Mike Patey very bravely took full respnsibility for his public crash of Draco this week: “this is on me, I made a bad decision.” We need to respect and honor that (rare) honesty. But Mike also clearly laid down the challenge for every pilot to practice better risk management and learn from his personal tragedy

Yeah, sounds dumb right? Training crosswinds at 3,ooo feet? But those 5-10 seconds of terror right over the runway are not an opportunity for nuanced description and durable learning. Teaching rudder patiently and accurately at altitude builds basic skills that transfer perfectly to the pattern. Deconstructing any complex maneuver to teach the component parts first