Hmmm … some very interesting comments from the group on Captain Attarian’s recently published Safety Alert. I, for one, perhaps one of the few here, happen to believe that Captain Attarian probably took painstaking efforts to be honest while at the same time not sounding overly accusative or overly negative. It’s for each reader to decide individually whether those goals were achieved … and despite, or in concert with, the individual comments found here, I sincerely believe it took a lot of courage and a huge amount of concern and care on Captain Attarian’s part to even attempt to write such comments. But, I believe his efforts should be applauded – certainly not criticized – even if they only generate an undercurrent of grumbles and a stirring of memories. At least that would be a start.
I’ve always been of the opinion that anyone who regularly sits behind the controls of an airplane during flight is merely one error … an error that goes unrecognized or “mis-recognized” or is inappropriately, insufficiently, or inaccurately corrected … one error short of one of those “there-but-for-the-Grace-of-God-go-I” sorts of catastrophic and/or disastrous airplane accidents.
Further, while I agree that it certainly is a “…nicely balanced, yet brutally honest reminder from management…” I DO NOT believe that the person who “leaked it” is anywhere near a “halfwit,” and most assuredly should NOT be sacked or banned from the industry. In fact if there were a way to take Captain Attarian’s letter and reduce its thoughts to a convenient slogan, I would advocate such a slogan being hung in a well-lighted and easy to read spot, strategically placed over every one of the world’s airline crew lounge/briefing room doorways out to the ramp. The biggest problem with such an effort is the almost unavoidable eventuality that reading and taking such a “slogan” to heart is quite likely to soon become merely another thing to “see” without “seeing” and therefore forfeiting it’s meaning as something of value and importance, and relegating it to the same complacency that such a slogan would attempt to guard against developing in the first place.
Therefore, it is likely to fall to the individual flight crew members to “do the right thing” And that, in my opinion, will require the world’s regulators, supported by, and in concert with, all the world’s airline management officials and pilots' representatives, to take major steps to ensure that what is included in initial and recurring training efforts, and what is included in regularly conducted proficiency reviews and evaluations, are those issues that continue to focus on basic knowledge and the skills required to apply that knowledge – each of which simply must be based on a correct and complete understanding of the airplane and its systems, and an exhaustive regimen of practicing the correct (and that is both procedurally correct and situationally correct) performance of those skills.
As I’ve pointed out previously, the UK’s Royal Aeronautical Society has mounted numerous efforts to focus on just such goals. The most recent, I believe, has the very best focus to succeed in accomplishing just such a goal … the international effort to develop training and evaluation standards for pilots, instructors, and evaluators … to match the recently developed uniform standards developed for the involvement of flight training simulation devices. This effort should not be looked upon as a “once done – done forever” kind of effort. It should be a “living” and “breathing” effort, that is continually and regularly reviewed and examined – using the most recent memories and concerns, and being sure to specifically include all of the newest systems and equipment whose original design was to enhance or make easier the eventual operation of an airplane, into those deliberations and training/evaluation development efforts. Doing less than this level of effort would certainly qualify, in my not-so-humble opinion as the only thing professionals in this industry could do that could be described as “halfwit!”
And the "pro-active" efforts I have in mind do not include laying blame at anyone's door - as all of us in the industry have to accept our own part of whatever it is this industry does! We do not need to FIX BLAME ... we need to FIX PROBLEMS - and the best way I know to do that is to prepare our participants to maximum levels. We're all human ... and therefore prone to making mistakes - but perhaps if we all (that is ALL) work together - each one being invited to look over the shoulder of the other(s) to provide the best opportunity to prevent errors in thought or practice from developing - and, if (more likely, when) errors do develop, we will be able to recognize that error (those errors?) and take appropriate steps to correct them and avoid committing them in the future. Only through an ON-GOING series of efforts to review, evaluate, develop, and incorporate those things that we find necessary, will we reach the point that we're doing all we can. Anything LESS will be just that ... LESS.
Last edited by AirRabbit; 2nd Mar 2015 at 03:31.