Never Fly with Your Buddy
If God wanted humans to fly, we would have hollow bones and feathers.
Flying has a way of eliminating fools. More on that later.
Your best buddy just got his license to solo. Good for him. When does he fly? Weekends. And who else flies on weekends? Other new pilots. The fact is that private planes are almost as deadly as automobiles. Don’t get me started on private pilots being allowed to fly at night!
He’s excited about his new skill and wants to take you up for a spin, a bad term for pilots. Just say NO. No thanks, no way, nothing personal but NO. “My insurance doesn’t cover it, my mother will be upset, and I get air sick. I promised my wife I would sort out the garage.” It is safer to get on your roof in a rain storm than fly with your buddy.
Reasons Not to Fly with Your Buddy
Here is a list of reasons why NOT to fly with him.
- Commercial pilots need a minimum of 1500 hours on multiple engine aircraft. Your buddy has 100 hours on a Piper Cub. Its a very safe airplane, just not in his hands.
- Commercial pilots are licensed for instrument landings. Your buddy is on visual flight rules.
- Good pilots refer to landings as “controlled crashes.” Your buddy thinks it’s okay to bounce the landing, overshoot the runway, or land at a steep angle.
Commercial pilots use multiple engine aircraft; have flown through lousy weather, landed in cross winds, and have a co- pilot looking out for your buddy wandering around the skies where he shouldn’t be.
They have survived.
My True Story of Flying with a Buddy
35 years ago, I flew with my buddy, Bill, who had recently received his license. He didn’t check the airport landing pattern before take-off and took a completely wrong approach to an international airport, coming so close to another plane, a slow flying banner towing plane, I could make out that pilot’s red hair and wide eyes. I think they were blue. I could hear air traffic control yelling at him on my head set. He looked at me and said “What should I do!” At which point I told him to pull up to the right! He pulled up to the right, swung around and, when we finally landed, it was like we had fallen off a cliff.
A few years later, Bill and his wife, Suzy, were in Lake Tahoe and he wanted to get back for a Monday morning meeting. The weather forecast called for thunderstorms on the way. He decided to fly through the thunderstorm. Sadly, it ripped the wings off his plane, taking Suzy down with him.
My Advice
Take my advice. Only fly commercial and only in good weather. You really don’t have to make a business trip during stormy weather. Even birds don’t fly in stormy weather. Believe me, the person who is sending you on that trip probably wouldn’t do it themselves. They will respect your judgment.
The NTSB rates accidents per 100,000 hours of flying. They do not break out the accidents and fatalities for private pilots instead rolling their accidents into all hours flown including commercial. A better statistic would be breaking the numbers out by hours flown by the pilots. Obviously, the lesser experienced pilots are not going to react to problems in flight, or landing, or avoid the problems in the first place as an experienced pilot, such as the one flying your commercial jet.
And if your buddy keeps insisting you fly with him, find a new buddy. One with a safer hobby, like racing motorcycles.
Here is what happens when you fly in a private plane:
Virginia police identify 5 killed in small private jet crash near rural airport (msn.com)
6 dead in Southern California crash of private jet as visibility changed rapidly (nbcnews.com)
J. F. Shumate 
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