(LIVELY ROCK MUSIC)
(AEROPLANE ENGINES ROAR)
You cannot plan a flight enough.
There's no such thing
as over-planning a flight.
You could say airmanship is what-if.
"What if this happens?
"What if the weather's not very good? What if the grass is waterlogged?
"What if the fuel drain shows water in it?
"What if..."
If you have a plan for every what-if,
then you're going to be pretty well prepared.
I'd say if you're a pilot,
don't go and annoy the engineers on day one.
Go and be nice to them.
Buy them a cup of tea, be nice to them,
because they look after your backside, if you like,
when you're in the air.
I was at Glasgow Airport once in a 737 in a snowstorm
and the engineer was changing the fuel control unit
in a -5 Centigrade blizzard
and the dispatcher kept saying to me,
"Go and ask him when it's going to be ready."
I said, "I'm not going to ask him when it'll be ready
"because I reckon when it's ready he'll come and tell us."
So I think there are certain golden nuggets like that -
don't ask an engineer when it's going to be ready
if he's up to his elbows in oil,
because clearly it ain't ready then.
(ROCK MUSIC)
When you get to this level, you have to have a lot of experience
and you have to have a lot of solutions or tricks in your bag.
You've got to be mentally in good shape,
be physically fit, be stretched out,
because for sure you can hurt
yourself out here flying physically.
You can wrench your neck, hurt your back.
I do warm up, I do stretch sometimes.
You may have seen the videos and stuff.
But I think you have to have your body ready to go out there and fly.
You have to have confidence in your equipment
and that's going to come along before we get here to the race site -
how did you put the aeroplane together,
what engine, what propeller, that type of thing that you use,
and you have to have a good mechanic or somebody that you can trust.
We talk about decision-making and things like that
as it relates to aviation,
but I think you have to have respect -
respect for the aerodynamics, respect for gravity,
respect for all the forces that you're working with
while you're up there flying.
And by 'respect', you have to have a knowledge for it
and you have to know, you know, "How do I get safe?"
(ROCK MUSIC)
MAN: It's hugely spectacular,
very, very challenging from the pilot's point of view.
It combines all sorts of flying skills
and it's very spectacular essentially because it's very, very low-level,
you know, against the clock and in amongst air gates.
(ROCK MUSIC)
I would say that airmanship
is really an awareness
of the big picture.
You have to be so comfortable in the environment that you're going to fly
that you can maintain your situational awareness.
(ROCK MUSIC)
MAN 2: No doubt
that this is really risky, what we're doing, and dangerous,
but that's always got to be balanced by a lot of experience
and that's why you see all the pilots
in the Red Bull Air Race
are very high level,
highly skilled aerobatic pilots
and also very high level display pilots,
meaning that they're used to flying at a very low altitude.
You know, I can teach a monkey how to fly an aeroplane,
but you can't teach him judgement,
so that's where you've got to be able to draw the line -
you know, "Is it good airmanship or am I going beyond that?"
You know what I'm saying?
I mean, you've got to know what your own limitations are
and the limitations of the aeroplane and everything else
and that's where that judgement comes into play
and experience and things.
Also, I tell people, "No matter how many thousands of hours..."
I mean, I stopped, for myself, logging time at about 17,500.
I just said, "What's the point?" I probably have 25,000 hours.
Everybody goes, "Wow. That's a lot of time."
But the hours themselves don't really matter.
It's what's happened to you during that time.
That's what you learn from because you draw from experience.
So those sort of things that have happened to you,
that's where you get your experience
and that's what's really important out here too.
You cannot be too careful.
You cannot be too careful
operating an aeroplane,
whether it's a thing like this,
a Cessna 152, or a 747.
You know, if you're the pilot of it, you're the commander of it
so you have got to make your best decision that you can
in the event at the time
and you just can't be too careful.
So prepare before you go flying, think about it very carefully,
don't allow people to force you into things you don't want to do.
Remember, you're the captain of the aeroplane, whatever it may be.
MAN: When you talk about airmanship,
really, to me it means
how to operate an aeroplane safely.
When you push the limits day in and day out,
no matter whether it's in a normal general aviation aeroplane,
in the Red Bull Air Race or it's out flying in an air show,
you're going to pay the price in the end
if you push the limits too far for too long.
You have to be humble.
If you're going to be an aviator,
you need to know that you're flying in a very dynamic environment
that has changing conditions all the time
and you have to know your personal limitations,
and if you feel a little uncomfortable,
then probably you shouldn't be where you are.