go back to page 3
		Pilots must be prepared for every flight; sometimes the degree of that preparedness is not all it should be. This can occur from complacency, or sometimes the pilot's preparation habits were never properly developed during primary instruction. If we are lucky, the fairy godparent of aviation watches over us in our unprepared state and keeps us safe, but we rarely learn from that. If we are luckier still, something will happen to show us our lack of preparation, and we learn a valuable lesson. "Each pilot in command shall, before beginning a flight, become familiar with all available information concerning that flight." A student pilot's preparation, especially for the long solo cross-country, receives particular emphasis from instructors, who carefully examine the student's flight planning before endorsing the student for the flight. The instructor is ever mindful of safety, both the student's and the public's, over whom the student flies. However, one other reason the instructor should stress thorough preflight preparation is that if the student does not properly prepare and the instructor does not catch it before the student goes out and does something that attracts, ahem, FAA attention, it could reflect unfavorably on the instructor's personal and professional reputation. In dire cases FAA has re-examined instructors whose students exhibited a significant lack of knowledge that could be traced back to a lack of adequate instruction. Moreover, preparation for any flight makes it easier for a pilot of any grade certificate to deal with the ever changing scenarios a flight may offer. Carrying VFR charts on an IFR flight shows you may be better prepared to handle an emergency where you may end up in VMC and need to identify a nearby airport. Wearing the clothes you want to walk out of the woods in or carrying proper survival.				gear demonstrates preparation for the survival aspects of an emergency, off-airport landing. We all know the routine: Before we fly, we check the weather, the airplane, its fuel, and ourselves; we calculate performance and weight and balance; we fold our charts for easy referral; we review our normal and emergency procedures; we carry extra pens and pencils and a spare pair of glasses, in short, we leave the ground prepared for every possible contingency. Well, not every one, because if we had the precognition to know every unexpected event we might encounter, some of us would be bored by the lack of a challenge, and some of us might never take off. Sometimes it is difficult for pilots, with our healthy egos, to deal with the fact that even though we did everything right, something still went wrong. When that occurs we have to set our egos aside and accept the lesson. In a way we have to prepare for the unexpected, as impossible as that may seem, and when faced with the unexpected, we have to handle it in an appropriate manner, making a mental note not to allow that particular item to crop up unexpectedly again. To have a long, accident free flying life, we have to keep an open mind about things that do not go exactly as we plan them. May Ramp Paving at ISP We will be paving our main ramp at ISP this month. The paving is scheduled for the week of May 12th. There may be times when the paving operation will prevent aircraft movement on parts of the ramp. Please advise our line manager, Eddie Sheffield, if you have an important trip during this week as we may have to relocate your aircraft to a more accessable part of the ramp. We will try our best to not inconvenience any of our customers.
		go to page 5