If you're a committed sports fan, then you probably know the difference between the performance of a rookie versus the performance of a veteran. Even as rookies are professionals, they often make mistakes that end up costing their team the game because they lack experience. Similarly, even as newly licensed pilots are qualified to fly an airplane, they commonly lack the experience necessary to deal with critical flight situations. However, unlike a rookie mistake on the playing field, a rookie mistake during flight can be fatal. Therefore, it's essential that pilots receive a consummate level of upset recovery training before they experience a variety of flight situations.

In most cases, pilots receive a basic level of flight safety training before they receive their pilot's license. However, most flight programs predicate safety training on learning how to avoid dangerous situations instead of learning how to deal with them when they occur. Obviously, learning how to prevent dangerous flight should precede learning what to do when it occurs. But the view that preventative safety measures are enough to prevent dangerous flight ignores the possibility of human error, as well the fact that, despite a pilot's extreme vigilance, there are numerous unforeseen situations that can compromise flight, such as mechanical failure and sudden weather changes. To account for these complications, all pilots should receive additional training in instrument recovery and aerobatic flight.

Instrument recovery training focuses on recovering safe flight by relying on cockpit instruments. As licensed pilots, we know how to read cockpit instruments. But we tend to rely on our instincts to tell us what to do during upset attitudes. But when the horizon is nowhere to be found, our instincts can even lead us to fly downward instead of upward. Pilots who trust cockpit instruments during upset attitudes often have the sense they're performing the wrong actions. But it's important to remember that, unlike our senses, cockpit instruments are always objective. Pilots who trust their instincts instead of their instruments have been known fly straight toward the ground, thinking that they were gaining elevation.

Unlike instrument recovery training, aerobatic flight training teaches pilots to rely on their senses during upset attitudes when the horizon is discernible. While aerobatic flight technically focuses on aerobatic maneuvers that most of us would never employ, it also teaches us how to perform aerobatic maneuvers that aid in recovery from upset attitudes, as well as teaches us what maneuvers to avoid in certain aircraft. Indeed, what we usually hear described as "pilot error" would often be better described as "pilot ignorance". A tremendous number of crashes result from nothing more than making the wrong maneuver in a certain aircraft, and as many more result from taking the wrong recovery actions during non-error situations. Whether you pilot an airliner or a Cessna, knowing what maneuvers to avoid and what maneuvers to perform during upset attitudes can mean the difference between life and death.