Today’s rambling will begin with a story. See, one of the things I’ve found quite enjoyable about having my private is not just the ability to go fly, but the ability to invite friends along who I know will enjoy the experience as much or maybe even more than I do. As such, a couple weekends ago I casually mentioned to a coworker and fellow airplane nut that I was thinking of making a $100 hamburger run over the weekend, and would he be interested in joining me? I received a rather hearty affirmative, and plans were made. The following weekend, we launched from PDK in the sweltering cockpit of the DA-20, bound for The Flying Machine at LZU.
The flight was plenty of fun for both of us, but I also got something new out of the flight- video footage. My friend brought along a P&S still camera and used it to record lots of video. I had no idea how much until he sent me the raw footage- about 35 minutes worth. Initially, I only wanted the footage to compile a montage/flight video of sorts, which I did. (See the finished product here)
Making that video was a fun experience for me, but there was also a somewhat unexpected side effect- I got to watch and criticize my flying from a whole new perspective. For example, I had no idea how horribly left of centerline I was getting on takeoff until I saw the view from the right seat. I knew I wandered a bit from time to time, but thought I was doing OK… seeing the video made me consider it in a different light. Same thing goes for landing- the one at LZU was kind of rough, and looks even more so when the camera takes a good jolt on touchdown. It’s also very evident that I haven’t broken my habit of ceasing to fly the plane once it’s on the ground… I can’t even discern any time between the mains and nose gear touching down in either landing. Not good.
After a bit of thought, this makes good sense to me. When I’m flying, particularly in heavier-workload tasks like takeoff and landing, my attention is devoted more towards doing things and less towards evaluating myself. Sure, I’ve gone back in my mind, reviewed a bad landing, and considered what I might have done wrong, but adding actual footage of my flying really seems to take that post-mortem process to the next level. I can go back and see everything I did over and over.
What it comes down to is that I’m not satisfied being a mediocre pilot. I’m aware that with the little time I have, it’s not necessarily surprising that I don’t grease the thing in every time, but I’m not going to excuse myself with that. I want to be better, and anything that helps me with that goal is good for me. As such, I’ve spent a few evenings researching cameras, and I think I’m going to shortly pick up a ContourHD cam to mount in the cockpit, with which I’ll record all my flights for later analysis. At the same time, I also want to get a digital recorder and figure out how to patch it into the comm system… that way I can have some context for the footage.
In short, I’ve become a big believer in video as a training tool. If you’re looking for a way to improve your training, I recommend giving it a try.
