It hit me the other day after flying with a student. We had been up practicing what to do if the engine quits in cruise flight. I asked him, "what's your first order of business in an emergency?". "Pitch for best glide speed?", he said. I answered "No". "Switch fuel tanks?". "No".
I finally said, "The first order of business in any emergency is to fly the airplane." You can follow all the checklist procedures perfectly, but if you lose control of the aircraft, it won't matter. If you keep control of the airplane all the way to the ground, then your chances of survival go up dramatically.
Thank you for this metaphor, very helpful to me.
M: 8 years, together 9 M: 41 W: 32 D 4, S 6 ILYBINILWY 2/10/15 2/14/15-2/22/15 Left home 4/5/15 Suspect A, Initiated Sandi's advice from WW thread 4/19/15 W asked for D
