So almost every day, I watch a pilot spend 10 minutes pre-flighting the
airplane, another five minutes checking weather, sometimes even going over
performance charts, and I wonder how they're making their go, no-go decision.
If it's one of my students, I generally ask something like, "How's
she looking?" But the decision on whether to go or not go needs to be a
little more thoughtful than just that.
That's what I'm always trying to teach.
Every certificate, every rating, every hour in your logbook, all of the
study around ADM, the responsibilities of being PIC, all of it exists so
you can answer three questions.
Three.
And they're so simple, you could teach them to a five-year-old.
Answering them honestly and effectively, that's the hard part.
And that's episode 91 of the Student Pilot Cast, ADM in Three Simple Questions,
or How to Not Become a Case Study.
Hey, everybody.
Welcome back to the Student Pilot Cast.
I'm Bill, and this is the briefing room, where we take one tactical idea and put
it in your flight bag in about 15 minutes.
Today's idea might be one of the most important ones I ever talk about, because
it's the framework I use and the framework I teach for the go, no-go decision.
Of course, that's the decision you have to make before you take off.
Once you're in the air, the same framework has to be used to constantly
reevaluate the situation to help you make the continue or divert decision.
It's what I call the three simple questions.
One, can the airplane do it?
Two, can I do it?
And three, is it legal?
That's it.
That's the whole framework.
You could fit it on a cocktail napkin.
That's what ADM really comes down to, and here's the thing that took
me way too many years to figure out.
Every subject we grind through as pilots, aerodynamics, weather theory, human
factors, aircraft systems, the FARs, weight and balance, all of it, none of
that is trivia just for the checkride.
Every one of those disciplines exists in our curriculums for exactly one
reason, so that when you're standing on the ramp with the keys in your hand,
you can answer those three questions accurately instead of just optimistically.
So let's take them one at a time, and I'll tell you where each
one tries to lie to you as well
All right, question one: Can the airplane do it?
I call this the hardware check, and notice I didn't ask, "Does the engine start?" A
running engine is a very, very low bar.
The question is whether the specific machine can fly the specific mission
you've assigned it in the specific conditions you've got today.
Three places to look, or lenses to look through, if you will,
and this is straight off the PDF, which we'll talk about at the end.
The three are performance, envelopes, and condition.
So we'll take them one at a time here.
Performance.
Have you actually opened the POH today?
It's probably fossilizing in the backseat pocket, but what you need
here are the performance charts.
Because here's the dirty little secret of that book.
Every number in it was set by a factory test pilot flying a brand-new airplane.
Your 50-year-old trainer with the original paint and slightly tired
engine did not get that memo.
Now, stack density altitude on top of that.
It's summer here in Arizona.
Every day, my airport thinks it's sitting several thousand feet
higher than the chart says it is.
The runway didn't get shorter.
The airplane just got lazier.
This is why we made you learn about density altitude, not for
the written, for this moment.
14 CFR 91.103 says, "Know your runway lengths and takeoff and landing distances
before every flight." "The regulation literally begins with the words, 'Each
pilot in command shall, before beginning a flight, become familiar with all available
information concerning that flight.'"
All available information.
I know the FAA doesn't necessarily use italics there, but I promise
you they meant it in italics.
The next one, envelopes.
Weight and balance, and not just at the chocks.
Will you stay in the envelope as fuel burns?
Your CG moves in flight, and it doesn't send a courtesy text when it leaves
the envelope, so you have to know it.
This is why we made you learn about stability and the whole aft
CG conversation in aerodynamics.
An airplane loaded differently isn't just heavier or lighter.
It can feel like a different airplane.
And then there's condition.
Is it ready, or does it just look ready from 10 feet away?
The pre-flight walk around is your first line of defense, and the airplane
will talk to you if you'll listen.
So if something feels mushy or looks weepy or smells funny, that's
the machine filing a complaint.
It's the machine trying to talk to you.
And here's the part pilots sometimes skip.
The airplane's paperwork is part of its condition.
open the maintenance logs once in a while.
Know when the annual was or whether there are open squawks,
whether the ADs got complied with.
I know pilots who can quote their engine's compression numbers from memory, and
then other pilots who couldn't tell you what month their annual expires.
And I know which group I would want flying my kids around.
This is one of the reasons you learn systems.
So a pre-flight is an inspection, not just a lap around the airplane
with your hands in your pockets.
Of course, my approach that I'm laying out here isn't unique to me.
I first started thinking about it this way during my initial CFI
check ride a couple of years ago.
My very experienced DPE had given me a, kind of a hairy scenario to think
through from an ADM perspective.
It involved high altitude and even higher density altitude on a hot summer
day in the high country in Arizona.
It was a scenario that he uses in his check rides because it
happened in real life to people he knew, and it didn't work out well.
He used the scenario because he wants CFIs thinking about things like this,
teaching students to think about it.
It was the first time I had heard someone kinda put it like this, that
the airplane couldn't do what it was being asked to do, and it was
predictable, and the pilot in command didn't thoroughly check that beforehand.
It's a sad outcome and an important lesson for all of us, and I
never stopped thinking about that question: Can the airplane do it?
It was the genesis of me developing this approach to teaching ADM to
my own students, and the genesis of the three simple questions model
that we're talking about here.
So I'm thankful for that insightful discussion in a cold room at a small
airport in Arizona in November a couple of years ago, the day I became a CFI.
So that's question one.
The airplane's answer, by the way, is always honest.
Physics doesn't negotiate.
Which brings us to the question where the answer, or I guess more accurately, the
answerer, absolutely will try to negotiate
So that's question two.
Can I do it?
This is the software check, and I'll say it straight.
This is the hardest question of the three because it's the only one
where the inspector and the thing being inspected is the same dude.
You have to check your ego at the hangar door because egos are really,
really terrible at self-reflection.
Three lenses again, proficiency, physiology, and capability under pressure.
So let's talk about them quickly.
Proficiency, not currency, proficiency.
This is one of the reasons you have to learn the difference
between those two things.
Currency is a legal concept.
proficiency is a skill concept, and the two drift apart the
minute you stop practicing.
Currency asks, "Have you done three landings in ninety days to carry a
passenger legally?" Proficiency asks, "Were any of those landings any good?"
very different questions, right?
So here's my test.
The winds today are gusting eighteen direct crosswind.
When did you last actually practice a crosswind landing or
even a takeoff for that matter?
Not ride along while one happened.
Practice one on purpose with intention.
If your answer is sometime last quarter, the fact that your ninety-day
landings are legal is not going to impress the runway edge lights, and
skills don't fade evenly either.
The muscle memory hangs around, but the sharp edges go first.
The crosswind correction, the go-around decision, the
radio calls in busy airspace.
This is why we drill maneuvers past the point of good enough for the check ride.
The check ride was an entrance exam
So let's move on to physiology.
The I'M SAFE checklist: illness, medication, stress,
alcohol, fatigue, and emotion.
And yes, this one's in the regs too.
61.53 says if you've got a medical condition that would make you
unable to meet the standard, you're grounded, medical cert or not.
But honestly, the reg is kind of the floor.
The real audit is quick and brutal.
Anything on that list that's true today puts you behind the airplane before
you've even flipped the master on.
Here's my favorite gut check.
I call it the drive test.
If this were a four-hour drive instead of a ninety-minute flight, would
I feel safe making it right now?
If you're too tired to trust yourself on the interstate, you have no
business at four thousand feet.
The interstate has a shoulder, the sky doesn't.
And then the last lens is capability under pressure.
This is a sneaky one.
Not, "Can I fly this flight if everything goes right, if everything is fine?"
It's, "Can I fly it when it degrades?
If the ceiling drops, if the headwind doubles, if the fuel math
gets interesting, is today me, the pilot, who handles that?" Remember
those five hazardous attitudes from your private pilot ground school,
Anti-authority, impulsivity, invulnerability, macho, and resignation.
Here's the thing your instructor maybe didn't say out loud.
You don't have to be a hazardous person to have a hazardous day.
Invulnerability isn't a personality type.
It's a Tuesday afternoon when you're in a hurry.
This is why we made you learn human factors.
Every hazardous attitude, every task saturation lecture was
really about this exact moment of self-assessment on the ramp
So have you ever gotten on the ground and realized that you had completely
skipped the pre-landing checklist and even missed doing a GUMPS check, and nothing
is set up properly for the landing, or probably more accurately, for the
go-around that thankfully wasn't needed?
And luckily, you were in a fixed-gear airplane, right?
Well, we'll get to your personal debrief in a little bit, but you have
to ask yourself in a situation like that, what was going on with you from
a human factors standpoint that made you miss something important like that?
Be honest with yourself, and be on the lookout during the next flight.
Can and should you do the flight?
Well, while the airplane doesn't generally lie to you, you absolutely
can lie to yourself, which is why the third question exists, a referee that
doesn't care about your feelings at all
So question three, is it legal?
This is the regulatory check.
And let me give you a framing that changed how I think about the FARs.
The regulations are the floor of safety, not the ceiling, the floor.
Legal is the bare minimum score.
It's not a good grade.
We never fly below the floor, and most days we shouldn't even
be flying anywhere near it.
Three lenses again to think about in this question, airworthiness, regulations for
the mission, and paperwork that proves it.
So we'll start with airworthiness.
Is the airplane legally airworthy?
Not just sounds fine, looks fine.
91.7 puts that call on you as the PIC.
No flight in an un-airworthy aircraft.
And if it becomes un-airworthy in flight, you divert.
Registration, airworthiness certificate, required documents on
board, required equipment working.
And remember 91.3, you are the final authority for this aircraft.
That authority is a gift right up until it's a responsibility.
So the next one is regulations for the mission.
Airspace, cloud clearances, visibility minimums for your
certificate in this airplane, in this airspace, plus your pilot currency.
Flight review, landing currency if you're carrying passengers, medical or basic med.
This is why you had to memorize those cloud clearance numbers that felt
like arbitrary trivia sometimes.
They're not trivia.
They're the legal definition of being far enough away from the thing that'll
kill you to be able to see and avoid it And notice the question is about
the mission, not just the takeoff.
Legal at departure doesn't mean legal at destination.
Night falls, weather moves and changes, airspace can change based on time of day.
Ask the questions for the whole flight, ramp to ramp.
And then there's paperwork.
Inspections are current, annual, transponder, pitot-static if you're IFR,
ELT battery, documented and inspected for every aspect of this flight.
And look, I know the temptation.
You're one day past an inspection, or the ceiling is just below your
minimums, and dinner's waiting at home.
I've seen pilots get creative with the FARs to make a schedule, and I get it.
We're mission-oriented.
Trust me on two things.
The dinner is never that good, and the FAA has many fine qualities, but a sense
of humor about creative interpretations is probably not among them.
What about when the situation changes during the flight?
You have to assess risks of a changing environment to make sure
that you stay legal and safe.
Earlier this year, I was coming back to Arizona in the Jabiru with my
wife after a weekend trip up in Utah.
We were over the high country, and we ran into some unforecasted headwinds.
Well, actually, they were forecasted, but they were four or five times higher
in velocity than they were forecasted.
There were times when we were approaching the Grand Canyon where the headwind,
not, not the whole wind, just the headwind component, was sixty-five knots.
We were crawling.
With that, of course, our time and route was growing rapidly.
And while the Jab has some pretty good legs, it became clear that with these
winds, I could no longer make sure that we would keep the proper and legal reserves
of fuel, let alone my personal minimums.
So we made a long day of travel even longer by making a stop
at a little airport in Kanab to refuel just to be sure.
It was a long day, and neither of us wanted to stop, but it was
for sure the prudent thing to do
All right.
So the airplane can do it, you can do it, and it's legal.
Three yeses.
We're going, right?
Well, almost.
What you have now is what we call a tentative go decision, because
there's one more failure mode, and it's the one that fills accident
reports, the accumulation of risk.
No single red flag, just a stack of yellow ones.
So here's the three strikes rule.
If any three factors in your assessment are yellow, legal, technically safe, yes,
but not ideal, the flight, it's a no-go.
So here's an example, and this is just an example.
Gusty winds, but within your ability, yellow, but totally fine.
You're a little tired after work, yellow, but totally fine.
Short, skinny, unfamiliar runway, yellow.
Totally fine.
Each one on its own is kind of a shrug.
Stack all three, and you've just preassembled the first three
links of an accident chain and given it a ride to the airport.
The NTSB report never says, "It was the wind that did it." It lists five factors,
and every single one was survivable alone.
This is the entire logic behind the FAA's Risk Management Handbook.
Risk multiplies.
And here's the insidious part.
Yellows don't announce themselves.
Nobody stands on the ramp thinking, "I am now accepting my third elevated
risk factor." each one arrives separately, wearing a disguise
that makes it look just fine.
The wind picked up after you checked the METARs.
The delay that made you tired happened at work.
It was hours ago.
The unfamiliar airport was baked into the plan from day one, so
we don't need to worry about it.
This three strikes rule works because it forces you to stop and count,
to line the yellows up next to each other and look at them as a set.
That's it.
That's the whole trick.
Personal minimums do the same job before you ever leave the house.
This rule catches what might slip through.
three yellows, no goes.
It's like it rhymes.
All right, I know it doesn't rhyme, but remember it anyway.
Look, as I've said before, I'm all for pushing the envelope
on your skills and abilities.
That's how we get better.
But just make sure you're pushing one corner of the envelope at a time.
When you have really mastered short, skinny runways through a lot of
practice and experience, that one yellow becomes a green and doesn't
become part of the yellow stack anymore.
As you get more experienced and therefore more skill, it can turn
a no-go from the three strikes rule six months ago into a go today.
That's what experience and practice can bring you.
But be honest with yourself.
As the yellow flags stack up, be cautious, count them, and be ready to call it.
It could save your life, and maybe more importantly, keep
you off the Blancolirio channel.
I kid, I kid.
It's important that you save your life too
All right, so there's one more thing.
Because our motto is fly, learn, repeat, and the learn doesn't necessarily
happen automatically, the flight isn't over when the prop stops.
It's over when you've debriefed it with yourself.
Five questions to ask yourself right there at the tie-downs, maybe 90 seconds
before the flight evaporates into memory.
One, the surprise.
What happened today that I didn't expect?
Two, the workload.
At what point did I feel most behind the airplane?
Three, the skill.
Which maneuver or portion of the flight did I fly at a C grade today?
And be honest, nobody's watching.
Four, the decisions.
Did I make any choice today based on convenience rather
than safety or prudence?
That one stings, and it's supposed to.
And finally, question five, the goal.
What's the one thing I wanna focus on and make sure I fix for the next flight?
You do that after every flight, and you've turned every hour in your logbook
into two hours worth of learning.
It's the cheapest flight instruction you'll ever get
So the whole episode on a napkin.
Three questions before every flight.
Can the airplane do it?
That's physics and the POH.
Can I do it?
That's proficiency and looking in the mirror.
We're human, after all.
And is it legal?
That's the floor we never fly below.
Three yeses get you a tentative go.
Then check the yellows, because three yellows is also a no-go, at
least without proper mitigation.
And when you shut down, five debrief questions before you
walk away so you achieve the learn part even more effectively.
Simple questions and everything you've ever studied, every chart,
every reg, every hour of dual was really just training to
help you answer them effectively
Now, you don't have to remember all of this because I built it into a
two-page PDF that you can throw in your flight bag, electronic or otherwise.
The three questions, the three strikes rule, and the debrief all in one document.
It's free.
So grab it at studentpilotcast.com/threequestions,
and I'll put a link in the show notes, of course.
That will also get you the Friday Flight Brief, the weekly newsletter
for pilots who never stop learning.
And as always, y- if you've got a question, a story, or a topic you
want me to hit, leave me a voicemail at the RadioCheck link in the show
notes, or just reach out any other way.
You can find out how on the contact page of the website.
I read and I listen to everything.
By the way, I am planning to be at Oshkosh this year from Sunday through Friday,
so if you're gonna be there, reach out.
I'd love to talk to some listeners and see what people are up to.
It's about the people, right?
I'm hoping to get some good topics and stories while there, so stay tuned.
Also, stick by the socials, as I'll try to actually post some
things while there real time.
Afterward, I'll do a recap episode, And then some features I'm sure.
But most importantly, reach out and let me know what you saw or what you
missed and you would like to have seen.
I hope to see you there.
The socials quickly are @BillWill on X. That's bravo, india, lima, lima, whiskey,
india, lima, and studentpilotcast, all one word of course, on Instagram.
But here's the thought I really wanna leave you with.
Someday, maybe soon, you're gonna stand on the ramp alone with the keys
in your hand and nobody checking your work, and in that moment, you're gonna
realize what all of this was for.
The ground school, the charts, the regs that felt like homework.
All of it was preparing you to look at an airplane, look at the
sky, look critically at yourself, and give three honest answers.
That's not a burden.
That's the job.
And the fact that you're here listening, still sharpening the pencil,
That tells me that you're gonna answer them just fine.
We're still flying, still learning, and it turns out the three simplest questions
in aviation have a 50-year answer key