I’LL NEVER DO THAT AGAIN
BETTER PILOT
My Head Was Up and Locked
The importance of proper preflight checks
BY DAVID MONROE
THE YEAR WAS 1980, AND IT WAS A LATE FALL
morning in southern California. I was 19 years
old, attending college and flight instructing in
my spare time. I was flying out of a little airport
called Gillespie Field. This airport located in El
Cajon, a suburb of San Diego, was a busy little
place with three runways and an operating
control tower.