Saturday, March 06, 2010

Kicking It

I started this post when I ran into this quotation.

"I fear not the man who has practiced 10,000 kicks once, but I fear the man who has practiced one kick 10,000 times."
— Bruce Lee

Commenter Frank Van Haste added this one.

"...there's them that's flown a thousand hours, and there's them that's flown the same hour a thousand times."

It's two different points. The first is that you have to focus, perfect one thing, gain complete mastery over your muscles, mind and reflexes. Continue consistent practice until you get it right. It refers to practice, training, which is what I'm doing when I hack at my flight simulator game.

The second is about breadth of experience. Different conditions, different aircraft, different crews, different places, different mindset, always adding what you learned last time to the new experience. And there's something I've found in aviation, that every thousand hours or so, something happens. Inadvertent IMC, engine failure, smoke monster*, icing, or something you thought you had mastered long ago that suddenly rears its head and becomes an issue again.

I don't think I've practiced ten thousand approaches yet, either different or the same, but I keep practicing.

*My affectionate thanks to everyone who has been with me long enough to know I'm not talking about Lost.

7 comments:

Frank Van Haste said...

Dear Trix:

The quote from Mr. Lee seems at variance with the aviation adage that holds "...there's them that's flown a thousand hours, and there's them that's flown the same hour a thousand times."

Perhaps it speaks to a fundamental difference between the martial arts and aviation.

Regards,

Frank

Sarah said...

@Frank: Oh I don't know. I'd fear a 1000 hour pilot who's flown the exact same flight hour 1000 times. ;)

But seriously, aviation writer Rod Machado claims a similarity between the focus and attitude of good Karate & good (instrument) flying. I noted a striking similarity in conduct and bearing between my Aikido sensei and the guy who tried to teach me aerobatics. Neither art is entirely a physical or mental discipline.

Aviatrix said...

Can anyone confirm that commenter number two is a spammer and not a Bruce Lee enthusiast?

Sarah said...
This comment has been removed by the author.
Aviatrix said...

Thanks Sarah, I didn't notice the links.

And Frank's comment is so interesting I have elevated it to the main post and updated that.

Frank Van Haste said...

Dear Trix:

Your airplane-fu is strong.

Meanwhile, have you poked around this site?

Regards,

Frank

Jim said...

This relates back to a comment I read - somewhere - about the 1000-hour pilots who got almost all of their time as an instructor, almost all flying right seat, almost all in the same airspace, almost all in daytime VFR. There's hours, and then there's hours.

And this comment seems transferrable to other occupations as well - we had a few soccer referees in this area who were still refereeing their first game for the 150th time. It was an adventure.