PPRuNe Forums - View Single Post - FAA Head Concerned With Cockpit Experience
Old 14th Aug 2009, 13:43
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Bealzebub
 
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I agree with everything mungop has said above, but would add the following observations.

As I walk from the from the car park or hotel into the airport terminal every day, I remind myself that every accident or serious incident that ever affected a crew, did so on a day that started just like this one. The great danger is complacency. In this respect it doesn't matter whether you have 200 hours or 20,000 hours. Complacency simply takes a different form. On any given day there has to be a determination to sharpen your own self awareness, and on some days that takes more effort than others. Part of this self awareness is an understanding of the combined resources available to you on any given day, and understanding how the operation may need to be adjusted or modified to take into account the variables. A lot of the variables can be subtle. It is in these subtleties that experience should be a highly valuable asset.

Rather like patting a strange dog. Neither a child nor an adult would approach a growling dog. An adult with far greater experience would however detect other subtle behaviour in a non growling dog, that might make them far more wary or cautious than would a child, who risks being bitten to a far greater degree.

Experience should bring with it a history of lessons learned. Imparting the information, benefits and dangers of those lessons , should be the natural teaching / learning process that is the responsibility of each generation to pass on to the next. Certainly not all of the lessons will be learned, nor fully appreciated or remembered, but some will. Conversely experience doesn't compensate for routine errors, mistakes, omissions, impatience and lapses of attention. In these aspects, the safety benefits of two people cross checking and monitoring each other, requires little experience to be of significant effectiveness.

It is in the mix of these ingredients, of experience, self awarness, competence and attitude that the recipes are formulated for success or a lack of it, and in the worst cases disaster. Experience is certainly a vital part of the successful mix, and that experience comes in a wide spectrum of quality. The administrator appears to be properly advocating the necessity of pilots to ensure the benefits of their own experience are properly taught and integrated into the daily operation of flights conducted by these pilots, and that a better and heightened awareness of all of the available resources is understood by all pilots.

Without doubt this is an observation to be applauded, my concern is that many of the weaknesses inherent within the system, exist and have been encouraged by a lazy and ineffective attitude within the regulatory environments on both sides of the Atlantic, and no doubt elsewhere.
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