Originally Posted by
Centaurus
What's this "Speed checked" thing? Yet another increasingly superfluous call-out when you have already got a pair of eyes.
I think it is a sensible thing to say/do. I'll say 'speed checked', then point to the speed, then select the config. The pointing is my own little personal SOP, but it just makes me slow down and think about it a bit more. A bit like the Japanese train drivers. Quick bit of googling says the following
Research conducted in 1994 by the Railway Technical Research Institute. Workers asked to complete a simple task made 2.38 errors per 100 actions when no special steps were taken to prevent errors. When told to add just calling or just pointing, their error rate dropped significantly. But the greatest reduction in error — to just 0.38 mistakes per 100 actions — was achieved when workers used both steps together. The combination of pointing and calling reduced mistakes by almost 85 percent.
It'a a very specific case but suggests that slowing things down reduces slip errors. We now (as part of SOP at easyJet) must pause when selecting either the gear or the flap, just to give your colleague a chance to spot your slip error before putting the flaps in after take off in error. Not sure that is Airbus SOP but as I understand it, it has reduced the number of errors like this we've been making.