Just as vices tend to become habits, the Pilot's Lounge again made its annual odyssey from the pleasant confines of the virtual airport to the EAA Convention at Oshkosh this year. The regulars camped together and did their best to keep things stirred up. Jay and Doc Walt did a formation arrival in their Beech 18s that made the EAA AirVenture newspaper and impressed all of us by rolling their main gear simultaneously. Keeping with tradition, within minutes Doc Walt and Pat had the chainsaw blender up and running. Pat claims the thing is a redneck magnet, but it also seems to attract parched pilots in droves. There were numerous good gatherings with many pilots I greatly respect. Gil was there, listening and from time to time expressing his brand of common sense learned the hard way in C-130s in Southeast Asia; Ron, who now flies in that same area but came up in the wilds of Canada, added his insights, as did George with his vast background in the health and well-being of engines. As is usually the case when pilots congregate, it meant that I got to listen to many of my betters and learn much.As conversations ebbed and flowed, I was fascinated to listen to more than one pilot ask a question about a procedure or system or operation by prefixing it with, "Is it OK if I ... ?" As I listened, it seemed to me that the vast majority of those inquiring had been thinking about the issue, often had done some reading or talking about it, and had figured out the answer, but were just looking for permission or verification that what they felt was right was OK. Some of them had heard some of aviation's more foolish old wives' tales repeated until belief had started to set in, yet had the good sense to do their own research on a subject and wanted permission to deviate from what they had heard for so many years from the local airport hangers-on. Some were truly worried about looking bad when others were watching.One young man forcibly reminded me of one of my student solo cross countries. He said he'd just made three go-arounds on a gusty day and was mortified that everyone at his home airport saw that he couldn't get the airplane on the runway on the first try. His comments brought back that I'd done the same thing (only the count was higher) before I landed and taxied in. Then I had to go into the FBO and get my logbook signed and bear the stares of all those pilots who I knew were thinking that I couldn't fly. As I was walking out, an older gentleman had stopped me and said that making go-arounds until I was satisfied with my landing was the smartest thing he'd seen on that airport all day. He gave me permission to do what I was pretty sure I should do. To this day, I never ever feel bad about making a go-around.In the spirit of that kind pilot who spoke to me in Boone, Iowa, it's time to officially give every pilot on the planet permission to do intelligent things in airplanes even though they may conflict with old wives' tales and "conventional" knowledge.So, here goes ...
This is a companion discussion topic for the original entry at https://www.avweb.com/features/the-pilots-lounge-64its-ok