Illustration by John Kleber
If you were to peruse the federal aviation regulations from cover to cover, you likely would not be surprised to notice the word “courtesy” is missing. So much of that regulatory document is designed to create an orderly means of operation for aircraft on the land, on the sea, and in the air. Yet it never comes right out and says what your mother would want you to know: Behave yourself. Be kind to others. Show some courtesy. None of those statements lend themselves to regulatory language, even though they are noble goals. And so you won’t find them in the regulations. Still, it’s worth thinking about having good manners when you’re at the airport or at the controls of an aircraft.
There are myriad opportunities to show consideration to your fellow pilots. Every phase of flight presents us with scenarios that could benefit from a bit of kindness. If only we would take those opportunities seriously and realize we have as much motivation to be courteous as the other guy does, every aspect of aviation would be safer and more enjoyable.
Start-up
You’ve done your preflight, climbed in and buckled up, and now you’re ready to start the engine. But you notice a pilot sauntering out to the airplane immediately next to yours on the line. Or maybe he is at the airplane behind yours, with the doors open and gear on the ground. In either case, he appears to be in no rush to pack the aircraft and climb in.
You could shout, “Clear prop” and turn the engine over, and be perfectly within your rights. But that might not be the safest alternative, or the best way to make friends at the airport. You could just as easily ask the pilot to clear the area so you could start up. Or you might ask if he would mind closing the doors for a moment so you can start up and taxi clear without blasting loose debris into his cockpit with your prop wash. And there is always the alternative to simply wait patiently. With the engine shut down, the Hobbs isn’t running. While this may be the least convenient option, it is a safe, neighborly alternative that literally costs you nothing.
Runup
It can be tremendously frustrating to be taxiing out to take off and find yourself stuck on the taxiway behind a student and instructor doing the world’s longest runup. The irritation factor can be increased exponentially if the aircraft waiting in line is burning Jet A and has a clearance void time to meet or beat.
The solution of course is to find a place to do runups that satisfy the cooling requirements of the aircraft while leaving you with sufficient time to work without feeling rushed. Ideally you’ll find a spot to do your runup that still provides a clear taxiway for others to pass by. At some airports there are “bump outs,” or paved areas alongside the taxiway that allow sufficient room for an airplane to do a runup. In other cases, a corner of the ramp may be designated as a run-up area. If you’re passing through, check the Airport/Facilities Directory to see if there’s an appropriate notation, or ask the locals where the best spots are to do your runup. If you’re a local, share the information freely. Everyone benefits.
The phases of flight with the highest workload, the most precise alignment with the ground, and often the densest traffic are the take-off and landing phases. And unless you’re at a very large airport that designates one runway for takeoff and a parallel or nearly parallel runway for landing, the odds are good all the aircraft awaiting departure are sharing the same runway with the aircraft already in the traffic pattern.
For those on the ground this can be a real issue. The aircraft on final has the right of way, so the airplane at the hold-short line waits. If there are multiple aircraft in the traffic pattern, that aircraft awaiting departure can feel grounded on a nearly permanent basis. This is especially true at a nontowered field with multiple students in the traffic pattern, all doing touch and goes.
The Hobbs keeps racking up time, the engine keeps burning fuel, and the pilot of the stationary airplane begins to fume. It’s an unfortunate and unnecessarily common occurrence at nontowered fields across the land.
The solution is simple. Aircraft on downwind can merely call out, “Cessna One-Two-Three-Four-Five on an extended downwind for departing aircraft on Runway 9.” By doing nothing more complex than extending your downwind leg, you can provide the airplane waiting to depart with plenty of time to taxi out onto the runway, throttle up, and lift off before you get anywhere near short final. This basic kindness lowers the stress level for everyone involved, sets a pattern of behavior for others at your home airport, and shows you to be a decent human being who is willing to share the airspace while maintaining good separation and a high level of safety.
Night operations
All pilots certificated as private or higher have to fulfill night flying requirements. Many of them continue to fly at night to take advantage of the smoother air found on cool summer evenings, less traffic, excellent visibility (under the right circumstances), and generally better weather than we see during the daylight hours. However, there are precautions we must take to fly safely at night. Most specifically, we need to develop and protect our night vision.
It can take up to a half-hour for our eyes to adjust to the darkness after being exposed to bright lights. So pilots planning to fly at night typically take precautions to shield themselves from bright lights as they prepare for a night flight. However, those precautions can be for naught if they have no choice but to taxi past airplanes on the ramp that have their landing lights blazing away, even though they’re established in their tie-down spot and involved in their shut-down procedures.
The fix is to simply be judicious about your use of lights on the ground at night. If you need the taxi or landing light to see your way, use them, certainly. But if your way is lit by blue taxiway lights, and the ambient light on the ramp is sufficient to allow you to navigate to your tie-down spot, kill your taxi and landing lights out of respect for others. There may still be pilots preparing to launch into the dark of night. Shut down your lights as soon as you safely can, and help them have the best vision they can as they rotate and head into the heavens.
When in doubt, yield
A question on the FAA private pilot knowledge test asks who has the right of way when two aircraft of the same category are approaching each other. This question catches a lot of applicants because the rule is very different from the rule for who has the right of way when aircraft of different categories are converging.
In short, when in the same category of aircraft, the aircraft to the other’s right has the right of way. When aircraft of a different category are on a path of flight that might cause them to intersect the same point in space, the least maneuverable aircraft has the right of way.
These rules can be complicated when you get into seaplane operations where some of the objects on an intersecting course are not aircraft, but rather boaters, skiers, or swimmers.
Knowing the published right-of-way rules is important. But having a mindset that allows you to yield the right of way in favor of safety—even when you don’t have to—can be beneficial to safe operations. Not everyone on the land, on the sea, or in the air knows exactly what you’re thinking. So when you see an aircraft on a potentially conflicting course, be willing to alter yours appropriately if you can. There’s no point in maintaining your course unnecessarily if you could avoid the possibility of a mishap by altering your course by a few degrees, or changing altitude with plenty of time and distance between you and the other aircraft.
A little kindness can go a long way
By taking the more conscientious view, you can enhance safety; develop a reputation as a cautious, careful pilot; and maybe even make a friend or two along the way—all of which are perfectly good reasons to show a little consideration to the aircraft, pilots, and passengers around you whenever you fly.
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