SOP compliance

[zeus_737]

SOP compliance... a must at all time..???
its a discussion about the same.. sops do make it easier for crew to interact with each other and know wht is the next action to be carried out by the crew but on a whole how practical is it to follow the SOP to the T without compromising real.. common sense?

there are def pros and cons regarding the same..
so lets have it....

i ask this pertinent question cuz i'm myself designing sops for the company i work for and would appreciate a wider view on the subject.

[Intruder]

Design the SOPs with common sense, and the dilemma won't exist!

Simply ask yourself, "Would _I_ follow this ALL THE TIME if I was the pilot?" If the answer is "NO!" then try again!

[Cronbach's Alpha]

Not sure what aircraft you designing the SOP's for. But I fly the A319 and A340 and I am peeved with the prelim-cockpit and cokpit setup according to our SOP's ..

There are only a few switches that need to be pushed during the cockpit setup, the rest calls for just checking. But our SOP has this very complicated and strange way of checking each switch. On the line i find it easier just to start from left to right and switch on or off whatever needs to be prior to start. But in the simulator some instructors become pedantic about the exact flow....which makes no sense at all...I mean to verbalise each check such as ... "o.k. landing gear lever is down, thrust levers are at idle...etc" we wasted about 1 hour going through things like that. The airbus was designed to check " all white lights out" so why complicate matters.

This is in South Africa by the way.

[Mad (Flt) Scientist]

Or put a caveat that nothing in the SOPs precludes the captain exercising his authority in the interests of safety etc.

[zeus_737]

I myself fly the 319 20 21.... and i completely agree with u. Airbus has made the a.c so simple then y complicate the issue by having to verbalise things which anyways have reminders incase not done properly. For example. if u don't have ur thrust levers to idle u will get ur caution on startup. if u don't have ur switching panel correct it will show up on the E/WD.
SOP according to me should be very logical and simple aimed at the average pilot. but the problem arises when we try and make sop's simple and also legally correct.
tht is the dilema we are facing at this point
but if u can think of any kinks which exist in the AIRBUS Sop which could be worked around. do let me know.

[411A]

It is a sad fact that many companies have tried to re-invent the wheel by making some of their standard procedures rather verbose and...well frankly, not so bright.
In many cases, this is a holdover from earlier days when aeroplanes were not as automated as they are today, but (and I smile every time I write this, as it has proven so very useful in the past*) some carriers have had very nasty accidents in the past, and their specific procedures have been designed so these types ( and many others as well) of accidents will never, ever happen again.
In addition, some carriers try, as much as possible, to make their specific standard procedures common from one type to another.
Lets face facts here...this can only be carried so far, as clearly a FBW Airboos with its side stick is rather configured differently, and requires different specific procedures, than (for example) a B737NG.


*PanAmerican, with their configuration check as the very last item on the before takeoff check.

[zeus_737]

I'm glad i got ur feed bk.
It really makes me very comfortable knowing tht there are other aviators also facing the dilema of SOP compliance over sheer common sense.

I totally agree with u tht sop made my airlines are specific to their needs at tht point of time. however wht prevents them from using the principle of Kaizen.. changin and evolving to get better...well the answer lies with some of us.... we admonish change and anything different from ur common line practice is always viewed skeptically.
causing great amount of grief among line pilots.. whereas they should propable be looking towards the future simplification of their lives itself.

we are tryin very hard in our company to make a very valid, simple yet efficient SOP... ofcourse complying with the local regulation at all times.
:ok:
Wish me luck for i hope i succeed... although i'm sure some one will def have a problem with it... even if its jus a trivial point.... yet KAIZEN shall go on.