Early in my airline career I tried to be a sponge, soaking up the vast pool of aviation knowledge stored in the brains of the TWA Captains I flew with. I soon realized I had to be more selective, filing away the really good stuff, and discarding what later proved to be faulty or even totally false. One comment has stuck with me over the years because it applies to all facets of life, not just aviation.
For weeks I had flown the same route. New York’s LaGuardia Airport to Columbus, OH and back. I had basically memorized all the radio frequencies, navigational aids and airway headings. I could do it all, without even looking at the charts or approach plates like the one shown at the left.
One day I flew with a Captain I had never flown with before. He watched as I tuned the radios and put in the airway compass headings without even referring to a single map or approach plate. Finally, after we reached our cruise altitude, and had left the busy New York airspace he turned to me and said: “Let me give you a piece of advice.” “About aviation, it’s not what you don’t know that gets you. It’s what you know for sure that’s not so.”
He went on to explain that when I flew with him, I would be expected to check all the figures I had memorized with the charts we carried in our flight bags. “Things do change, you know.” He commented. “You don’t want to figure that out when you’re way off course, or out of contact with air traffic control because you put in a frequency that’s no longer in use.”
In the years to come, when I had upgraded to Captain, I passed that simple gem of knowledge on to my Co-Pilots and Flight Engineers. It’s true with regards to aviation, and life in general.
As this country has become more divided politically and socially in the last few years, too many of us are operating on false concepts. We have fallen into the trap of:
“I believe, therefore I know”.
That can be damaging, and in the case of aviation, even fatal if taken to extremes. So my advice to all is to remember that advice I was given so long ago.
“It’s not what you don’t know that gets you. It’s what you know for sure that’s not so!”
Challenge your own beliefs. Research them to see if they’re really true, and don’t rely on one source of information because it agrees with your opinion on the subject at hand. Finally, when all else fails, use your common sense, not your emotions. It’s right, more often than not.