PPRuNe Forums - View Single Post - Incapacitation on take off - A realistic act
Old 15th Jul 2017, 12:08
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Centaurus
 
Join Date: Jun 2000
Location: Australia
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Incapacitation on take off - A realistic act

At an airline reunion this story was told and made me think. I knew the crew involved. The crew were on a scheduled simulator session. The captain did the first two hours followed by the usual coffee break when it became the first officer’s turn. As the captain received take off clearance, he received a whispered call from the jump seat check pilot via the private intercom, to fake an incapacitation during the take off roll. The first officer was unaware of this.

At 100 knots the captain let out a blood curdling cry and dramatically collapsed sideways clutching at his throat. The first officer was immediately alarmed and reached over to help the comatose captain saying “Christ, Jack – are you alright?” Meanwhile the simulator continued roaring down the runway until the checkie (an angry ant when on duty but an affable social lion at parties) hit the freeze button to stop the session. He shouted abuse at the first officer for not taking over control and aborting the take off.

The first officer, his heart still pounding from fright, apologised for the fiasco explaining he thought the captain had a real heart attack and had not realised it was meant to be a tick in the box exercise. The checkie nevertheless could not contain his temper and refusing to accept the first officer's perfectly honest explanation, marked down the first officer’s assessment as fail.

After the coffee break, the first officer became PF while the captain was PM. The briefed exercise was engine failure after V1. At 100 knots the first officer without warning, gave a loud gasp and slumping over the controls shouted “Help” as his leg stiffened on full rudder. The captain was completely taken by surprise and grabbed the first officer by the shoulder saying “****! Are you alright, Steve?”
Meanwhile the simulator departed the runway at full power towards the control tower. . The instructor, initially taken by surprise at this unexpected turn of events, froze the simulator and ripped into the first officer screaming he was just a smart arse and he was not supposed to die on his take off. He said nothing to the captain who sat back bemused.

An interesting point that came out of that fiasco was the training syllabus for the airline applied the incapacitation event only to the captain. In other words only captains have incapacitation – never first officers. In fact it is probable that many operators apply that policy in their syllabus. Both pilots need to practice a incapacitation event - not just a first officer.
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