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Old 26th Feb 2011, 21:37
  #15 (permalink)  
SNS3Guppy
 
Join Date: Oct 2005
Location: USA
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What you are really saying is that there is very little European training for private IFR pilots who fly for real.
Why don't you let others speak for themselves, without your need to put words in their mouth?

You seem to have a problem with CRM training. You seem to believe that any additional training beyond bare-bones certification is little more than "common sense," and not worth your time.

Perhaps you've never attended advanced training or type-specific training at one of the better training facilities such as Simuflite or Flight Safety International. These facilities run continuous enrichment courses that attendees can take, in addition to their type-specific training, and which are highly beneficial. These courses run the gamut anything from risk management to better communication. Professionals take this additional training seriously, perhaps because we don't think we already know everything.

CRM training includes exercises in addressing one's cockpit organization, integrating ATC, passengers, other pilots, one's resources, one's instruments, radio use, and a host of other subjects, to more efficiently and safely operate.

For those who haven't been training in a while, CRM is an excellent way to seek additional refresher training, which may or may not present new material, but which may enhance the way one thinks about the conduct and planning of a flight, handling an emergency, or making better use of the resources that one already has available.

You received your basic training at some point along the line, to include your private, possibly commercial, possibly instrument. Did anyone spend much time teaching you the finer points of making an off-field landing during that time? Did anyone give you specific instruction on landing in the mountains, or on truly rough fields? Did anyone spend time giving you instruction on proper ditching?

I see many comments here, especially from EU and UK pilots who have had little or no instruction in the use of carburetor heat, mixture control, aircraft systems, performance calculation, or the use of the aircraft flight manual or pilot operating handbook. Many posters comment that they were never given this instruction, or that the flight manual was never made available to them. It's rare to find a pilot posting from the UK, for example, who owns an POH/AFM for the aircraft they fly; most haven't handled one at all.

Would you suggest that training in these deficient areas is wasted, or that use of the mixture, carburetor heat, or performance calculations using the AFM are merely "common sense?" Would you suggest that such training is unnecessary? Where this training hasn't been provided for quite a few posters here, making it available and seeking it out after one's primary training is done is a very good idea. It's wise. It's not wasted. It's not inappropriate. It's not common sense, as the many posts on the subject here bear out. Certainly the vast majority of the posters here haven't a clue when discussions here occur about the use of carburetor heat, nor about mixture usage. Likewise, systems understanding, I find, is severely lacking. Performance, and the calculation thereof, is not well understood.

These are all basic tenets of training that should have been ingrained early in the training process, but clearly were not. Numerous posters have responded, when I've queried them here, that they never received much, if any such training in these areas. This training isn't simply a good idea; it's essential. It's basic to operating the airplane safely.

Likewise, CRM is essential to operating the airplane safely. Whether one is flying in a crew environment or single pilot, proper CRM is essential. Such training, and the philosophy that surrounds it, comes in various packages and names, but it's certainly not wasted training, and is beneficial to anyone who has a mind open enough to receive it. The only time I find it's not beneficial is when provided to those arrogant enough to think they already know it all.

One may have passed the practical test for a certificate or rating, but it certainly doesn't mean one knows all there is to know, or that one couldn't use additional training. Take it where ever one can get it. That certainly includes a good course in resource management.
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