Forgoing factor of safety is not creativity.

You most certainly can be creative without remembering the facts.

> You most certainly can be creative without remembering the facts.

I've seen enough episodes of "Aviation Disasters", each of which dissects a crash or an averted crash, to not buy that.

There was once a 727 that suffered an autopilot failure, which rolled it over into a steep dive. The speed exceeded them max speed, and due to separation the controls could not "bite" into the air. The creative pilot thought he might increase the drag by lowering the landing gear in flight, which is a giant no-no. But he had nothing left to lose, and lowered it. The landing gear doors were ripped off and the gear was bent back, but it slowed the airplane enough that he regained control and saved everyone's life.

I know of another case with an F-80. That was the first US jet fighter, and it had straight wings and a powerful engine. They found out that if you overspeeded the airplane, which was too easy with its engine, it would violently pitch up and tear the wings off.

One day, in the Korean War, an F-80 pilot had a Mig on his tail that he couldn't shake. So he thought, I bet the Mig couldn't follow me in a pitchup, and so he rammed the throttles forward. The F-80 did pitch up, and the wings stayed on, and he shook the Mig.

When he landed, the wings were visibly bent up, and the airplane was scrapped.

I know about this because my dad flew F-80s in combat in the Korean War.

How are any of those examples of "needing to remember the facts to be creative"?

Both are examples of going way off the reservation of known emergency procedures. First, knowing enough to override the fact that lowering the gear at such speeds can be catastrophic, the second knowing the fact that the pitchup is a violent maneuver and how to induce it.