Good to go?

"Are we good to go?" - CFI "Yup" - Student who forgot to remove the tie downs

"Now boarding group 4"

Throughout pilot training, we always emphasize safety: preparing for a flight, considering risks and threats, applying mitigations, and so forth. Acronyms like PAVE and IMSAFE should be every pilots’ bread and butter. That being said, don’t we always ask our friends “all right, good to go?” before every flight? Think about it!

Although a relevant question, it’s also rather useless. It doesn’t provide you with any tangible elements to consider! But fear not! This article will provide you with four elements that you can examine quickly to answer that useless question.

This also answers the feared DPE question "what do you need to go fly?" Instead of opening pandora's box, just follow these:

1. Documents

2. Currency

3. Proficiency

4. Health

Pretty straight forward, right? These should be second nature to every pilot, and not a wide-net-catch-all acronym like PAVE. Don't get me wrong, though. PAVE is very important and I love it, too. I'm just stating that PAVE is a "thought provoking" acronym, rather than an immediate execution checklist. Use PAVE when you need to plan a flight from scratch, not when you're about to depart.

Let’s look at each of the four elements, and we’ll expand on what we should remember. Pilots should memorize all of these things. So the four elements above are just used to "make sure" you are truly ready to go.

Documents

Do I have all my personal documents with me? Do I have all the aicraft documents with me? These are:

Personal Documents

1. Government-issued photo ID [FAR 61.3(a)(2)]

2. Pilot Certificate [FAR 61.3(a)]

3. Medical Certificate [FAR 61.3(c)]

4. Photo of Martha King [No reg, but there should be one]

Aircraft Documents (ARROW acronym)

1. Airworthiness Certificate [91.203(a)(1)]

2. Registration [91.203(a)(2)]

3. Radio License (for international flights)

4. Pilot Operating Handbook (POH) [91.9(b)(1)]

5. Weight and Balance Information [91.103]

Currency

Are you current to exercise your pilot priviliges? For a pilot to be current, they need to have in their logbook:

1. A Flight review within the preceding 24 calendar months (once every 2 years) [FAR 61.56(c)]

2. 3 takeoffs and 3 landings in the category/class they wish to fly during either day or night conditions (if they're acting PIC while carrying persons) [61.57(a)(1) & (b)(1)]

3. 6 approaches in the preceding 6 months, including holds and tracking using electronic navigation systems [FAR 61.57(c)(1)].

Proficiency

Are you ready to execute the flight? Are you beyond current? Have you done all the proper preflight planning to guarantee a high chance of success? Do you have mitigations in place to reduce the overall risk? Be mature and think professionally! This should really answer the question "Do you feel ready to depart?".

Healthcare

This is the good 'ol "IMSAFE" acronym. In essence, are you fit to fly?

1. Illness - Are you sick? Are you getting sick?

2. Medicine - Are you taking any medication? Is it approved? How does it affect you?

3. Stress - Are you undergoing stress in your personal or work life?

4. Alcohol - 8 hours bottle to throttle!

5. Fatigue - Are you tired? Do you have chronic or acute fatigue?

6. Emotions/Eating - Did something happen in your life that affects your clarity and concentration? Also, are you... hungry?

This is just a quick way to remember if you have everything you need before you board a plane. Hope it helps!