The purpose of this short article is to share some useful safety information with my fellow pilots. When I took Driver's Education way back in High School, one of the films we were forced to watch, "The Smith System of Safe Driving", actually stuck in my brain and left a lasting impression on me. This system has served me well for 27 years as a motor vehicle driver. But a few years ago, I realized that this system could be applied to the sport of Hang Gliding as well. Since then, it has worked so well for me that I decided that other pilots may find it useful. The Smith System consists of five simple rules that are easy to remember. There is no particular order to the rules, and they are interrelated. They are as follows:
Always have an escape route in mind. Sometimes, you may find yourself trapped in a situation where you have no way out. Don't let this happen! See the traps before they develop and avoid them before you get caught. A very common trap is getting stuck between pilots with nowhere to turn on a high traffic day where many pilots are sharing the same airspace. It is far better to leave overcrowded lift than to become another midair collision statistic. Another common yet completely avoidable trap is finding yourself too low and too far away from a decent landing zone. The secret to following this rule is continuous awareness of your overall situation, seeing and avoiding traps before they actually develop.
Keep and maintain a continuous awareness of everything going on around you. Don't get caught up in any details. Always have a current answer to immediately relevant questions. How many pilots are in the near vicinity? Where are they right now and what are they doing? Where is my primary LZ if I get drilled? Can I make it to the LZ from here? What are the winds on the ground? How fast are the clouds building? Is that cloud about to rain? Am I getting hypoxic? Am I relaxed? Don't focus on any one thing for very long, such as your vario or radio. The weather in particular should be watched. Keeping aware of cloud development, which can change rapidly, is extremely important to avoid getting sucked up into a CuNim or flying into a 40 mph gust front.
Yes, look around! And keep looking around all the time. Move your eyes, and turn your head. By frequently changing your field of view, you won't get locked into staring in one direction. This rule is especially important while flying in traffic, where the situation is constantly changing. After all, we fly VFR which requires us to "see and avoid" all other traffic. This rule expands on the notion of simply clearing your turns. And moving your eyes helps compensate for the blind spot in your vision.
Sometimes you need to trust the actions of nearby pilots when flying in close proximity. If you establish eye contact with the other pilot, you know that they see you. This knowledge allows you to assume that they will not fly into you blindly. However, if the other pilot does not see you, you must assume the worst, and take evasive action to avoid being blindsided.
When you are on a straight glide, use a point on the distant horizon as your aim point. You will track straighter and truer. If you fail to pick a distant aim point, you end up wandering around inefficiently. As a matter of safety, the horizon is an excellent measuring stick for determining relative altitudes. If another pilot visually appears to be even with the horizon, that pilot is at your same altitude. Therefore, when you are scanning the sky for other pilots to avoid, focus primarily along the horizon.