Great safety tool or "Big Brother"?
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Great safety tool or "Big Brother"?
Dear all,
may I ask you for 5 minutes of your time? I am currently working on a research project that deals with obstacles to the implementation of Flight Data Monitoring (or Flight Operational Quality Assurance) on small aircraft fleets. As part of this project, I use a questionnaire that was originally by the FAA to find out how pilots feel about FDM/FOQA.
If you can spare five minutes (no more, I promise), may I ask you to fill out the questionnaire?
It doesn't matter whether you are currently flying in a company that has FDM/FOQA or not, it is your opinion that counts! Up to now, I have had good replies, but most of respondents come larger operators. I would love to hear from smaller companies, corporate flight departments, etc...!
The link can be found here:
http://freeonlinesurveys.com/s.asp?sid=u...ou85175301
Thank you very much for your time and effort.
Nicolaus
may I ask you for 5 minutes of your time? I am currently working on a research project that deals with obstacles to the implementation of Flight Data Monitoring (or Flight Operational Quality Assurance) on small aircraft fleets. As part of this project, I use a questionnaire that was originally by the FAA to find out how pilots feel about FDM/FOQA.
If you can spare five minutes (no more, I promise), may I ask you to fill out the questionnaire?
It doesn't matter whether you are currently flying in a company that has FDM/FOQA or not, it is your opinion that counts! Up to now, I have had good replies, but most of respondents come larger operators. I would love to hear from smaller companies, corporate flight departments, etc...!
The link can be found here:
http://freeonlinesurveys.com/s.asp?sid=u...ou85175301
Thank you very much for your time and effort.
Nicolaus
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Nicolaus,
I've just filled in your survey, hope it is of use to you.
I know it's not quite what you mean, but I'd suggest that the biggest obstacles to the implementation of FDM are cost and legislation!
1) Make it cheaper/subsidised. FDM is just a very specific form of safety data. Other more general forms of raw safety data have become free over the years e.g. the AIP (under most but sadly not all national aviation regulators) or weather data. Why should FDM be any different? There is even an argument that if the state just paid for the kit and installation, it would make the money back several times over taxing the revenue of the businesses that provide the analysis...
2) If you can't stomach business getting freebies, then legislate! Why have an arbitrary 27.5T limit in Europe? If there must be a limit then make it the usual 5.7T, or simply mandate it for all a/c (operating public transport or not) which have at least a couple of Data Acquisition Units. I bet it wouldn't be hard to demonstrate on an individual operator or even fleet basis, the safety benefits. No, not the number of crashes! But the number of lead indicators, classic examples being the number of reported unstable approaches, long landings and poorly flown missed approaches.
The technology is getting cheaper all the time and there are more suppliers than ever. Under the risk management principles of As Low As Reasonably Practicable that we're all supposed to live by these days, this is a no-brainer for everyone concerned.
What pilots and a/c operators do with the data once they get it, though... I guess that's where your survey comes in, Nicolaus! It has been my experience that, contrary to the received wisdom, it is line pilots who learn to be positive about FDM before their management do. And as for Compulsory Disclosure...
Good Luck with your research
the Wings
I've just filled in your survey, hope it is of use to you.
I know it's not quite what you mean, but I'd suggest that the biggest obstacles to the implementation of FDM are cost and legislation!
1) Make it cheaper/subsidised. FDM is just a very specific form of safety data. Other more general forms of raw safety data have become free over the years e.g. the AIP (under most but sadly not all national aviation regulators) or weather data. Why should FDM be any different? There is even an argument that if the state just paid for the kit and installation, it would make the money back several times over taxing the revenue of the businesses that provide the analysis...
2) If you can't stomach business getting freebies, then legislate! Why have an arbitrary 27.5T limit in Europe? If there must be a limit then make it the usual 5.7T, or simply mandate it for all a/c (operating public transport or not) which have at least a couple of Data Acquisition Units. I bet it wouldn't be hard to demonstrate on an individual operator or even fleet basis, the safety benefits. No, not the number of crashes! But the number of lead indicators, classic examples being the number of reported unstable approaches, long landings and poorly flown missed approaches.
The technology is getting cheaper all the time and there are more suppliers than ever. Under the risk management principles of As Low As Reasonably Practicable that we're all supposed to live by these days, this is a no-brainer for everyone concerned.
What pilots and a/c operators do with the data once they get it, though... I guess that's where your survey comes in, Nicolaus! It has been my experience that, contrary to the received wisdom, it is line pilots who learn to be positive about FDM before their management do. And as for Compulsory Disclosure...
Good Luck with your research
the Wings
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Hi Wings,
Thank you so much for your feedback. You raise some good points.
In order not to distort the results of the survey, I can't reply to you here, but I will PM you.
I had some great and interesting replies to the survey, but the number of returns is still quite low. This makes it quite difficult to come up with statistically significant trends. So please, if you are reading this and have not yet filled out the survey, may I ask you (beg you
) to do that? It really takes just a few moments.
Thanks a lot!
Regards,
Nicolaus
Thank you so much for your feedback. You raise some good points.
In order not to distort the results of the survey, I can't reply to you here, but I will PM you.
I had some great and interesting replies to the survey, but the number of returns is still quite low. This makes it quite difficult to come up with statistically significant trends. So please, if you are reading this and have not yet filled out the survey, may I ask you (beg you
) to do that? It really takes just a few moments.Thanks a lot!
Regards,
Nicolaus
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Big brother.
Useless. (IMO)
I guess nowadays a lot of people need the then 'felt' security/safety.
I personally abhor the 1984 scenarios we are increasingly in and I donīt mean just aviation.
Where are responsble individuals? A system that is as safe as aviation is these days needs ever increasing regulation and oversight? Gimme a break, please... a few bad apples are used to create a new part of the industry every few years... and safety is ALWAYS good, isnīt it? One can certainly use it to promote almost anything...
Near AOC for private flights, SMS, the requirement to be "authorized" to do this and that and now FDM?
21 years to my pension... I feel its like 20 too much.
NB: thats nothing personal against you, nicolaus, or your project...
Useless. (IMO)
I guess nowadays a lot of people need the then 'felt' security/safety.
I personally abhor the 1984 scenarios we are increasingly in and I donīt mean just aviation.
Where are responsble individuals? A system that is as safe as aviation is these days needs ever increasing regulation and oversight? Gimme a break, please... a few bad apples are used to create a new part of the industry every few years... and safety is ALWAYS good, isnīt it? One can certainly use it to promote almost anything...
Near AOC for private flights, SMS, the requirement to be "authorized" to do this and that and now FDM?
21 years to my pension... I feel its like 20 too much.
NB: thats nothing personal against you, nicolaus, or your project...
Last edited by His dudeness; 24th Jan 2013 at 20:08.
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If used properly - ie to correct unfortunate trends before they become statics - OFDM is the best thing since sliced bread.
When you see it used to alter course in a large organisation - and get to watch it actually turn the tide - you suddenly realise what a great tool it is.
As HD says, we can blame this on the "bad apples" - because we would never count ourselves as being in that group! Funny how many people that were not inherently bad apples went out and killed themselves, their crew and all souls on board. Even if we accept the "bad-apples" dichtomy, surely HD and people feeling the same way must admit that this could be a tool to turn some borderline bad apples into good apples??
When you see it used to alter course in a large organisation - and get to watch it actually turn the tide - you suddenly realise what a great tool it is.
As HD says, we can blame this on the "bad apples" - because we would never count ourselves as being in that group! Funny how many people that were not inherently bad apples went out and killed themselves, their crew and all souls on board. Even if we accept the "bad-apples" dichtomy, surely HD and people feeling the same way must admit that this could be a tool to turn some borderline bad apples into good apples??
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As HD says, we can blame this on the "bad apples" - because we would never count ourselves as being in that group! Funny how many people that were not inherently bad apples went out and killed themselves, their crew and all souls on board. Even if we accept the "bad-apples" dichtomy, surely HD and people feeling the same way must admit that this could be a tool to turn some borderline bad apples into good apples??
that this could be a tool
Lets have CRM and all will be well.
Lets have more courses and all will be well.
Lets have more authorities/regulations and all will be well.
Lets have SMS and all will be good.
Now lets have FDM and we will be healed....
Until the next pig is raced through the village (does this expression exist in english?)
Do you shower, empty cruise? I do, knowing that I could slip, fall and thus hurt or kill myself. I do that in a bath tub.
Shouldnīt I be sitting in that tub to 'mitigate the risk' ?
At least I should have my wife monitor me on how often I nearly slipped standing in the tub using the shower head.
Learn to shower properly and and donīt use the same water temperature on everyone. (analogy: learn to fuc.king fly right) And accept the imperfection of humans. We will NEVER achieve a zero rate of accidents.
All Iīm saying... (and I wonīt discuss it further, cause Iīm sure the bloody thing will be invented. Needlees to say that no one has any economical interest, it will be done solely for safety reasons and nothing else. BTW, the earth is flat and a disc)
None withstanding that my statement sounds different, I surely am a beliver in constant learning and using others mistake to make ones perfomance better.
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My company operates a FDM system, and its a useful tool in my opinion. The data is analysed and any 'highlighted' data is looked at by a peer group of pilots, who are the only ones who have access to the crew names. If its unusual or worrying, they will contact the pilots involved directly, and discuss the case. The overall data is de-identified, before its passed on to training, Standards and flight management for what its best used for, improving the whole picture by identifying weaknesses in SOP's or other operations.
I fly without any thought to FDM, as far as I can I follow rules and stay with in the 'box', thus have nothing to fear. Any 'blips' that I cause should have an explanation,usually a crew report or ASR, because they will be unusual and I know it.
What it is good for is observing trends, and yes, to catch out the 'sloppy' or non SOP pilots... but is this a bad thing?.. no, and thats coming from someone who has a few years of bush flying behind me...
In my opinion, if you fly within the SOPs and generally stay safe, its a 'friend'.
Yes its a 'big brother' in a way, but it all depends how paranoid you are!
I fly without any thought to FDM, as far as I can I follow rules and stay with in the 'box', thus have nothing to fear. Any 'blips' that I cause should have an explanation,usually a crew report or ASR, because they will be unusual and I know it.
What it is good for is observing trends, and yes, to catch out the 'sloppy' or non SOP pilots... but is this a bad thing?.. no, and thats coming from someone who has a few years of bush flying behind me...
In my opinion, if you fly within the SOPs and generally stay safe, its a 'friend'.
Yes its a 'big brother' in a way, but it all depends how paranoid you are!
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(analogy: learn to fuc.king fly right)
Used properly FDM is a tool for you to assess yourself - in most companies you can ask to see the data on your own flights. And it doesn't matter how good you are there is always room for improvement.
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Dear all,
I would like to keep you up to date with the results of the survey.
The number of responses so far has been very low, meaning that less than 30 answers have been received. This is unfortunately not enough to come to any (statistically) valid conclusion. The answers given so far confirm what we have seen here in this thread; that is, widely varying perceptions regarding the safety value.
As it really gives me a lot of grievance to leave this project unfinished, I'll keep the survey online for another week Hopefully, some more answers will come in. If they don't, I'll close the survey. In any case, I'll keep you updated.
In the meantime I would like to thank everybody who participated!
I would like to keep you up to date with the results of the survey.
The number of responses so far has been very low, meaning that less than 30 answers have been received. This is unfortunately not enough to come to any (statistically) valid conclusion. The answers given so far confirm what we have seen here in this thread; that is, widely varying perceptions regarding the safety value.
As it really gives me a lot of grievance to leave this project unfinished, I'll keep the survey online for another week Hopefully, some more answers will come in. If they don't, I'll close the survey. In any case, I'll keep you updated.
In the meantime I would like to thank everybody who participated!
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Nicklaus,
Patience is a virtue. Many of us don't spend much time on the net, let alone trawling through the often rubbish that is posted on pprune.
Just completed your survey, a subject I feel strongly about.
In summary it should be used for so much good, and when implemented we were told it would help SOP's, ATC requests, identify bad practice and recording errors, some of which has happened.
However I know one company where the data has been used as part of the disciplinary process.
Patience is a virtue. Many of us don't spend much time on the net, let alone trawling through the often rubbish that is posted on pprune.
Just completed your survey, a subject I feel strongly about.
In summary it should be used for so much good, and when implemented we were told it would help SOP's, ATC requests, identify bad practice and recording errors, some of which has happened.
However I know one company where the data has been used as part of the disciplinary process.
