Principles of Haste Management
Jim Davis has a passion for instructing. He has been training civil and military pilots, in the air and on the ground for 50 years. His other passion is writing, which he studied at Curtin University in Perth. You can see, and buy, his two pilot text books PPL and Flight Tests at www.jimdavis.com.au
A pilot’s logbook is far more that just a record of dates, times, places and flights; it is also a history of a pilot’s flying career and a chronicle of the lessons learnt that makes them the aviator they are today. Jim Davis takes a look back through his own logbooks, and records the incidents that have shaped his approach to flying.
On 6 August 1964 I came very close to turning Cherokee 235 DXG into a funeral pyre for Bert and me. I had flown from Manganore to Hotazel. We landed just after midday. Instead of going to the mine in a Land Rover with Bert, I stayed in the aircraft and read a book.
At about 3.00 pm, Bert’s Landie pitched in a swirl of red dust. He was in a hurry to get home. I didn’t want to keep him waiting, so I skipped the preflight. Hell, it was a new aircraft, we had plenty of fuel, and I knew no-one had touched anything because I had been sitting in it all the time.
I taxied to the threshold, did a quick run-up and mag check, tweaked the trim, pulled up a notch of flap, turned into wind and poured on the coal.
The Cherokee 235 is a performer. We were airborne in a third of the dirt runway.
Well, most of us was airborne. Two
