mindset for a go-around)!

General: Fly with a professional attitude and adhere to standardized, repeatable (same every time) procedures. Use checklists! Normal procedures are carried out as memorized flow patterns backed up by a written checklist. Time critical emergencies are handled by memorizing the most critical items and then using a written checklist. Devise a plan for regular (e.g. every 6 months) proficiency checks. Impose maximum flight time limits per day and make sure you are well rested.

Back in the beginning of my flying career, I started flying gliders to learn about flying in the mountains. I learned to fly in the Rockies of Montana and had been reading some books on mountain flying. The authors said, "If you want to become a good mountain pilot, go take some glider lessons..." So I did... But the only problem was is that I got hooked on gliders....

As my ratings increased on my ASEL ticket, I added my glider ratings, including commercial. So I was able to spend two winters in Phoenix, Arizona flying commercial glider flights. I was eventually faced with the problem of making a decision about which way to go on my aviation career, power or gliders... I chose power and was immensely blessed to be able to come and teach at WVFC. But I really LOVE to fly so I decided to go back to gliders. I decided to get my CFI Glider rating at Soar Minden in Minden, NV.

Minden is world renowned for their soaring conditions, both for thermals and WAVE. So I showed up on Friday to start flying with Mike Moore and had my check ride scheduled for Monday. We started flying the Grob 103A and actually managed to find some weak thermals. So I polished off some of my rusty thermaling skills and sweated out the infamous instrument of student pilot torture, the YAW STRING.

The Grob has huge ailerons and a small rudder so trying to keep that 1/2 cent piece of string straight was a real chore! And how may times through the years have I said, "Step on the ball...!" OK, Super Pilot, put your money where your mouth is....! Saturday morning, the winds aloft forecast looked promising for mountain wave. The winds where out of the SW, 25 knots at the surface, up to 50 knots at FL180. YES!!!

"Oh Mike, by the way, what do we do about rotors???" "We look for them and fly in them." "You mean once we're off tow, right?" "NO, we fly through them and use them for lift...!" "What have I gotten myself into??? I hate it when I do this to myself..."

So we blast off behind the tow plane on a 220 foot piece of rope and head for the lee side of the mountains and I have Cotton Mouth.... Take off was uneventful even though we had a 60 degree crosswind. Use a slip to track right behind the tow plane until he gets off, then crab into the wind behind him. And sure enough, he heads for the rotors... I'm now flying from the back seat and I hear Mike say, "Just keep the nose pointed at the tow plane..." "OK..." And then he flies into the rotor. Whew!!! Easier said than done! But just as suddenly as we went into it, we were out the backside. Hey, that wasn't tooo bad. Just about that time, he hits another one! Now my hands and feet are really busy as I try to look around Mike's head to keep the tow plane in sight. Linda, why do you do this to yourself???? But, we're in LIFT. So we release at 7000', 2400'AGL.

We started circling in raged lift and soon I can see Lake Tahoe. We were actually using rotor lift occasionally to gain altitude but we weren't in THE WAVE, just a small piece of stationary lift. Soon Mike says, "I have the controls..." OH OH... We head straight for the mountains, looking for THE WAVE and managed to find 1000 fpm SINK. OOPS, it's not here so we scurry back to our little piece of lift that happens to be positioned right over Minden's sewer ponds... HUM, we struggle back up to where I can see the lake again, then, "I have the controls..." Maybe the WAVE is over here... 1200 fpm SINK. "Well, that isn't it. Your airplane." Back to the sewer ponds again and all the while watching to see where the airport and the altimeter are. If I can't get back in to the lift, it's bug out to the IP (entry point for the pattern) before we get too low.

Ahhh, yes, it's still there, we're not out of the game yet. But we're still hitting rotors and using them for lift. Then we really hit one and I go weightless. Hum, now I know why they use five point harnesses in these things. So I cinched the belts as tight as I could to try and keep the lower part of my sitting anatomy firmly attached to the glider. Back up to where I can see the Lake. For the third time, "I have the glider..." and again, 1200 fpm sink. Mike in shear frustration, throws his hands up into the air, "Your airplane, I'm not having any luck finding it..."

I have the glider back, make a 90 degree turn and WHAM!!! 800 fpm LIFT. Beginner's luck!!! So we start working this new piece of lift!!! The altimeter starts winding up again, faster than ever before. Suddenly, we go through a layer and the whole world changes!! This is it!!! We're in THE WAVE!!! The vario is 1000 to 1200 fpm UP! And then, it's very quite and very smooth and VERY AWESOME!!! I fly with my finger tips...

So this is what THE QUEST is all about. This is simply the most awesome experience of my 3000+ hours! The altimeter winds up and up. Soon we're at 17,850'. Mike says, "We're getting close." So we both tap our altimeters. 17,900'. 17,950'. 17,999.' Yes!!! We can't go any higher because we don't have the WAVE window and don't have the dilutor demand masks for our O2. WOW!!! Incredible!!!

And now we have all this wonderful altitude to play with. So we explore the envelope of the Grob 103A. Stalls, incipient spins, steep turns, spoilers in, spoilers out, slips, etc, etc... Finally Mike is scratching at the door, wanting down. But I can't bring myself to put the spoilers out and slip off our altitude. Finally, I did and we returned to Earth. We managed to be the highest for the day. What a treat!!!

The check ride was moved to Sunday afternoon. It went fine and then I hear a rumor that there is only about a dozen women glider instructors in the US... Wow!! Rarified air, for sure!!! Also, the Nevada state high altitude record for a woman is 24,000'... HUMMMMMMMM

If anyone wants to come and check out soaring, I've made arrangements with Tony to teach at Soar Minden. All of the other instructors there are absolutely WORLD CLASS... and I'm honored. Maybe we can combine a mountain check out with an intro glider flight??? At any rate, check out their website, soarminden.com

Many West Valley members and instructors have moved on in the world, and are flying larger, more complex airplanes. As they do, you'll probably hear how easy such airplanes are to fly, and statements such as, "If you can fly a 172, you can fly a Citation." While there are elements of truth in that statement, there's a bit more to it.

Why, do you suppose, those lucky pilots had to spend a week at Flight Safety or SimCom before they could fly their planes? The simple answer, of course, is that the insurance company required it. But why does the insurance company require this training for an airplane that's so easy to fly?

There are a host of reasons starting with the fact that these airplanes are more complex, and some of the things that are intuitive in a Cessna are less than obvious in a Pilatus, King Air, or Citation. In the Pilatus, for example, Section 7 of the POH is about 180 pages - larger than the entire POH for most club aircraft. Most other sections are larger by about the same proportion, yet the process of learning to fly a Pilatus applies nicely to any of our club planes, as well.

Start with the systems. For any new airplane, learn the systems first, and understand how things work when they are working correctly. The more complex the plane, the longer this process takes. Next, turn to Section 2 to learn the Limitations (what can kill you and what can break the plane) and Section 3, Emergency Procedures (what happens when things don't work correctly). Then, learn the normal procedures (Section 4), Performance (Section 5), Weight and Balance (Section 6), and all the supplemental information in Section 9. Finally, take a look through Section 8, Handling, Servicing and Maintenance.

This is actually the objective of the West Valley Ground Review Forms, though most folks simply hack through the POH looking for the answers to the specific questions. But knowledge does pay off. Early in the morning, we were attempting to leave Knox County Airport in Mount Vernon, Ohio a few days before Christmas, with the CEO, his wife, sister, and mother aboard (along with a couple hundred pounds of presents). Part of the pre-takeoff checklist is to lower 15 degrees of flaps. For this leg, I was FO and had the checklist. I called for the flaps, and the Pilot put the flap lever into the first notch, but the indicator showed no movement, nor could either of us see any flap movement. From our class and studying, we knew the following:

1. Normal takeoff requires 15 degrees of flaps
2. The stick pusher system (related to stall avoidance) test requires 15 degrees of flaps for the test, and takeoff isn't permitted without performing a pusher test
3. In addition to the circuit breakers on the side panels, there is a reset in a panel behind the co-pilot's seat (notaccessible in flight)
4. Even if we could get the flaps down and the problem happened in flight, our destination had a runway long enough to land with no flaps