Flight Safety Australia magazine. A plea for plain English language
Flight Safety Australia magazine is free and most times I enjoy reading it, but the latest issue 71 - Nov-Dec 2009 leaves a lot to be desired.
One article, called LAME's Code of Conduct contains four pages of bullet points guaranteed to bring on a great big yawn. I just cannot imagine today's LAME's eagerly devouring these "mission statements" such as "recognise and seek to mitigate the environmental impact of aviation maintenance". Huh??
And at page 20 the CASA gentleman known to many as "The Skull" gets stuck into more "mission statements" and exhortations to have a plan what you're going to do, have sufficient reason to do it and then get on and do it. Resounding patriotic clarion calls to all pull together and help the big "R" regulator. This reader simply couldn't make sense of the gobbly-dook officialese.
Then on page 8 in brilliant psychedelic graphic design, there is a ghostly apparition of a light single making huge wingtip vortices and flying into a gory looking blood-shot eyeball to signify "Awareness in 4D".
The first paragraph of this article is more than a bit daunting where some doctor chappie called Endsley, apparently recognised by her peers as one of the SA (Situational Awareness) gurus, with her baffling definition of situational awareness as: "the perceptions of elements in the environment within a volume of time and space, the comprehension of their meaning, and the projection of their status in the near future" WTF!#8%@?? Huh??
And of course don't forget "The Runway Excursion Risk Reduction Toolkit" at page 28.. You just gotta have one of those - available at Bunnings at 50 percent discount - just present your pilots licence.
Do any of FSA's readers remember the wonderfully written Aviation Safety Digest magazine of yore? No ads - no bulls..t, and always clear-cut concise use of the English language. Jeez - I miss reading those.