Learn from others mistakes....
James,
I could not agree with you more in your letter. We all learn or should from others mistakes since we can not or should not try to learn from our own if at all possible. I have been flying since 1952 and still want to learn from others. What I have learned over the years it's usually never one item that get's you. I remember one in particular, on a snowy night going into CLE, it was my leg and we were dispatched with extra fuel because of the weather and the chance of going to an alternate. I was the PIC, it was a windy night and the wind favored the short runway. We had the engine heat and wing antice on. So here we are heavy (extra fuel) faster than normal (bug plus what ever for the gusts) and a short but legal runway. On short final the F/E asks if he should shut off the wing heat, I should have said no but didn't. About the that same time there was an electrical discharge/lightning strike which somewhat blinded myself and the F/O. The F/E closing the wing heat meant the bleed air going to the wings was immediate extra thrust. So there we were extra thrust=higher speed and above the glide slope and then the blinding affect of the strike. We were able to slow down and come down to the glide slope and stop on the runway, near the end I must say. If the runway was more icy or more slippery than it was the outcome would have much different.... I ended up with a injured retina. Learn from others, fly safe, guy the old B727 driver....
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