Originally Posted by
fox niner
Nah. Semantics really.
”positive rate” as said in many SOP’s around the globe, simply means that a positive rate of climb has been established. It is the abbreviated form of “positive rate of climb”.
Same as: “gear down, flaps 20”, which means “select the gear lever down and subsequently select flaps 20, please”
Let’s not get into this. Just make sure you do a go-around when too hot and high.
The change of just one little word, or in the sequence of words or items, in SOPs
(all areas…) could make tremendous progress on safety…
Unfortunately, I see that ignored in many companies…
”Nah, Semantics really” IMHO is inviting ’room for error’…
Despite the different SOPs several DOFOs or companies may have printed, let’s
very briefly try to talk
basic semantics.
But then, correctly… They are applicable for all phases of flight...
- There are several ways to confirm that an aircraft is climbing. Each way has its own shortcomings/restrictions/conditions. Out of all these ways, the altimeter has virtually none…
- The actions of a pilot usually follow ’mindset’ and ’input’, unless otherwise ’drilled’… Hence, in the startling phase of a go around or wave off, during the preparation to confirm and subsequently call out: ”Positive rate” the ’mindset’ and ’input’ will pull the pilots attention and eyes towards the VSI in the first place.(Solely, because of the word: rate…)
Even whilst the pilot should know better, (s)he keeps staring at and waiting for a needle to go up, at an instrument that is useless in those moments. And the pilot is wasting her/his precious energy whilst unnoticed the altimeter probably has already slowly started going up…)
Had the pilot been looking with the same intensity at the altimeter in the first place, (s)he would have instantly grabbed the precious information about climbing or not by just looking at one spot...
Just a plain, simple example of basic semantics kept simple…
(A great deal of my training is done at high elevation airfields in mountainous regions, where room for error diminishes very rapidly.
That’s also an environment where you really find out things which you would normally, during years of flying, never notice !)
learner . . . 