You've trained long hours, you've studied hard, and you've finally passed the test. Congrats pilot! You can now fly your own plane. You want to celebrate by flying all day every day as often as you can because, well, your certificate lets you do that. You feel the same sense of freedom and adventure as you felt back in 1992 when, against your mother's wishes, you bought a motorcycle and obtained your license to drive it anywhere you wanted to. Ahhh once again you can feel the wind in your hair, the world at your fingertips, and ironically, the same statistical probability of death or loss of limb as when you were driving that old motorcycle of yours back in the 90's! Oops.



Sorry for the scare. The truth is that aviation safety is easy when you follow the guidelines and stay smart. The way for a pilot to insure the safety of him or herself and those on board is to follow the normal safety precautions and to use common sense before flying a plane.

4 important tips:

*Don't run out of fuel

*Avoid bad weather conditions at all costs

*Don't make bad decisions / don't be risky

*Pay attention to proper plane maintenance techniques to avoid mechanical error

Running out of fuel is never a good thing, but it is easily preventable. In early 2006, a small plane had to be guided on an emergency landing on a major freeway in California. Luckily, the landing went extraordinarily perfect and the pilot and passenger were both unharmed. Clearly this is very rare but the situation would've been avoidable if the pilot had taken the obvious precaution of coordinating the amount of fuel in his plane with the amount of fuel needed for the trip he was taking. Things like these seem so trivial when compared to other responsibilities of a pilot, but sometimes it's the small things that are easy to miss.

Bad weather conditions are less foreseeable than knowing that you're about to run out of fuel. That's right - flying headstrong into the skies over a blizzard in Buffalo is probably not the best idea for you, my friend! Storms of all types have the capability of preventing pilots from maneuvering the plane the way they were trained to. Essentially, poor weather conditions can lead to such inability to fly a plane that would cause a passenger to believe the plane they were in was being piloted by a first-timer. Experienced pilots and crew can oftentimes find themselves in a tricky situation when entering treacherous weather in order to reach a destination. It is a hard decision to make but pilots of small planes should always err of the safer side.

Nevertheless, there will always be pilots young or old who overestimate their capabilities while in the sky. Risky flight habits are not common amongst the flying industry, and hopefully it stays that way. When making decisions as a pilot of a small plane, one must keep in mind the fact that they are not only dealing with the risk of their own life, but also that they are passing a judgment that will have an effect on the lives and futures of the crew, passengers, or cargo on board. In addition, planes are not cheap toys; the rental fees alone will run you thousands of dollars per year, and repair costs are hefty. You don't want to run the risk of damaging the plane that you're in.

Proper airplane maintenance is probably the most important way to insure your safety in the air. It's not always a one-man job; in fact, there is an entire school built solely around the teaching of aviation maintenance and repair. The bottom line is knowing who is taking care of the plane that you are flying, and making sure that all standards have been met before taking off.

Control of your plane is literally at your fingertips, but this control can easily be taken away in an instant if the regulations have not been met, precautions have not been taken, or if the risk has not been properly evaluated before the flight. So, congrats pilot! Be smart, be careful, and fly safely.