Superficially, the question wheter flying a SEP can be as easy as driving a car seems to be easily answered: No.
However, I wondered if most of this is down to currency rather than inherent simplicity of driving. I bet that almost none of the participants of this forum spends more time behind a yoke/stick than a steering wheel. Even among prolific GA pilots, with > 100 flight hours/annum, their currency with a car is likely to be much higher.
I drive about 350 hrs/year and I’m not even a frequent driver compared to others. I wonder, if I flew 350 hrs/year, would flying be as easy and “natural” as driving? I bet so. Because ultimately, several factors make driving almost as challenging:
So what did I want to say with this topic? It’s probably a bit of an attempt to demystify flying before myself, to encourage to do it more often and to put the risks of flying in perspective compared to the risks of driving. While the risk of a severe injury or death is certainly higher per flight hour than per hour spent driving, the fact that I (and others) drive much more than I fly probably also means that the overall risk of these activities is not too dissimilar. And if I flew more, the risk per hour would decrease due to higher currency.
I cannot answer your question but I can say this, purely regarding manually controlling airplanes:
Looking at the kids in my neighborhood playing outside, I can already spot those who will be (from a senso-motoric point of view), good drivers, airplane flyers and machine operators.
It’s usually those little ones that, alone, only climb a tree up as far as they dare themselves, vs. those that always have a parent ready behind them to grab them if they fall. The same goes for riding a bobby car, bike, scooters etc.. It was tough to watch my 4yo ride the older neighbourkid‘s huge bike downhill at first, but by now it’s second nature to him.
Flying vs. driving:
For the above kids, flying and driving skills will further benefit from being give the right advice (instruction, teaching) and both become second nature if exercised frequently. Others, not so much. Who doesn’t know that one friend who, even after years, cannot drive, bungeestopping at each redlight, who has no regard for steering or pedal inputs? They are usually also not the handy type, hammering screws into the wall…
Small airplanes in vmc is breeding ground for seat of the pants style flying.
You will be surprised to hear that the best sticks do not necessarily have an advantage as professional pilots.
Contrary to the military, some airlines deemed this „talent“ disadvantageous to other characteristics they require and do not weigh this skill heavily, going more for academic potential and rule obeying capacities etc. It’s not a killer item, but it’s not as important as other traits.
Quote of Chief Pilot at major european airline: „Flying is a manual exercise that we can learn anybody“, other skills they deem impossible to convey, so applicants have to possess them already.
If you look at an MPL syllabus, you see where this comes from. And yes, you don’t need to be the best stick to punch button on a multi million dollar jet autopilot (procedure obeying monkey with banana reward system works better), but in the end, it’s stll an airplane, and even though it’s very improbable, one day you might need to actually fly it. And then, the skills aren’t there, because they never have been.
For risk, it’s not so simple as saying risk decreases linearly with exercise:
If you fly a 150 or similar sep for 350 hours a year, your main risk would shift from f*cking up due to being overwhelmed and startled (behind the plane) to risk of self-elimination due to massive routine, which leaves you feeling confident and very comfortable. That’s where complacency kills.
It’s easier to be cautious and defensive when you don’t have this routine than to do the same when you fly a lot.
If you take this into consideration, you can’t fly too much.
I think the physical skills are similar; where it’s more complex than driving is the decision making aspect and book knowledge aspect. Most middle aged drivers, for example, have not cracked open the Highway Code in over two decades – but do that in aviation, and you’re probably going to end up in a GASCo course for infringing airspace in fairly short order. There’s also the weather aspect – only the very worst of weathers really affects driving decision making (very poor visibility, very heavy rain, untreated roads in snow etc), but for a pilot of a simple low wing loading aircraft, there can be a significant difference between two sunny, fair weather days.
@MedEwok wrote:
I bet that almost none of the participants of this forum spends more time behind a yoke/stick than a steering wheel. Even among prolific GA pilots, with > 100 flight hours/annum, their currency with a car is likely to be much higher.
You lost your bet. After getting my license the amount of driving was decreasing continuously and flying was increasing disproportionately. So even now at COVID-19 times I‘m flying more than driving. So to give you numbers: When getting my pilots licence I was driving about 85.000 km a year. Now it is about 6.000 in normal years, this year about 1.700.
And now coming back to your question:
wheter flying a SEP can be as easy as driving a car
For me it is. I feel more comfortable being in the air than in a car. It’s less stressful as driving. It doesn’t last as long as driving does for my business and holiday trips. And in regards of fatigue and „get there iritis“, as I have to do maximum 2 hours to get home from every point in Germany by plane instead of driving minimum 2 hours for all the clients which are not based around Stuttgart, I‘m fresher and awake when arriving. In the car I do need to have a coffee break after a while to not fall asleep, when being on the road for let’s say 4 hours. Last not least the IR and a well equipped aircraft means that the „get there itis“ it‘s not showing up to often. In normal years I have to cancel or delay 2-4 flights, but with the climate change the weather becomes better year over year for low level IR. 
So due of this, at home when my wife and me do things together, she is always driving, never do I. I feel a bit rusty about it. And I don’t know what will happen after this lockdown. Now I feel comfortable with the bike too and my car ist parked in the garage until at least end of February. No need to drive, but many ideas where to fly. 
MedEwok wrote:
Driving is basically moving in a 2D space
No, not basically. It’s only as 2D as you want it to be. Lots of motor sports emphasize on 3D, be it steep hills, jumps or other stuff. That’s only the terrain. A manual gear shift is another dimension (mathematically). Then you have perspective, depth, which is 3D (we can only use perspective on stuff protruding form a 2D surface, hence 3D). Driving a car is very far from 2D, even if it’s done on a pure 2D surface.
Also. Try driving in reverse with a car, then hook a trailer to your car, then do the same with a semi-trailer with a trailer. The complexity of this is a multidimensional space. I remember from first year at the university, we had technical drawing (old style, paper and pencil). Technical drawing is drawing of 3D objects in 2D space. This means, to draw a 3D object on a 2D surface is mostly about 3D perception. I don’t have the paper/document, but there were actually done tests of what kind of people were good at this. One finding were that good 3D perception correlated with good ability in driving reverse. It’s a bit odd, because driving in reverse with a normal car is no more 3D than driving forward, which does not require any particular 3D perception, at least not in it’s simplest form.
Besides, flying is not difficult. Insects fly perfectly fine with no brains whatsoever. Birds learn to fly within a second by jumping out of the nest. To fly a glider, you only have to be 14. To drive a car, you have to be 18. This has more to do with SA and being mature enough to understand consequences.
It’s a misconception thinking that GA aircrafts fly in 3D, apart from Extra300, maybe only fast jets are capable of flying “3D” ? cars do far better climb “3D gradients” on terrain than most SEP, I am sure they do +30% uphill but a SEP will barely do +10% on takeoff, I think that misconception got many people flying into steep 40% terrain…
Ibra wrote:
It’s a misconception thinking that GA aircrafts fly in 3D, apart from Extra300, maybe only fast jets are capable of flying “3D” ? cars do far better climb “3D gradients” on terrain than most SEP, I am sure they do +30% uphill but a SEP will barely do +10% on takeoff, I think that misconception got many people flying into steep 40% terrain…
You don’t need to do descent planning in a car… You do in GA aircraft.
Interesting question but not sure on its purpose?
Flying a plane is certainly more COMPLICATED than driving a car and requires a higher workload and set of proficiencies and activities, which is an absolute issue. There can be no doubt about that on any set of measures by any reasonable person.
But does that make it HARDER, which is more of a relative issue, to do with mental capacity, psychological construction, age, etc? So it’s not necessarily HARDER once you have mastered it and/or you have higher capacity for it.
Also, people – like me – who are somewhat impatient are more stressed in traffic and with roads and limits and so on. I am less stressed in the skies where there’s no roads, no traffic and no speed limits. I tell people that’s the beauty of flying: no roads, no traffic, no limits.
This is not just for aviation but for many things. Can give so many life examples of seeing this.
Airborne_Again wrote:
You don’t need to do descent planning in a car… You do in GA aircraft.
That is only a matter of circumstance. Whether or not you need planning I mean, in an aircraft or in the car. What is meant by “planning” anyway. In a car, you certainly have to plan, and carefully so, or you would never end up where you intend. It’s more that we do it as we go, from previous experience, or let a GPS do it. We can let a GPS plan for us in the air also, or we can do it from previous experience, or as we go
The only “difficult” part of flying is we can easily hit the ground fatally hard, which is a much less likely scenario in a car (although not entirely impossible). So we make all these procedures and regulations and with them, all kinds of myths. This is comparable to riding a bicycle on a thin plank laying on the ground, or riding on the same plank at 1000 feet. It’s equally easy or difficult. It’s only the result of failure that is vastly different.
From personal experience, I mean flying the same plane from A to B (then C, D you see what i mean) twice during 6 days, it becomes extremely natural. Just like driving. yes you take more precautions than driving, but it is a breeze.
I had about 150 hours total when I had this wonderful week and have never been so proficient since (now having twice the hours).
I still relish that time and wish to regain this proficiency again someday.
It reminds me of this guy :
As far as comparing driving and flying, I know I had more stressful moments when driving than flying. When you fly, if things go wrong, you revert to basics and try to survive. Aviate. navigate etc…
When you are alone in a car, on a busy motorway, in an unfamiliar area, and you realize you took the wrong exit, and you didn’t use GPS because you thought you could handle the nav, then you really don’t know what to do, and can’t do much. You can’t take your eyes from the road, can’t recognize the names on the signs. You are just clueless about what is happening.
My wife once got lost this way, had to drive for 30 minutes, pay a 10€ toll, exit, take the motorway the opposite way, pay another 10€ ,then got lost in an industrial area where she could at last call me in tears I had similar experiences.
