An engine fails .. Complete QRH.... What next??? The QRH does not tell you where to land. It does not tell you how much fuel you have. It does not tell you how heavy the aeroplane is, what weather and icing there is, terrain, destination runway length, instrument approaches, engineering support, passenger handling, dealing with cabin crew, notifying ATC. The list goes on. And this is where the experience kicks in! Prioritising and managing..
First up...99% of the time and engine DOES NOT fail. So how many decisions do you make on a routine flight from A-B huh?
Secondly, the fuel vs weight status has to be known preflight, you know calculate a CP PNR yada yada yada, to comply with regs and OM.
The other things you mention are PROCESS driven, the runway length is either suitable or not, an instrument approach may be required, not because the PIC
decides that one is required but because the conditions are below prescribed conditions, from the regulator. Passenger handling, yep, give a PA, where is the decision? DEALING with the cabin crew? DEALING WITH? Do you mean managing them by keeping them informed?
Interestingly, Sully's water landing might not have had
Come on guys, the A380 and Sully account for
two flights. Get some perspective here. More than 99% of flights are routine. So far in aircraft above 5700 kg I have a ONE engine failure, two hydraulic system problems, one partial depressuristaion and one generator failure. In all but ONE case we continued to destination as planned after completing the QRH.
So, all the thinking has been done for you eh?
That would be why a new pilot on a particular type performs exactly the same in a flight assessment as a pilot with thousands of hours on type.
You are confusing handling experience, confidence and familiarity with the task with DECISION making.
Thinking is not DECISION making.
My point is only this. On a regular line flight with no major failures, the PIC makes very few decisions, those that are made are generally selected from a limited choice avalable, no free thinking. If you feel that my post was ...
Probably one of the dumbest posts ever on pprune.
then you either don't understand my point or have an overdeveloped sense of your own importance as a pilot. Do you wear a big watch by any chance?
My post was a response to the assertion that the main role of a pilot was to make decisions. I believe this is incorrect. Our responses are
almost all pavlovian. (Look it up). If not shown by our use of memory recalls and QRH and FCOM type checklists then by the fact that Captain X can be replaced by Captain Y on a sector and FO Z would still know what to do and what to expect from the different Captain. In a given situation we know and are expected to perform certain things in a certain way. No free thinking. Few decisions that are not apparent at the flight planning stage. eg An engine failure at position X would require fuel dumping and a return to A or it would require continuation to destination due to commercial reasons, pax and engineering support say.
Try the experiment. Next sector in a high cap RPT jet. See how many decisions you actually make that
are not as a direct result of a requirement to comply with a reg, OM, etc. In other words are process driven by the logic of the situation.
Let me know how it goes.