The whole point of the 3 TIPS is to develop a BIG PICTURE in your mind. This is different from the small picture which is a very narrow view of what is happening around you.
The 3 TIPS are:
#1- Observe the Weather on your days off:
In ground school you learn all the theory. You learn about the different types of clouds, different types of fronts, the different types of turbulence. But, what matters is how you use that information in real life.
The best time to observe the weather is on your days off from flying. Look at what the weather forecast says for the entire day and then the next day. Then wait and see how accurate the meteorologists prediction was.
If you do this enough times you’ll start seeing patterns.
Much like a farmer who looks up in the skies and sees grey clouds and predicts it might rain. Or for sailors at sea, there is a saying, “red sky in the morning sailors take warning.” Meaning that if you see the skies red in the morning a low pressure system may be coming in bringing bad weather with it.
The average person looks at the weather forecast just for the temperature, to maybe see if it’s going to be sunny. But, as a pilot I want you to look at the forecast for accuracy and trends. The next time there is a storm, look outside the window, look at the skies, how does it look when the storm approaches, right before the storm approaches you’ll see all the leaves blowing in the air, that turbulent wind known as the gust front. Then see how long it takes for the rain to stop, look at the winds and estimate how long it will take for the storm to pass by.
For example: is the winds are 100km/hr, moving E, and the storm is over your city, after 1 hour it will move 100 km away to the East. Go on google maps and see which city is 100 km away and you can predict where the storm will be 1 hour from now.
It’s a great skill to develop if you want to be a good pilot. Don’t be a dummy pilot and just agree to every weather forecast. Use common sense and see if the real conditions reflect that forecast. If it matches the forecast then you can trust what the meteorologist is saying. If it doesn’t match then be prepared to make changes to your flight.
#2- Listen to LIVE Air Traffic Control communications
When you first learn to fly. Talking with ATC can be very intimidating. Because you don’t know what to say and you don’t want to sound foolish.
Instead of only getting practice listening to ATC when you go flying. I would encourage you to listen to LIVE ATC recordings online.
Visit websites like LIVEATC.NET, select your favourite airport, listen to the pilots and controllers talking live. Understand what they are saying. Again you’ll start to see patterns. 90% of the time it’s the same format. Spending 1 hour everyday listening to ATC communications when you first start your training, helps you with the Phonetic alphabet, it helps you know the structure of what to say to ATC.
Once you know what to say, try to mentally picture where all the airplanes are. This is called situational awareness. One airplane could be at the gate requesting pushback clearance, another airplane could be requesting taxi clearance, another takeoff clearance.
Accordingly you’ll form a BIG PICTURE in your mind. Always know the BIG Picture when flying.
#3- Practice your Emergency Procedures
You’ve probably heard people say whats the point of a pilot if the airplane flies on autopilot. Well what makes the the difference between a computer and a real human pilot. When things go wrong a human can then take action to bring the airplane safely on the ground. Just like how Captain Sully safely landed the airplane in the Hudson river
or how Captain Bob Pearson who glided the Air Canada Boeing 767 into Gimli Manitoba.
How often should you practice emergencies? At bare minimum airlines test pilots every 6 months. But, let me tell you even at 6 months you forget a lot. It doesn’t matter how experience a pilot has. We all forget a lot after 6 months.So, personally I study emergencies every 1 month. I fly a Boeing 767. The emergency handbook is very thick.
What is the goal of knowing emergency procedures? The goal is to do the right thing when under stress. If an emergency arises you want to be very calm. You can only be calm if you know what you’re doing. Your hands just go automatically to the correct buttons or actions.
Summary
If you want to excel in your flight training. Then learning those 3 skills we talked about such as practicing your emergency procedures, learnings to observe the weather, and understanding ATC communications to form a BIG Picture of the sky.
All the Best!