By Frank Farwell

As pilots, we often deny that a mid-air, engine failure, in-flight fire or other deadly mishap could happen to us. Today, anyway. So we let our guard down. We deny the inevitable, and take the easy way out. We get lazy, complacent; firmly in denial, we put our faith in Garmin, Bendix-King and S-Tec and let them fly the plane.

I used to be that kind of guy. Maybe it was because I kept immaculate care of my Skylane, Bonanza, Malibu and King Air E90, and went to recurrent training every six or 12 months. I was a God-fearing, tax-paying, respectable, plain-vanilla, mid-time pilot who lived by the rules…