Seven Habits of Highly Effective Pilots

We often call these folks professionals, or for short, “pros.” However, professionals don’t need stripes on their sleeves or epaulets on their shoulders. It’s simply an attitude and the way we approach each and every flight.

For the record, the one-size-fits-all, larger-than-life image that the movies and TV paint of pilots is not always accurate. We come in all shapes, sizes, personalities, and cultural backgrounds. We are extroverts who love a crowd and introverts who are very comfortable in the solitude of an aircraft cabin. We are engineers, technicians, and tradespeople who understand each and every technical detail.

Then again, we are poets, artists, and adventure seekers who can describe the magic of flight that they experience to others in ways that may inspire them. 

Before we go any further, it might be best to define what makes a professional. A quick check of the Oxford Language Dictionary describes a professional as “competent, skillful, and assured.” I like that definition. I have seen military pilots, multi-thousand-hour airline captains, and 100-hour private pilots, each of whom fits that description.

And like you, each time I meet these folks, I try to learn what makes them so good. I am sure you have your own list. What follows is the result of my decidedly unscientific research on the subject of seven habits of highly professional pilots.

Hmm, what has honesty got to do with this flying business, you say? Let’s face it, each of us displays different levels of hand-eye coordination, perception, and feel for the aircraft.

Professionalism begins with an honest assessment of our own individual experience, knowledge, and skill level. Some of the questions we might ask ourselves are, “Just because I am legally current, am I also competent?” Or “I am really tired, but I promised my friends that we would fly today, so should I?” Or, sadly, too many pilots’ final decision: “The weather is really marginal, but with a little luck, I should be able to make it.”

Pilots who are honest with themselves about their skills, capabilities, and conditions generally make better decisions. Those who don’t are best described by Ernest Gann, the legendary author of  Fate Is the Hunter:  “In this business, we play for keeps.” 

The best pilots I have come to know have made it their life’s work to learn all there is to know about their craft and then learn a little more every day.

I suspect none among us has ever made a perfect flight. Each flight is a chance to learn and expand our knowledge.

I work with a wonderful group of university students who have set their sights on a career in aviation. They will occasionally ask me what I am looking for when I grade their work. My answer is simple: I am looking to see which students I would want to share the flight deck with because they had studied the hardest and were eager to learn more.

As the saying goes, “A good pilot is always learning.” 

Flying a Cessna 172 to breakfast with friends or flying a Boeing 787 across the Pacific Ocean are both a series of sequential tasks, each completed successfully.

The best folks I have flown with know this and are prepared. These organized folks do not find out the runway is closed when they see the large lighted X’s on short final. They read the NOTAMs “before” they take off into the wild blue yonder.

Whether flying a Piper Cherokee or 747, their aircraft cabin is organized, the windshield is cleaned, and the checklists, each of them, are completed on every flight. They have developed a set of methodical habits that serve them well.

A good friend who flies a high-performance retractable checks the landing gear down and three green at least three times before each landing. He has been doing that for several decades in many aircraft, both large and small. This kind of methodical approach helps to avoid nasty surprises and large insurance claims. 

My favorite Air Force quote is “flexibility is the key to airpower.”

While the ground-bound commuters down below trudge along in heavy traffic along the highways and byways, we pilots get to play three-dimensional chess at 150 knots or so in our piston-powered magic carpets. We can cross a major city in 10 minutes or less, no stress. And unlike the weary highway travelers, we get to creatively work through challenging weather conditions, changing fuel states, and the occasional on-the-fly diversion decision.

In my humble opinion, this is one of the best parts of flying—making a plan, then adapting it to what we find along the way. Anyone who has navigated the building cumulonimbus while flying across the Southern states on a busy spring or summer afternoon, or the heavy traffic of a Class B airport, can surely relate.

Our ability to remain flexible, create options, and decide when we have had enough and should get back on the ground makes us a safer and happier pilot. One of the best tools we have in our flight bag is a credit card. It makes it so much easier to land, spend the night, and fly again another day.

With an apology to the U.S. Marines, our motto might best be described as, “Semper Gumby”—Always Flexible. 

Charles Lindbergh, having landed in Paris after a long 33-and-a-half-hour flight, was proclaimed loudly by the press as “Lucky Lindy.”

It was a name he disliked, as Lindbergh was a meticulous planner and skillful pilot who had thought through every aspect of the flight. He was likely much more confident in the successful landing in Paris than many around him. He was comfortable with his skills, abilities, and planning yet fully aware of the element of chance and unforeseen circumstances.

Reading both of his accounts of the journey— WE (1927) and The Spirit of Saint Louis (1953)—you get a sense of this confidence, mixed with respect for the immense task that lay before him. However, overconfidence can soon become arrogance, and this is often the prelude to a fatal condition. Real confidence comes from taking the time to learn our craft, understand our machine, plan our flight, and account for unforeseen events along the way. This approach improves the odds.

As famous football coach Vince Lombardi said, “Luck is where preparation meets opportunity.” This approach to flying breeds the right kind of confidence. 

Every time I leave the safety of my garage for the open road, I notice that my fellow highway travelers seem to be more impatient and at times, even an angry bunch.

If another driver pauses briefly when the light changes to green, multiple car horns are likely to go off. Road rage seems a bit more common, and let’s face it, tailgating has become the national pastime.

However, flying has always been a more tranquil and genteel environment. That is, until I check out YouTube and hear pilots and controllers beginning to challenge each other and trading phone numbers.

ATC clearance readbacks are one example. The controller is required to hear a complete readback, and when they don’t, tensions seem to rise. Thankfully, these exchanges are a very small minority. However, even in the local traffic pattern, the occasional raised voice or tense exchange can be heard from time to time. 

I believe we live in a more stressful world. However, there are ways to cope.

For decades, Air Force pilots faced with an in-flight emergency all tended to emulate Chuck Yeager’s slow West Virginia drawl on the radio. I sensed this was a way to keep a lid on the stress and had a calming effect on the pilot, crew, and controllers.

In many multicrew flight decks, the words please, thank you, and a bit more formal tone is the order of the day. This enforced politeness has a similar effect. We can all sense when the controller is up to their eyeballs in traffic and help the situation by listening carefully, speaking clearly, and responding accurately.

Being calm and courteous is contagious. 

Solid decision-making is the habit that ties all of this together.

Flying is really and truly about making good decisions in a timely manner. Having said that, the best pilots understand that they will occasionally make a poor decision. The good ones are quick to acknowledge this and are happy to head off in a better direction.

The old saying goes, “good judgment is the result of experience, and experience is the result of bad judgments.” It is true that we often learn the most from our mistakes. However, as pilots we live in the present and the future. We simply learn from the past and do better the next time.

Many check ride applicants do not fail due to an initial poor decision. Rather, they continue to dwell on the error, fail to correct it, and eventually make additional poor decisions down the line.

How often do we have to read about the pilot who failed to top off the fuel tanks before departure, failed to make a divert decision with low fuel and the weather closing in, and then failed to make a successful off-airport landing due to fuel exhaustion? Making informed, logical, and timely decisions is what separates the best pilots from all the rest. 

Well, that’s my unscientific list of seven habits of highly effective pilots. Professional pilots stand out whether they have airline stripes on their sleeves or simply glide a Cessna 172 to a perfect landing on a summer’s evening.

The best part of this flying business is that we get to observe each other at work. Hopefully, each time we fly, we give a good account of ourselves and set a better example for others.

On the other hand, we are only human. So for those times we fall a bit short of the mark, we ought to give ourselves, and others, a little grace, and decide to do better the next time out. We owe it to each other to be safe, competent, and good to each other.

Hey, maybe that is what a professional really is.

Editor’s Note: This article first appeared on Plane & Pilot.