Talking about your Dad had to be difficult..... thank you both for your service!

Scott, as a current airline pilot, I like telling my fellow grassroots aviators who are curious about what we get up to in the simulator that I’m now primarily assessed based upon a decision making skill, called NUTA>>>>Notice, Understand, Think Ahead. My company already knows I can operate the airplane, get along with my first officers and get the best out of them, manage the checklists etc…..what they want to see is how good am I at managing time and TA (thinking ahead) for potential problems that can quickly ramp up our workload/stress through a startled response. For example, on every approach, I always brief the go around tactile procedures, standard calls and onward plan…that helps to make the go around a breeze because it’s now fresh in our minds and has been verbally agreed. Do I always brief the same type of go around? Not likely, as its useful to mix it up…low level, high level GA’s, balked landings on short runways….keep the brief interactive and relevant….it all helps to keep us sharp….keep up the great work….kind regards!

Scott, I NEVER get tired of your sayings! Keep the hanger talk coming. It’s saving lives whether you ever get to shake hands with the beneficiaries or not. Good stuff!

I am certainly not sick of your sayings Scott. Im so grateful for all you do along with the others. I remember the things you say when im in the air flying. For me its a lot more than hangar talk. I very much value the principles you teach and strive to apply them in my real world applications.

Well done Scott! Thank you for sharing your Dad’s experiences and I’m sure you are a proud son. This video was very impactful. Thanks again!

My grandfather flew for the Republic of China 🇹🇼from 1930’s to 1950’s. Flew everything from Russian Polikarpov I-16, P-40 Warhawk, P-43 Lancer, P-47 Thunderbolt, and P-51 Mustang and few others as well. He lost a lot of friends to non-combat situations. Always told me when I was a little kid, to fly safely, he always made sure to be careful that his airplane was properly maintained. No detail was too small. Well, most of the time I was told by others he came back with the plane shot up pretty badly. He wanted to get an accurate aim at the ground targets so he got in very close which made the bullets coming at him more accurate as well. But by the Grace of God. He lived to be 96.

Super cool hearing stories about your dad. Thanks for sharing your experiences and knowledge!

I always felt that I learned something on every flight I made.

I'm glad to hear that you have told your friend Dan Gryder to concentrate on his AQP points lest they be swamped by his controversial things. I agree whole-heartedly, and have said so in other words in comments I have attached to some of his videos.

A safer pilot is one whose decision making no one can claim despite a tragic outcome of a chain of unintended events resulting in damage to equipment and/or injury to personnel. prestige and good results are normally the product of skilled and well-trained pilots.

Scott, I think the best thing in that whole video was "Make good decisions". That encompasses so much that causes fatal accidents, including the very recent one very near me, in the "Marin Headlands" just north of San Francisco. From current evidence, another case of a non-instrument-rated pilot inadvertently flying into IMC. From later reports, he was a competent pilot who took flying very seriously. But seemingly a lapse of judgment (or attention) took his and his passenger's life.

Thanks Scott. Very interesting and useful (a 700-hr ‘46 Champ pilot trying every outing to be practiced, professional, and thus safe).

Well Scott! The physical resemblance between you & your father is amazing. That & the pation for flight are surely family adn. Happy landings from Portugal

Thanks again for the cool video...and what a great picture. Lucky you...

Another great video, very thoughtful, well presented, and good information to think about. You comments about Gryder are spot on. He has great ideas, but I've found him to jump the gun a few too many times and embellishes things for no reason. Once someone looks up his history they may tune him out before they see the value in what he CAN offer.

I would rather be a pilot on the ground wanting to be in the air, then a pilot in the air wanting to be on the ground. Great Video. Thanks

Great video Scott. Thanks for sharing about your Dad. He is proud!! Thanks for what you do. Dan who.😀❤️

A very well constructed video containing very valuable insight for all aviators. Thank you.

An excellent video Scott. Many thanks for all the content you make.

Simply superb!

Well done Scott, I can see more clearly now where your source of energy comes from , he would be very proud of you

Scott, I'm not a pilot but as others have mentioned, your advice can be applied to other pursuits. I've taken a few pilots sailing and they listened, watched, and took the helm. I was told it feels a lot like flying. I've taught some pilots how to SCUBA dive. Lots of things in common, some topics cover different aspects of the same subjects. Physics and physiology and navigation to name a few. I learned about acceleration deviation from a pilot while covering underwater navigation. I always love learning something new. Training, practice, a mind wide open to learning, have made me better at some things, but not perfect. We're human. I also volunteered as a firefighter. I learned a lot but of course not everything. But we also say to train the way you intend to fight because you'll fight like you trained. I also have a saying about aspirational goals. "Perfection is not a reasonable expectation, but it is a worthy goal." Thank you Scott. Thank you for your service in the military. Thank you for your service now.

Well said Scott! The license to learn. Love the history on your Dad and your service and thank you both for that! Although it may be hard to tell by stats, I do believe yourself, Dan Gryder, Juan Brown, and a few others on You Tube, are definitely helping save lives through the awareness you are providing to the GA pilots that wish to pay attention to your accident videos. Thank you for doing and please keep them coming! Best.

"Becoming a Safer Pilot" When I was a young Airman I went to an Open House at our airbase, Carswell AFB in Fort Worth Texas. One of the flight demos was a visiting F-18. You understand, Carswell is right across the runway from General Dynamics who builds the F-16. As you can imagine.......G.D. almost literally owns Fort Worth, body and soul. Well this F-18 pilot was firing on all cylinders that day......he knocked it out of the park. Knocked everybody's socks off. He nailed it. I thought people would be jumping up and down cheering this guy as he taxied in. NO....they were humorless. They didn't appreciate anyone showing up their beloved F-16. I ran over and saluted the pilot as he deplaned and told him what a fantastic flight demo he did. He said, and I quote, "Thanks, but you know, you're only as good as your last flight. I have to think about the next flight." And I just thought wow, that's how you become a safe pilot and STAY safe. These fighter pilots really truly are America's finest.

Good words.

Scott, Enjoyed your discussion on Becoming a Safer Pilot It's hard to decide and hard to define a safer pilot. Keep up the good work.

Great thought!!! Thanks!!!

Mr. Purdue sir.. with highest regards sir.... I disagree sir. You..Dan... and Juan have saved lives. Please know this.

Scott, thanks for sharing more of your dad's story. I knew he was an aviator, but didn't realize what a life-long commitment to the craft he had, and the number of folks he directly taught and mentored along the way. It's clear that commitment and attitude lives on by extension through your work here on YT, and the training you provide. It's hard to overstate the value of this kind of clear-headed influence - and an emphasis on craft - in a noisy world full of short cuts. I'm forwarding this video to a friend who is restarting his training with an aspiration to an instrument rating. Many thanks.

Being totally engaged, as doer or teacher, makes flying more satisfying and not just a means to an end. Thanks, Gunny.

I’m really sorry to hear what happened to your father. From my basic analysis, I figure the risk of dying in GA flying is about 10 times that of a car. GA is considered one of the most dangerous professional occupations. I wish it wasn’t the case.

Thanks!

Solid goal every time I go up... "Don't end up on FLYWIRE or PROBABLE CAUSE".... Good stuff Scott

Hangar flying was so much more effective at the glider port than at the airport. Everyone stands out by the runway watching others fly while waiting for their turn. This makes discussions natural. Airplane folks are separated and tend to do their own things.

Thank you for boiling it down like that. My new motto “Be Intentional “

That hit home, thank you, Scott. Like your dad, my father was a pilot who died in a plane crash (he wasn't flying -- he was a passenger on a commuter plane that went down.) And I remember thinking the same thing as I got up to speak at his funeral -- basically, "where did all these people come from?" LOL! I didn't know most of them, either. Another similarity was that a lot of people came up afterwards to tell me my dad was an inspiration. But unlike your dad, it wasn't his piloting skills that inspired them (though he was a good pilot) but his skill as a fisherman, of all things! He had so many tricks up his sleeve that worked in almost every situation, and he knew just where and when to go to find the fish. Despite being taken from us too soon, my dad was a good man who had a productive and fulfilling 72 years on this earth with family and friends who loved him. Sounds like he had a lot in common with your dad. Thanks again.

Scott - when I learned to fly I did so within the same parameters you advise. My Instrument instructor was Ex AF, (trainer) and he took me through the same demanding routine you advise ("nose wheel on the white line"! "flight doesn't end until the plane is tied down"). Esp appreciate your comments about staying engaged every moment of the flight, (not zoning out, not being a passenger) and checking yourself mentally, physically before and during every flight. Flying is a superb craft if done well demands focus, dedication and commitment to excellence. Being a safe pilot is a focused Mindset, like being a Samurai or....a Zen Master.

Scott, a wonderful heartfelt story that many of us fellow life long aviators can appreciate, and certainly relate to. Like you, the clarity of safe operations becomes more apparent with the experience of not only thousands of hours in aircraft, but also seeing peers of similar or higher qualification pass in tragic accidents. All the while, we leverage this humility as a survival technique if not to simply save our spouse in a privately owned Bonanza, but also the 300 souls on a wide body airliner en-route to Europe. Thanks for sharing your wisdom. These videos undoubtedly have an impact on safer operations to all who view them.

I’m a boater, and only a sim pilot, but hugely interested in aviation. Most of what you said about being safe can be applied to boating - whilst we can only sink, explode, crash, or drown (take your pick!) some lessons have been hard learned by many and lives lost through poor attention to risk management and mitigation. Excitement and anticipation about a trip must never be allowed to cloud good judgement and a methodical approach, whether in the air or on the water. It was good to hear you talk of your Dad, however difficult that must have been for you. I am sure he was as proud of you and your achievements as you are of him and his. You must have a huge number of stories you could tell about flying the mighty Phantom and the venerable F-15. Stay safe up there. Best wishes from over here in the UK 🇬🇧.

Training. Practice. Knowledge. Hand and eye coordination. Aircraft Airworthiness. Superior maintenance. The fickle finger of fate

There may be a balance of taking risks to get experience for the times ahead where you may not have a choice but to take those risks, hence the previous "risk taking" provided you with experience to better handle the situation. Example of this being spin practice or bad weather flying.

Good judgement

Hi Scott. I love the work you do. Those were great vintage photos of you and your Dad. Thank you for sharing and I'm sorry you lost him so tragically. He's your guardian angel and very proud of you now.

12:50 That pause right there is what should make every aviator think. Thank you for sharing.

20:36 I'd never tire of your sayings, keep 'em coming.

Thank you Scott & thanks for sharing your Dad with us.

Dan gryder is exactly what we need in aviation i dont consider him to be controversial, his pill may be hard to swallow but we all need it. put ones ego &pride in check i consider him to be a drill instructor in the military he trying keep us alive

Thanks for sharing, Scott. I really enjoy you’re videos.

Thank you for your presentation, Scott. I am not a pilot, and based on the the statistics, I will choose not to take the risk to fly. If I could channel my innermost Dan Gryder, I would say to the GA community, “Are you a stupid pilot?” If a non pilot can land a plane in Florida, and others with thousands of hours crash, it must be the training! Scott, that was a very heartfelt video. I hope by watching it motivates someone to do better.

Thanks, Scott! As always, excellent presentation.

Good morning Scott , in my opinion this has been one of your most important videos , it has put perspective in the subject . On another point I would like to thank you for sharing your photos and story of your dad it not only was very interesting but ties in an accident that was not pilot error but ties in to the safe pilot accident rate if I understand it correctly . Thanks as always , Mark Battista

Thanks Scott, something us GA pilots should watch every 6 months or so. I'm a 66 yo newbie and believe in the "constantly learning" philosophy for sure. Thank you for your wisdom and your service!

Great message, thank you

Good work sir. Thank you.

Thanks for sharing Scott.

Great video thanks for sharing

Great video Gunny! Your cover photo brought back some awesome memories flying with you and your dad. I occasionally think of your dad and the opportunity I had to fly with him in the Stearman and the T-34, good times! Thanks!

Thanks scott

Thanks Scott, great video!

Thank you for making this video, Scott

Such a brilliant presentation! thank you Scott.

Thank you

Great video Scott, thank you I totally enjoy watching!

I appreciate videos like this. If I could catch him when he isn't busy, I'd spend some AQP training time with Josh. One of the things I tell myself before every flight is - "I don't have to fly". Sometimes I cancel because I'm not feeling on my game. Sometimes it's marginal weather. Here in NM the $$)*#$ wind has been well outside of my crosswind skills and I've trained in 20G25 (I actually like the challenge of practicing crosswinds). If the turbulence forecast says moderate, I don't have to fly. Sometimes I will go just to check the forecast but I keep it local. I fly way more than I cancel. The Surface Prog Chart is the first screen I load when I start my computer in the morning. I check the weather when I'm not planning to fly. I'm sure most pilots will have a "whoa... that sucked" moment or two. Mine were in the first 100 - 130 hours. I had to go to an, all too common, base to final, stall, spin accident that ended almost on top of our pipeline. The C150, student pilot and passenger ended up vertical, buried to the firewall, and no survivors. Student AND passenger... It was sobering. Soon after that I started my instrument training at 130 hours (1994), didn't finish due to being transferred for work. I continued to fly until 1996 when I flew a friend around the front range of Colorado (airport was 48V, the ID has changed) in N5283E. We had a situation with an ultralight (no radio) that would take too long to describe but I didn't quit flying because of that. I got transferred again, was raising 4 kids by myself, and life didn't allow for flying time. I have false started my instrument training twice since I got back into flying in 2018. A lot of it stuck. I can hold heading and altitude, turns, climbs, descents, etc but it needs polish, I need to pass a written, and GPS approaches weren't a thing back then. Since 2018 I've flown all over the 4 Corners area (KFMN), mostly cross country flights. I started in a C-172B and lately I've been flying a C-172RG. And guess what... I just got transferred back to TX (home). Closer to my grandkids, farther from aviation. Fair trade I guess. Dan Gryder - I agree. An engineer friend of mine once told me "your heart is in the right place but your presentation sucks". I've been working on my presentation for a long time :)

Very good plan, thank you is not enough.

I think that this is by far your best video! You offer very, very good advice. Thank you Scott!

Experience = number of hours x quality of those hours.

Make good decisions!!! Scott that says it all. It doesn't matter what you are doing.

Did you know Jack Pyland? He ran the first flight school in Dallas at GSW airport. Little Jack Pyland is my skydiving and flying buddy. His dad sounds like yours. They own Jack's French fries at the state fair and ran the Sportatorium in Dallas with the Von Erichs

Love your thoughts; preparation, do it (life) on purpose, etc., etc., etc. BTW, I agree with your comments about Dan.

loved your story BTW

I believe, and will always believe till I'm dead, it's the way you were taught. I learned on a 1000-foot or so crop-dusting field, I was taught spins, and basic aerobatics...and obviously how to land in a short field...J3s do not have flaps so slips were the name of the game. TODAY most schools teach just enough to get the PPL...the amount of stuff they are NOT taught far exceeds what they are taught IMHO...You cant build a house on shifting sand...the foundation must be solid...

Great and informative video FW.:) NC

Another great motivational video but then "No Accident is not an accident". That said How many of us can remember every mistake/closes call we ever had and survived it? Only amassed 1700 hours TT from 1970 to 1996, but a couple of times a year since then I wake up in a cold sweat and the Nightmare is just as vivid as if it was still happening.

The biggest problem is when one tries to fix a strategic mistake with a tactical fix. I.E. IMC, Scud running, low level manuevering, running out of fuel.

Word👍🏼

Well Scott in my case I had excellent training in the USAF class 66-c at LRD and then a T-33, T-38 IP then 33 years at a major airline. To me the training, currency and accident reviews were very important as I often thought “Dam that pilot was unlucky and would I have done it differently “. I never flew in GA but I read a lot of accident reviews and I can’t help but to think if each flight had the same requirements as USAF and the airline the accident rate would drop 95%. Flying requires much more prep then driving a pickup truck. The 6 P’s of life apply. Prior Planning Prevents P-- Poor Performance. Thanks again for your insight.

My dad thought he wanted to be a WW2 pilot till he saw how many got shot down. A former boss/ hump pilot sure liked new engines/parts .

I think, one major issue, is too many low, time (100 to 300 hour), pilots, treat flying like driving a car. I think my avoidance of an accident was due largely to luck. Good video. Great food for thought.

Yes sometimes brutal honesty can really sting but also will keep a person's ego in check ✔️

A safe pilot is the one who is always ahead of the aircraft/power curve'. When you get behind the curve you are a danger to all.

Thanks Scott for more good input for all of us to improve our safety consciousness. I appreciate you and Dan Gryder but don’t find Dan controversial at all. You both just have different styles but that’s what makes us humans.

I would add, don't become complacent. Don't force yourself to meet a schedule, either.

I really emjoyed the humility, and the part about not being embarassed to do the right thing. This is so true! Maybe you covered the story of your father, and the flight where you lost him, but if not, I would enjoy hearing about it all. My dad passed 4 years ago, and he was so much more than a father to me. I would be "all ears" to hear about yours.

Compare ultralight , paraplane , & gerotor to start .

You are absolutely right!! I feel sorry for the loss of your dad! I hope this doesn’t come across as disrespectful, but are you willing to share what happened to him? That pic of your F15 in front of Hohenzollern castle in Baden-Wuerttemberg, Germany is awesome! That’s the busiest area (Schwaebische Alb) for gliders in Germany. I try to stay away or above the clouds.

Scott thanks for your teaching. My favorites of your videos are the tennis ball one and the young female pilot going thru spins and recovery with you. The spatial disorientation ones also are great. My question is, what if we had a simple instrument (perhaps gps based) that had an arrow pointing to the center of the earth at all times? Would this be a good reference? My father always said "trust your instruments " when we hand flew our Barron in the soup. No autopilot. Kind regards, Craig

Great video Scott! I’ve shared with some of my heli flying friends as well. I couldn’t find that “list” or “lists” on Mastery a flight Training that you referred to. Can you include a link?

Thanks Scott. Do you have a link to the flight maneuvers list that you mentioned? I looked on the website you mentioned but couldn’t find it there.

The pictures of you in the Air Force. Were we ever that young?

Might add Weather to your formula.

Gunny, I just logged my required flight safety briefing for May! Were you a trained FSO?? Thanks for the video! Fly safe, Skid!

Most Bonanza accidents are VFR or IFR lost of control? I think most are VFR conditions, = under the clouds, not inside cloud or fog IFR LOC. Right?

One who uses expert judgement so you don’t have to use expert skills,

The "gotta get there" attitude is a BIG issue, in aviation and on the roads - how many times have you seen someone go through yellow or red just to save a minute?

I guess you now "Toad" Almand.

I’ve been watching Dan as well and still can’t understand why he is so controversial

Probably IMO the worst thing Dan may do it accuse early on without all the facts, he does correct himself, but it's hard to get it right 75% or more of the time without the full story. You have to have and edge to be successful on YT and he certainly walks that edge.

This video could be improved if you smoked a pipe and gazed at the rising smoke rings ( - :

safe pilots are not jet-force jockys ,and AirAmerica pilots are total clowns !! they tried to be bush pilots when I lived in Alaska ... I take that back ! some were real O.K. guys ! some were having flashbacks of someone named Sam chasing them ?? anyhow those guys were freaks of nature !