Originally Posted by
RAT 5
The BA SOP might be 'over the top' in that it is spoken out loud. However, it is quite obvious from flying with numerous cadets in another airline, that when the RA chirped up at 2500' their response had no SA awareness whatsoever. I used to encourage them checking it against baro and confirming to themselves it made sense. It was not taught/mentioned as an airmanship SOP; the response was a piece of parrot mouth music to satisfy SOP's. Going into AGP RW14 and cutting the corner to the LOC it was not unusual to have the RA alive at 30nm from touchdown. Descending IMC that needs some understanding, good SA and confident awareness of where you are. However, there did not seem any curiosity that this triggered so far from the runway; just the parrot response. I'm sure there are many more airports where you are descending on procedures below MSA & IMC where the RA will be triggered early.
Yes. I'm sixteen years out of date with BA call-outs but, FWIW, when I was on the A320 fleet (and we were a joint launch-customer for the type) our calls were carefully designed to avoid an unnecessary plethora of verbage. Also, each was designed to elicit a reasoned response from the other pilot, rather than the knee-jerk "checked." The pilot who initiated the call did not state the particular datum, but simply invited the other pilot to announce it. In the event of the other pilot being overloaded (or interrupted by an R/T call), the call would be postponed or cancelled.
IMO, any call that does not require a thoughtful response from the other pilot is no more than occupational therapy for the caller. Good CRM demands mutual understanding and cross-checking. One crew member must not spoon-feed or sucker the other into adopting his/her mistake or misunderstanding. Calls should also assist each pilot to identify subtle incapacitation or overload in the other. However, calls must not be allowed themselves to exacerbate overload.