By Capt. Ron Spencer

OK, so here is the good weather…at last. Fire it up ready to GO. Blast off, enter the practice box and here comes the first …PUHHHLL! Wow, that grayed me out…no sweat quick gulps of deep breathing…ahhhh head clearing ok next maneuver…never had problems with THAT maneuver before, ahh sh*t over rotated,…well lets press on, the sharks tooth, pull,…ye gads an accelerated stall…boy do I feel ham fisted…must be the airplane is outa rig or something,…never mind next maneuver, good…hold it…HOLD IT, cripes…my…heading…heading…HEADING, (lots of cursing) THAT would have been a big fat ZERO. Ok…take a break… wow my altitude is lower than I expected even though I sand bagged it by 500 agl. Something wrong with the G meter. It is way over what I normally pull…

Sound familiar? Which part of the above is the most important? Yep ya guessed right…the Ok…take a break statement! Moral of the story…simple to remember…hard to do:

AFTER THE SECOND REALLY BOTCHED MANEUVER

>>>BREAK>>>…and RE-EVALUATE!

We all start each season rusty and cold. The expertise of yesterday belongs to the pilot that was one season younger and one full season prepared. You are simply not the pilot you were when the last season ended. Therefore, although our minds are willing our bodies are weak…weak…WEAK!!! The Hindu’s say: "The Body is a Temple". Let’s learn from this, a temple needs time to be built. Don’t push your self so hard that you find yourself doing things you now find difficult to the point where you lose situational awareness or your body starts shutting down. Break the sequence down into small parts, work each part separately and then build towards the whole. Simply stated don’t try the WHOLE sequence, ease into it…especially if moving up. After a couple of weeks it will start to come back with a gush, and you will then be back to your old standards, if not indeed better. Mistakes are an indication of the mindset, the body condition and the pilot’s attitude. All three must be present to land, as Arnold would say…"PUMPED!". Anything less is an indication that one of those three is absent and is a valid warning sign similar to the yellow caution light on the annuciator panel.

A foolish pilot is one who pushes "it" beyond their personal and aircraft limits!

May each of us have a safe and happy competition season!