Archive of BMW Motorrad Club Cape (2006 - 2019)

It dawned on me some years back just how similar motorcycling is to aviation,

So here we should read… piloting a bike and piloting a fixed or rotor wing a/c.

Watching bike riders and watching pilots one can draw many comparisons, and hence there are lessons both can learn from each other.

Indeed if I look at the parking bays at an air force base or airfield club, the amount of bikes used by pilots and aircrew is not surprising.

(Cars just do carry more overnight or compliance gear than the bike and do not ‘crumple’ uniform, so they are more the choice for jobber pilots on the airlines).

With both, if you drop your focus and your concentration from the job at hand, you have just compromised your safety envelope and with both you have very little time to correct any errors.

You can spot the passion for the machine in both pilots and you can see the obvious love for what they are doing.

Neither pilot operates the machine as if they ‘have to’.

That’s what a car, tram, bus, train, truck are for…. Getting from one place to another.

With bikes and aircraft, you love the moments you are at the controls and on the move.

Petrol-heads is a very apt description for many.

In both pilots situational awareness is so key, so mission critical, so critical to survival and so fatal if you are not situationally aware.

Situational awareness should be very high on bike instructors teaching, but it rarely is.

It is your responsibility as pilot to develop what others call a sixth sense, but what pilots know is common sense awareness of what is going on ahead, behind, adjacent, above and below ALL THE TIME.

Anticipating actions of others, reading the road, reading the driving patterns, knowing a car driver  late for an arrival point is on  a mission and  as dangerous as the blond driver listening to music while keeping up with fleisboek.

The process of obtaining the pilot license filters out many people and sadly this does not apply to biking;

It is too easy for any person to obtain his K53 bike license, hell you do not even go out on the road with your examiner!!!!

You do a yard test and you get a license.

Looking at accident statistics is another point of interest.

Almost 90% are pure pilot error to a lessor or greater degree.

The 500 hour rule applies to bike pilots just the same as it does for aircraft pilots.

If you get over the 500 piloting hours, your chances of surviving the next 4000 are much better than the period up to 500 hours.

(I call slipping on diesel pilot error- if you are reading the road ahead and are situationally aware as you should be… then you mitigate in advance)

We see this amongst bike riders…… As a novice you ride cautiously until you have enough kilometers under your belt to help you manage all the mirrors. Levers, switches, environment around you, speed, wind, road surface, etc.….

At some point you start doing things instinctively and muscle memory plays a big part in you locating switches, mirrors, dials and gauges automatically without requiring conscious participative thought process.

You thumb finds the turn indicator switch without your eyes looking for your thumb and the switch.

At this time you enter your most dangerous zone up to 500 hours…

You become ‘bullet proof’ invincible’ and this ‘allows’ you to keep up with the group or ride faster.

So many accidents on road and off road happen inside the 500 hours.

Riders operating beyond their abilities.

Riders operating outside their envelope.

Riders getting complacent because it has all becomes so naturally easy once mastered.

However, in aviation, pilot shave this drummed into them from day one.

In motorcycling you get your keys, sign off at the bike dealer, at the K53 testing ground and from there you are on your own.

You alone make the decision to go a few steps further by participating in training, track days and group activities. It is not a requirement by any authority.

So where do the pilots having accidents mostly happen after their 500 hours?

Well, let’s use the well-worn adage pilots live with…

“I know many old pilots, I know many bold pilots. I do not know any old bold pilots”

Sic.

Go Goose, go, your turn...