I remember reading a story last year during the annual fires that seem to rage uncontrolled through the forests out west.
One national magazine sent a photographer to take some pictures of the devastation. He was told to go to a certain small airport where a plane would be waiting for him.
When the photographer arrived at the airport he found a plane with engine idling waiting for him on the runway as promised. Hopping into the front seat of the two-seated plane the photographer told the pilot, “Ok, let’s go.”
Once they were airborne the photographer told the pilot, “Now, I want you to fly over the north front of the fire and make 3-4 low-level passes.”
The pilot looked at the photographer and asked “why?”
To which the photographer responded “because I want to get some close-up shots of the fire.”
With a “deer-in-the-headlights look” the man in the pilot’s seat said “you mean you’re not the instructor?”
Assumptions can be very dangerous!