Mike Allen CFI

Mike had great discipline and knowledge. He knew his stuff, and wanted you to know it too and didn't suffer for fools or me being under prepared. I respected that and think he's a great pilot and showed me what a professional pilot should be doing in the cockpit (and everywhere for that matter).

Some tips I remember:

• Use the length of a known runway as a measuring stick. If a runway is 6000 feet, that is about a NM, so you can visualize what a nautical mile is on the surface of the Earth by imagining 1.5 lengths of the runway, etc…
• If you have an open flight plan, move your watch to your opposite arm. It will help remind you that you have an open flight plan! He had a watch with a stretch band, so it was a simple matter to move to the other arm.
• Use an watch with timing features. There are great pilot watches out there, I like the vibrate alarms you get with the Garmin watch. Maybe there are others. Fitbit would be great if it was useful without network / phone required to set it.
• Economy of action, be the most efficient and controls and minimize wasted motions / effort.
• Carry a minimum equipment list of items on your person. The VFR chart scale, a flash light, etc… on your person and in the same place so you always knew where to find it. (I need to get the actual equipment list and put here)
• Organize your knee-board as your work desk. Set it up consistently every flight.
  • NOTE: I like the idea of putting the forecast winds at your expected location each hour in a table at the top of the page for every flight. Maybe you should make a template flight paper (or is there one you can find?).
• Write the winds on the back of your hand so you had the aloft winds at a glance in case of emergency.