I value your comments and discussion about the topics in AIRLINE COMMAND as a Trainee, Trainer or just as a Line Captain or Line First Officer.
That's why at the end of each article there is a COMMENT link.
If you use this COMMENT link everyone will get to see the discussion item and everyone else's replies (and yes, I do read these comments). It adds to the information contained within the article and anyone can join in and everyone gets to view it.
Even better than the COMMENTS link, is the AIRLINE COMMAND Google Groups Discussion area. Just click on the Visit This Group link on the right hand side of the page (see it just over there?) and you will be taken to our very own AIRLINE COMMAND Discussion area. You'll have to sign in the first time, then just keep coming back to check out what not only me but your peers and others are talking about.
If you just blast an E Mail off to me, sure I get to read it (and reply if required), but nobody else does.
Remember that I am a full time professional aviator, with a family and limited spare time. I would rather not have to spend my time replying to individual E Mails.
So search the articles for relevant topics (use the INDEX), read the Who Is AIRLINE COMMAND For? and How To Use AIRLINE COMMAND articles and read the Comments for each article.
That way everyone benefits and my workload decreases!
If you really need to contact me then use this E Mail link.
Thanks.
That's why at the end of each article there is a COMMENT link.
If you use this COMMENT link everyone will get to see the discussion item and everyone else's replies (and yes, I do read these comments). It adds to the information contained within the article and anyone can join in and everyone gets to view it.
Even better than the COMMENTS link, is the AIRLINE COMMAND Google Groups Discussion area. Just click on the Visit This Group link on the right hand side of the page (see it just over there?) and you will be taken to our very own AIRLINE COMMAND Discussion area. You'll have to sign in the first time, then just keep coming back to check out what not only me but your peers and others are talking about.
If you just blast an E Mail off to me, sure I get to read it (and reply if required), but nobody else does.
Remember that I am a full time professional aviator, with a family and limited spare time. I would rather not have to spend my time replying to individual E Mails.
So search the articles for relevant topics (use the INDEX), read the Who Is AIRLINE COMMAND For? and How To Use AIRLINE COMMAND articles and read the Comments for each article.
That way everyone benefits and my workload decreases!
If you really need to contact me then use this E Mail link.
Thanks.
3 comments:
What a great effort! Isn’t it odd that in a mature training machine, every trainee produces his own notes and there is still a pressing need for this sort of place! At the risk of invoking “Sadly most debriefs tend only to focus on what you did wrong and how to correct what you did wrong on future flights,” and having said that I totally support this effort, let me offer a counter view as a customer of the product of this company’s training system.
I’d very much disagree that there is no such thing as an “intentional mistake”. The given definition is weak. Many aviation psychologists, not least the late Dr Roger Green, with whom I had the pleasure of many discussions at the RAF’s expense, was always keen to point out that many mistakes, he would have said errors, are caused by flawed situation modelling. So it is hard to attribute an intentional mistake to a trainee when their action is made with the best intentions but based on a flawed model. The act was intentional; the mistake unintentional, the result an intentional mistake. It’s perspective, if you like.
As for “It is absolutely imperative that you know your aircraft’s SOPs backwards” - no it’s not. Firstly forwards would do and secondly I doubt you need to know company SOPs at all. Do you seriously believe that a competent company Airbus pilot couldn’t safely fly a 777 without a backwards knowledge of their SOPs? SOP/NPs are not a skill set for flying an aeroplane; they are a common language - no more, no less. Sadly, of late, they have been turned into the script from a play and when, to continue the analogue, a player fluffs his lines, the play stops.
In moments of stress, turning your back on your team is interesting body language and sends a very negative message.
There is a strong message here about making mistakes but the threat here is that we train as an alpha male environment. We expect trainees to be perfect, we laud preparation (read GMA’s musings), we expect pilots to have mapped out the arrival in detail and it to go on rails. How about a training philosophy that envisages dropping a trainee into the middle of rush hour JFK and have him handle it? Not though knowledge of what comes next but a defensive approach to flying that invokes SA, problem solving and team work rather than our current offensive smart-arse approach.
To say that “these types of major errors are prevented by adherence to SOPs and Company regulations” suggests that without these documents, our error count would be lower. The more rules you create, the more chances there are that you will breach a rule and the more time that you will spend wondering which rule you have missed rather than “flying the aeroplane”. Or you could stare out the window?
Make the error in the Sim, get the instructor to reset the Sim and it will still be on your report 3 years later when the council of wise men decide your future.
One of the most worrying aspects of this otherwise excellent web page is that the word airmanship appears not once. I’d suggest that is not a mistake but a function of the approach of the training department; they have no idea how to teach airmanship so they don’t; SOP/NPs form a weak proxy for airmanship.
Seriously Cap’n 4 Bars, I love it but I just don’t agree with it all!
Keep it coming!
This is only MY view, not endorsed by anyone else, so any mistakes or errors (perceived or otherwise) are mine, not any Training Department policy.
Turning your back (body language wise) is only used to "buy" you some thinking time and preferably it should be disguised (e.g. you look at charts or something) so you don't "ignore" the other crew.
SOPs/NPs (I believe) form a strong framework for a team to operate within. As you say it provides a "script" and so team members can operate together, sometimes not having met each other before.
I don't however believe that blindy adhering to SOPs/NPs is a good thing in every single situation. I often cite that sometimes a crew could plough into a hill wondering if they should select TERRAIN on their NDs (because that is what SOPs/NPs say!) and neglect SA. But SOPs/NPs are a valuable safet net and certainly for a Trainee they should employ them fully.
Airmanship (that old fashioned but has never gone out of fashion term) is definetly on my TO DO list - so keep tuned.
Wow...
tht is the only way to describe ur site. its been sometime now and my collegues and me have been questioning and asking people of experience about things which ur site so clearly details
I'm currently going up for command and i can't explain to u how much i have benifitted from ur posts.
HKspikes comments about not agreein with every thin holds good for me too and i think tht is fine. since we can't agree with everything. but ur prespective opens up new lines of thought which i never thought about earlier.
All i can say is tht ur effort has made a difference and a lot of it at tht. thanks alot
AD
zeus_737@hotmail.com
(unlike me email address i'm on the 320s)
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