Worrying the night before a flight - is it normal?

JasonC wrote:

Dispatch certainty
Weather risks
Concern about your inflight decision making

I think that just about sums it up for me.

Dispatch certainty could cause minor problems but one of the advantages of being self-employed is the freedom to say stuff-it, I won’t be in today/tomorrow/this week.

Weather risks – not IR rated and no plans in view of age

Decision making – actually I cancel/divert far too quickly

So really there is nothing to worry about – except the wings falling off.

I think, so I am – Cogito ergo sum ….jeess who said that again??? Descartes..
Worrying is a form of cognitive fusion where you link (potential) events to certain feeling of anxiety. Which we all have/do, as humans it’s what any normal human being does. This is how it was developed in our cave men period to protect us. In our modern society it more problematic since our mind is now reprogrammed to link feelings to events even though they don’t exist.
I think mindfulness training can help a lot in this respect this has nothing to do with being a proficient Pilot it’s a mental thing…like yoga etc…
Jason’s approach surely is the result of the idealistic de-fusion of thoughts and events, though I hardly believe we "normal homo pilotos " deal with all this that easy and indeed proficiency and routine makes the worrying less. But who of us GA pilots fly 4 hours per day….?
Single engine/pilot IFR in not ideal circumstances asks a lot of the Pilot in term of skill. I always tell to people that flying is 30% skill and 70% metal state and psychological factors.

Human factors in aviation

Have you bought the jet now, Jason?

No, doing my ME this weekend and type rating first. Then we will see.

But back on topic:

we all don’t decide not to sleep but rather describe what our body/mind is doing to us.

I get that, but I do think how we consider and think about things when conscious can affect it.

And for the avoidance of doubt, I am not suggesting a cavalier attitude to flying or flight planning at all. The 6 Ps remain critical. I just think if properly trained you shouldn’t over worry about things you have been trained to deal with.

Worrying the night before a flight – is it normal?

Yes it is, but it shouldn’t be. After many years in the business I have finally reached the point where I don’t have to worry much the night before. Flying a powerful aeroplane for a decent company (which does not put pressure on their crews to constantly push the limits) and under the restrictions of a commercial operation in Europe takes aways most of those worries. One of the few remaining is road traffic related: If it snows heavily in winter I really worry about how to get to the airport in time the next morning because on many days I have to check in before the first snowplough clears the road. And with my (IR) flight instruction, the rules are also clear: No flight into known icing, no flights when there are (embedded) thunderstorms and enough clear air between the clouds and the terrain. The flying school minimum is 500ft for the whole route, I have raised that to 1000ft for myself. If the students don’t like that, they are free to choose another instructor. I couldn’t care less, the instructor’s pay hardly covers the traveling expenses anyway.

But I know it differently from earlier days. Especially commercial operations with piston twins (worst of all: freight) gave me my a fair share of sleepless nights. The flights were either overweight, short of fuel or outside duty and rest time limitations. Or any combination of those and sometimes all three together. Plus there was no approach ban before JAR-OPS so we were supposed to land at destination every time. I can’t remember ever diverting before JAR OPS. And the weather was no better then than today… So yes, if we had 6 people to fly into Milan Malpensa in a C421 the next morning with fog forecast and no AVGAS, so that we had to fuel her for the round trip, I wouldn’t get much sleep.

I just think if properly trained you shouldn’t over worry about things you have been trained to deal with.

Exactly that is what airline pilots do….However GA flying tend to be a bit more challenging from mental/training perspective and we don’t have a procedural framework as the Airlines have….Its a thin borderline the more you train, fly the less the worrying bit becomes. We all experience that after winter stop …..
I believe the training and psychological cognitive behavior go hand in hand…training training…

I only worry about the wings falling off, mid air collisions, engine failure, and imminent death.

Otherwise I’m happy as Larry.

Vref – exactly and as experience increases I think you just become a lot more relaxed.

Mind you from a personal point of view I cant really understand why so many people worry the night before? Seems to me you are worrying about whether or not the flight will take place, not the actual flight itself. After all surely you dont take the decision until the morning of the flight?

Speaking to many airline pilots, IFR GA without their massive hardware capabilities is much harder than the jets.

Peter – that also confuses me – inevitably it is and I think as much to do with having two pilots to spread the workload, but as I commented earlier everything is relative, and therefore you set different criteria. Sorry, but I can only say I just dont follow this line of reasoning.

I only worry about the wings falling off, mid air collisions, engine failure, and imminent death.
Otherwise I’m happy as Larry.

That was funny
Now in psychology repeat the worse what can happen crash, crash , crash, wings falling off off etc.. so it actually the meaning does not affect you anymore
I could name a couple other ones: Having to go… and still have two hours in front of you repeating that does not solve the matter though