Ever sense the begining days of my flying career I could remember my instructor screaming at me about maintaining situational awareness. To this date, I could still hear his voice. Flying has changed a lot since then, but maintaining good situational awareness has not. In a nut shell, situational awareness means always knowing what is going on around you. This is a popular buzz word used throughout aviation, & the military. This is a word that I live my life by on a daily basis. Even when I'm not flying I am still maintaining situational awareness. When I travel abroad, I am constantly aware of anything out of the ordinary. You have to be alert in this age of terrorism. When it comes to flying, situational awareness to me mean never fully trusting anyone rather its the captain, first officer, or  mechanic.It means being proactive, & dictating events instead of events dictating you. That means when I first walk to the aircraft in the morning, I assume that its unairworthy into someone proves to me otherwise. I want to see the maintenance book to see that there are no open write ups. Then I want to do the preflight to make sure everything is were it should be, & there's no damage to the airframe. Situational awareness is a constant thing that never ends for a professional pilot.