by Connie Charles

“Fly the conditions,” he said in response to my comment, “It’s bumpy.” We were descending into Gillespie Field, me at the controls, he behind me in the Citabria. He’d said it before, would say it again as he taught me to fly. It’s a basic axiom for every pilot, necessary while guiding an aircraft in flight or on the ground.

I realized recently that those three words have been absorbed into my consciousness. These days when I encounter something unexpected I hear in my brain “fly the conditions” and realize that it’s my opportunity to assess the situation and respond appropriately.

Many times, the conditions we find ourselves in aren’t changeable, but the way we manage them is. In the case of learning to fly, we are taught what to do, but every situation is different from every other one. We practice in order to have a range of experiences in which we’ve acted correctly for the conditions we were in.

Whether flying or just living our lives, we must fly the conditions: Take what we know, adapt it for the situation, and do our best to get through it safely and well.