I Learned about Flying from That Contributed by Greg Matte, GM

Most people who think of fighter aircraft and the “danger zone” would quickly recall the opening scene of the movie Top Gun, with the mighty F-14 Tomcat roaring up in full afterburner moments before being catapulted of the deck of the aircraft carrier into the wild blue yonder. Well, for those of us who were part of the fighter pilot community, we all recognize that the "danger zone" is that point in someone’s flying career when they become a little too over-confident in their aviator abilities. With the CF-18 Hornet, this usually occurred around the 400-hour on-type point. In the day, when we routinely flew around 200-240 hours a year, that usually occurred about a year and a half after they had been on their first combat-ready "gun" squadron. This also coincided with the point when they were about to upgrade from being a wingman to a two-plane element lead… a significant point unto itself, as becoming a twoplane lead entails an entirely new level of tactical skills, airmanship, leadership and situational awareness.

The over-confidence associated with the 400-hour point has been studied by aviators and psychologists alike due to the higher than normal correlation with flight safety incidents (i.e. near misses) and accidents, including fatalities. For those of us who had been in the fighter community for a while, we knew that the overconfidence resulted from the pilot finally becoming comfortable with operating the CF-18 as a war

fighting machine. In other words, not only had they come to master flying the CF-18, but they had become competent in operating all the on-board weapons systems as well as with the intricate tactical maneuvers and mission types that the RCAF could undertake with such a versatile, multi-role 4th generation fighter jet. As a wingman, they could now "hang on" to their lead’s wing, whether during highly orchestrated air combat maneuvers, on a lowlevel ground attack mission, or other less demanding missions. As experienced flight leads, we could hear the confidence in their R/T, and could see it in how they flew as wingmen throughout any given mission. Furthermore, we could assess it in the highly detailed post-flight analysis of their HUD and cockpit tapes, wherein we could evaluate how well they used the fire and control system for simulated air-air missile shots, their accuracy using air-ground weapons on the range, and so on. They were itching to demonstrate their fighter pilot skills and were seeking to commence the rigorous upgrade training to become a twoplane element lead. They were also becoming dangerous.

While confidence with one’s aircraft allows a pilot to become comfortable enough to enjoy flying, over- confidence leads to little mistakes that can have tragic results. As they say, "complacency breeds contempt." In the fighter pilot world it can lead to tragic results, not only for the overconfident pilot, but also for that of his lead or others in the formation (such as when flying as a 4-plane section). A moment of complacency, fixating on the radar system to get a lock on the opposing aircraft while neglecting to continue to look outside the cockpit to achieve a visual “tally” with the aircraft, could quickly lead to a midair collision. In the fighter business, we maneuver our aircraft to intercept one another, and in "dog fighting" scenarios, we maneuver to within 1000 feet of the opposing aircraft in order to achieve a "guns kill." Consequently, in such a training environment, over-confidence based complacency can lead to fatal errors. The antidote to the "danger zone" was for the more experienced leads to raise the wingman’s awareness of the risk and consequence… to "sprinkle a dose of reality" onto their ego in order to keep them sharp, vigilant and safe. How we did this would be a whole other article, so I will leave that aside for now.

While the "danger zone" of overconfidence can and will vary depending on the aircraft and type of flying, it most certainly exists

in the civilian world of aviation. It can also occur at different stages of training, such as post-solo when the trainee thinks they can land the Cessna as well as their instructor but have yet to experience landing in a wind shear environment, in strong cross-winds or on runway surface with poor or degraded braking action due to hydroplaning, snow or ice. It could also occur during advanced training when they think they can fly a straight-in ILS as well as anyone else in the Club, only to find themselves in unfamiliar territory on a real IFR approach to an unfamiliar airport, wherein the glide path suddenly fails and they have to transition to a non-precision localizer only approach.

There are many examples that I could offer, but the underlying point is that over-confidence is a risk that new aviators need to be aware of, and flight instructors need to bring into the pre-brief discussion when appropriate. Airmanship combines skills, knowledge and experience with a realistic appreciation of our own limitations and shortfalls in our training, ratings and on-type skills with the aircraft we’re flying. Good airmanship includes being self-aware and remaining vigilant. For those who fly infrequently, this also means recognizing that our flying skills are "perishable" if not practiced on a regular basis.

As for myself, yes I passed through the "danger zone" with a few close calls, and have had more "near death" experiences on fighter aircraft than I care to recall, and certainly more than the nine lives of a cat! The old fighter pilot saying of, "I’d rather be lucky than good" certainly applied in some of those incidents. Fortunately, I survived and went on to pass through the 1000-hour and 2000-hour milestones on the CF-18, and spent many years leading other fighter pilots on the whole spectrum of missions. However, despite my accomplishments, qualifications and experience on fighter jets, I never forgot the risk of over-confidence for myself and others, and brought this "data point" into many pre-flight briefing and post-flight "lessons learned."

In closing, my measure of success as a pilot and Top Gun instructor was that I never had to eject, and never had a student who subsequently died in a flying accident. Stay safe and may every one of your take-offs end with a successful landing! GM Corner

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