INQUIRY AND ADVOCACY IN THE COCKPIT

 Inquiry is “A search for knowledge, or an instance of questioning” and Advocacy is “Active support of an idea or cause etc.” as per Webster dictionary.Inquiry and advocacy has been jointly addressed by Human Factors experts and lets examine its importance in the cockpit.

INTER-COCKPIT

There is a dire need for inquiry in the cockpit and the need for crew to be in the loop and only way is for either crew to communicate and inquire. Typically, Captain must encourage inquiry from the fellow crew member to enhance safety and make the fellow crew comfortable in doing so without any fear of  reprisal or retribution.

TAIL STRIKE ON TAKEOFF

A tail strike is deemed to have occurred when the tail of an aircraft touches the runway during takeoff or landing. Long aircraft are more prone to this and this would result in significant structural damage to the aircraft and jeopardise the safety of the flight.Statistically, there are more tail strikes during landing than at takeoff.(Airbus)

RUSH SYNDROME

In this modern age, life is full of hectic activity and managing time efficiently is become a necessity. As pilots, whether in general aviation or in airline environment, we are subject to pressures of various sort. One of them I would like to deal with in this post, is about the pre-flight rush, which all of us are subjected to while carrying our flight activity.

TEN YEARS AFTER

It has been ten years since that fateful day when the World Trade Centre towers were brought down in a bizarre out of the box planning by a group of fanatics. The world aviation security underwent a sea of change following this and billions of dollars are being spent today on aviation security. There has been a huge increase in investment into screening technologies, a global audit spearheaded by ICAO and its regional offshoots and a demand for ever exacting model of the 21^stcentury’s Aviation Security program.

BIRD STRIKE AVOIDANCE DURING TAKEOFF AND FINAL APPROACH PHASE

The Federal Aviation Administration estimates the bird strike problem costs US aviation 400 million dollars annually and has resulted in over 219 worldwide deaths since 1988. In the United Kingdom, the Central Science Laboratory estimates that, worldwide, the cost of birdstrikes to airlines is around US$1.2 billion annually. This cost includes direct repair cost and lost revenue opportunities while the damaged aircraft is out of service.(Wikipedia)

MODIFICATION OF CHECKLIST AND PROCEDURES BY AN AIRLINE

Every aircraft manufacturer ensures that checklists and procedures are promulgated for each aircraft type to be followed based on the operating philosophy envisaged, keeping the primary aim of ensuring safety in operation.

The challenge faced by the airlines in following the manufacturer checklists and procedures is the various fleets in the airline, standardization amongst fleets, for instance, which if not addressed could lead to degrading the safety of operation.

NEXT GENERATION ENGINE

PW1000G- Pure Power

PurePower PW1000G engine with Geared Turbofan™ technology is a state of the art gear system that separates the engine fan from the low pressure compressor and turbine, allowing each of the modules to operate at their optimum speeds. This enables the fan to rotate slower and while the low pressure compressor and turbine operate at a high speed, increasing engine efficiency and delivering significantly lower fuel consumption, emissions and noise. This increased efficiency also translates to fewer engine stages and parts for lower weight and reduced maintenance costs.

The PurePower PW1000G engine’s fan-drive gear system is just one component of this next-generation engine. The PurePower PW1000G engine also incorporates advances in aerodynamics, lightweight materials and other major technology improvements in the high-pressure spool, low-pressure turbine, combustor, controls, engine health monitoring and more.

LIFESPAN OF AN AIRCRAFT

Bhoja air crash at Islamabad had generated widespread comment on the age of the aircraft being above 20 yrs old and still being engaged in service.Without prejudice to the impending investigation, let's look at what governs the airworthiness of an aircraft and especially when aging.

INADEQUACY IN TRAINING

B787Cockpit

Airline training is always a focal point in the aviation industry and the thrust should be to deliver training that surpasses well over the bare minimum regulatory requirement. More often than not, lack of training or inadequate training is a common contributor in incidents and accidents.

NEW CHANCES TO SEE THE SHUTTLE

The space shuttle Enterprise is scheduled to , on 23 Apr 12, fly low over New York city mounted atop a modified Boeing 747. The flight is scheduled to take place between 0930 and 1130 AM, weather and other conditions permitting. The low altitude flight over the Hudson river will  bring it the past the Statue of Liberty . After landing at JFK, the shuttle will be transferred aboard a barge for a second trip along the  Hudson to its new home at the Intrepid Sea, Air and space Museum.

National geographic is hosting online a ‘gigapan” views featuring ultra-high resolution pictures of the orbiter. The interface allows visitors  a chance to view  and virtually wander unobstructed across the space station, in detail, no fee required.

UAV RAISES CONCERN ABOUT SAFETY

It is the Orwellian era. Although some thirty years have passed since the gloomy scenario portrayed by George Orwell in 1984, the mushrooming presence of surveillance cameras and security procedures have invaded our privacy to an extent never foreseen by the author. With the increase in security threats due to religious and ethnic terrorism, we have all but acquiesced ourselves to this privacy invasion with mute protests.

A new entrant in the surveillance area is the UAVs. After having been successfully deployed over the mountains of Afghanistan to counter the Al Qaeda threat, the US government is mulling over the feasibility and acceptability of a programme that would allow unmanned aircraft to fly beside commercial planes in the US airspace.

STERILE COCKPIT RULE

The Sterile Cockpit Rule is a regulation requiring pilots to refrain from non-essential activities during critical phases of flight, normally below 10,000 feet. The FAA imposed the rule in 1981( and adopted by most regulatory bodies) after reviewing a series of accidents that were caused by flight crews who were distracted from their flying duties by engaging in non-essential conversations and activities during critical parts of the flight. One such notable accident was Eastern Air Lines Flight 212, which crashed just short of the runway at Charlotte/Douglas International Airport in 1974 while conducting an instrument approach in dense fog. The National Transportation Safety Board (NTSB) concluded that a probable cause of the accident was distraction due to idle chatter among the flight crew during the approach phase of the flight.

CABIN AND FLIGHT CREW COMMUNICATION DURING UNLAWFUL INTERFERENCE

As we move towards an era of diverging job functions assigned to cabin crew and flight crew, a single barrier that catalyses this divide is the cockpit door.  Increasingly, this door has served to alienate and undermine the bonding that existed between the two sets of operating crew on board. During pre-flight briefing we go through the motions of communication and cockpit access protocol during normal and conditions where security of the cabin is breached.

FLIGHT AUTOMATION AND MANUAL FLYING

Bombardier Cseries

With the rapid advancement of technology, automation in cockpits have made rapid strides and have successfully made tasks of pilots easier.Crew of the modern generation aircraft have had to put considerable effort and time in trying to understand the automation modes and remain engaged appropriately. As much as comfort the flight crews would derive in normal flight operation with the automation,the questions that all of us pilots tend to ask ourselves is what would be one's reaction if it were to degrade or fail totally. That brings out various scenarios and challenges in dealing with the failures. 

AIRCRAFT EVACUATION-- Initiation of Evacuation by Cabin Crew

GAGAN : AN INDIAN SBAS INITIATIVE

Augmentation of a global navigation satellite system (GNSS) is a method of improving the navigation system's attributes, such as accuracy, reliability, and availability, through the integration of external information into the calculation process. There are many such systems in place and they are generally named or described based on how the GNSS sensor receives the external information.

PRE-FLIGHT WORK PRESSURE FOR CREW

As a sequel to the Misplaced Priorities post, let's delve at the work pressures one is subjected to as crew during pre-flight phase.

Distractions and Interruptions abound during pre-flight stage from the time crew report to airport for briefing to the completion of pre-flight checks, and are ready to proceed on their way to the destination.

MISPLACED PRIORITIES

On Time Performance, is an Organizational culture that prioritized mission execution over aviation safety. Passengers, indeed, need to be assured that their travel schedule will be adhered to and delays avoided. At what cost?

History is replete with many instances of gross violation by crew and other support staff in resorting to shortcuts and breach of standard company procedures and protocols in the name of On Time Performance.

FLIGHT TRAINING CURRICULUM AND EFFECTIVENESS

Boeing.com

The objective of any training curriculum is to enhance learning and develop individuals to attain greater proficiency  in whatever they do. The curriculum encompasses all that is required to bring one to speed with dealing with eventualities by drawing on the knowledge and the skills practiced and do so in more pressure situations which could encompass other environmental factors and so on, to which the crew have not been subjected during training.

AIRCRAFT EVACUATON -Planned and Unplanned

REFERENTIAL COMMUNICATION

To communicate referentially is to speak so that others will understand and to listen so that you will understand others or know when you have not. People at all levels can be poor referential communicators, depending in part the complexity of variables that enters into the communication situations. 
 

A scientist, for example, may be unable to communicate successfully with a layperson about a “quark” because of the difficulty of the subject matter and difference in vocabulary between the two people.

Referential communication skills involve the ability to provide and understand specific information. These skills are important in cockpit environment to give directions, explanations and situational briefings. The evolution of standard communication phraseology in aviation was necessitated from these differences in vocabularies of individuals engaged in a complex activity. In a rapidly changing environment, it is also necessary that crew is able to communicate effectively, succinctly and without ambiguity. Be it routine procedures, emergency handling or a high stress situation like evacuation, clear and unambiguous communication is essential.

BRIEFING FOR GO-AROUND

Briefing for a go-around is essential as it is not carried out frequently and helps in the crew forming a clear mental image of sequence of actions/flow, refresh on applicable callouts,task sharing during the maneuver and on the deviation awareness.

wikipedia

This is ideally carried out prior to top of descent along with approach briefing preparation. In addition to briefing the specifics for the go-around procedure, it's an opportunity to touch upon the level of automation being used for the approach and the task sharing thereof.This will  help increase the crew awareness level with respect to the various automation modes being used.

It is also recommended by airbus as deemed practical to briefly recall the main key points of go-around and missed approach when on the final approach or after completing landing checks. Crew also shall be go-around minded all along the final approach phase and landing and avoid falling into the trap of being indecisive and not asserting to go-around.

Operators could further specify a set of conditions/situations wherein it could be recommended to crew to initiate a go-around as a policy to help crew take a step forward to be more assertive and decisive.

Do you know of your operator or others  who have gone down this path??? Kindly comment below and let us know what you think of this.

WORKLOAD MANAGEMENT BY FLIGHT CREW

Key to conducting a flight efficiently and safely is to effectively manage the workload one is faced with during different phases of the flight.
Flight crew workload is typically shared between a Captain and a First Officer.Whilst one takes up the mantle of pilot flying, the other crew carry out the pilot not flying/ pilot monitoring duties.
Workload management is regulated within the frame work of operations by promulgating standard operating procedures, task sharing principles,time management and so on.

Workload is the highest for flight crew during preflight, taxi out, take off and climb to cruise level, before top of descent, during descent, approach, landing and taxi in to bay.
Procedures detailed ensure that they clearly define various tasks carried out during these times and by whom it is executed to regulate the workload and lessen the burden.

Not withstanding the above, during emergency and multiple emergency situations, despite the crew being trained in handling situations in various scenarios, one is faced at times with situations wherein the crew need to dig deep and face occasionaly tremendous increase in their workload, also termed as task saturation. Only way to manage highly increased loads is to prioritise the tasks, work  with fellow crew,share the work  load and seek similar assistance from cabin crew, ground control and others , to manage the emergency to ensure a safe landing.
Workload management forms part of Crew resource management(CRM) training and equips one with dealing in situations which he hasn't dealt before.

AIRCRAFT EVACUATION-- EMERGENCY COMMUNICATION