Today's brief:

• Habit building: Routine flights still require routine training.
• Plus: The government shutdown hits the FAA, and a new NOTAM system is in beta testing. 

🛩️ Estimated time en route: 4 minutes

Picture the cross-country you fly most often. The route is so familiar you could fly it in a Cub with no instruments. The flight has a rhythm. It’s a pillar in the “Why I Fly” parts of your heart and mind.

Preflight inspection reveals a healthy Skyhawk. Chocks removed, airplane positioned outside the hangar. Prime, clear prop, engine start, gauges green. Runup complete, control surfaces free and correct, compass and altimeter set. Ready for taxi.

Departure announced from RWY 18 at your uncontrolled home airport. Final approach clear, roll onto centerline, full power, gauges in the green, airspeed alive, rotate. Fifteen seconds later—after the takeoff checklist is complete—continue climb and turn toward destination.

Level at planned altitude, run the cruise checklist. Lean mixture as required, set power, oil pressure steady, CHT within range. Refresh Direct-To in GPS, autopilot engaged, begin en-route scan.

Six-pack needles and cards are motionless, verifying straight-and-level, unaccelerated flight.  Fuel totalizer reflects expected values. Scanning 10° of the sky at a time, you see no traffic, just CAVU conditions on a beautiful day. The EFB on your kneeboard accurately reflects your position, and the ETE agrees with…why is the engine slowing down? The RPM drops by 300 and stays there. No roughness—just less power.

Immediately, your eyes flash from instrument to instrument.

Fuel gauges reflect expected levels. Fuel cutoff isn’t engaged, tank selector is set to both, and you know from your preflight visual inspection that the tanks have plenty of uncontaminated fuel. Oil temperature is green. Mixture, throttle, master/alt, mags—all checked. The emergency checklist reconfirms each item. Yet there’s still a reduction in power, and now you’ve lost 400 RPM.

The engine continues to run smoothly, just not at the power it should produce. Now you’ve lost 425 RPM.

What’s next? Where are you? Is this when a precautionary landing is called for? Where’s the nearest airstrip, and can you make it? Maybe—but you’re glancing between your airspeed, tach, and the glide-distance circle on your iPad so quickly it’s hard to focus and decide.

This is how real accidents begin. They typically creep up and reveal themselves slowly.  Sometimes it’s an incrementally developing problem that can’t be fixed without a mechanic. Sometimes it’s an accumulation of small, poor decisions by the pilot. Often, it’s both. Many of these can be caught early enough to remain mere “scares” instead of entries in the NTSB database.

Accidents are almost never cinematic crises. They’re moments when habit and preparation make the difference between safety and disaster.

Build those habits

Right now, while you’re on the ground and clear-headed, create the habits that will guide you in that moment.

No—really, right now. This will take 90 seconds. Open a note app or grab a sheet of paper and complete these sentences:

• If I experience unexpected power reduction in cruise, I will ________.
• Before every departure, I will ________.
  (Perhaps: “Identify and brief the three nearest airports along my route for possible diversion and review the partial power loss checklist.”)

These are implementation intentions—specific if-then plans proven in multiple behavioral studies to increase the likelihood of decisive action when stress levels rise.

Lock ‘em in

Set two reminders:

• Two days from now: “Review partial power loss plan.”
• One week later: “Rehearse diversion procedure.”

When those reminders appear, close your eyes and mentally fly the sequence.

This spaced rehearsal—spaced retrieval—is a proven way to transfer a plan from short-term resolution to long-term memory. It dramatically improves the chances you will retain and act on the procedure, thereby improving safety at the exact moment it becomes critical.

Why preparation wins

Total time in your logbook won’t protect you from mechanical surprise. A panel full of glass won’t compensate if you hesitate or forget the basics. What will keep you safe are the habits you build before the cockpit grows loud and the unexpected arrives.

So revisit that familiar cross-country in your mind. Run the preflight, climb, and cruise just as you always do. Then picture that drop in RPM. When—not if—the unexpected demands a decision, you’ll know the next right step without hesitation.

Write it.
Rehearse it.
Commit it.

The flight you know by heart may one day require every ounce of preparation you’ve invested. Following these steps better ensures you’ve invested enough. 

11,000 FAA employees, about a quarter of the agency's staff, could be furloughed during the government shutdown, per the U.S. Transportation Department. More than 13,000 air traffic controllers could be required to work without pay.

The FAA denied requests to extend the comment period for the Normalizing Unmanned Aircraft Systems Beyond Visual Line of Sight Operations NPRM, maintaining that all comments must be submitted by October 6.

A new, cloud-based NOTAM system is in beta testing by the FAA and is expected to launch in February. According to Transportation Secretary Sean Duffy, it will provide "near-real-time data exchange, enabling efficient data flows and better stakeholder collaboration."

Whether you rent or own, do not take a chance on the marginal operation of a critical component. If something is arguably within limits, it is likely either close to the end of its service life or about to fail. Either way, do not monkey around with it.