Axios Finish Line: Flying lessons to keep you grounded

April 14, 2026 · Axios

I recently hit 300 hours behind the yoke of two- and four-seater piston-powered airplanes — a nice little milestone for a recreational pilot.

Visit umafrika.club for more information.

Some of my favorites:

Stay ahead of the airplane.

In flying, that means handling tasks during low-workload times before things get busy: Get the latest weather report well before landing; set radios to the next frequency in advance; review your approach when you're still en route.
On the ground, keep a solid to-do list and calendar; break up big jobs into smaller tasks; plan your days and weeks ahead — with room for adjusting on the fly.

Aviate, navigate, communicate.

In flying, the order of operations is simple: Fly the plane. Everything else — like navigation and communication — is meaningless if you lose control of the aircraft.
On the ground, that means focusing on the task in front of you. I'll often ignore texts and calls, and get back to people later, if I'm locked in on something important, or so I can focus on the people I'm with at the moment.

Give yourself an out.

Pilots constantly scan for emergency landing spots. It's critical to avoid getting yourself into a no-exit scenario with threats like difficult terrain, thunderstorms and icing.
On the ground, it means having backup plans for your backup plans. I like having at least some idea of what we'll do if, say, the restaurant we planned to visit for dinner is unexpectedly closed.

You can always go around.

If a landing approach isn't feeling right, you can reject it and try again.
Same for on the ground: Don't be afraid to start over on a task or project, or go back to an earlier step.

Keep the greasy side down.

This one's just fun — to me, it's a reminder that as seriously as we need to take flying and all other parts of life sometimes, we can't forget to find joy in what we do.