Flight Safety Australia magazine. A plea for plain English language

[A37575]

Flight Safety Australia magazine is free and most times I enjoy reading it, but the latest issue 71 - Nov-Dec 2009 leaves a lot to be desired.
One article, called LAME's Code of Conduct contains four pages of bullet points guaranteed to bring on a great big yawn. I just cannot imagine today's LAME's eagerly devouring these "mission statements" such as "recognise and seek to mitigate the environmental impact of aviation maintenance". Huh??

And at page 20 the CASA gentleman known to many as "The Skull" gets stuck into more "mission statements" and exhortations to have a plan what you're going to do, have sufficient reason to do it and then get on and do it. Resounding patriotic clarion calls to all pull together and help the big "R" regulator. This reader simply couldn't make sense of the gobbly-dook officialese.

Then on page 8 in brilliant psychedelic graphic design, there is a ghostly apparition of a light single making huge wingtip vortices and flying into a gory looking blood-shot eyeball to signify "Awareness in 4D".

The first paragraph of this article is more than a bit daunting where some doctor chappie called Endsley, apparently recognised by her peers as one of the SA (Situational Awareness) gurus, with her baffling definition of situational awareness as: "the perceptions of elements in the environment within a volume of time and space, the comprehension of their meaning, and the projection of their status in the near future" WTF!#8%@?? Huh??

And of course don't forget "The Runway Excursion Risk Reduction Toolkit" at page 28.. You just gotta have one of those - available at Bunnings at 50 percent discount - just present your pilots licence.

Do any of FSA's readers remember the wonderfully written Aviation Safety Digest magazine of yore? No ads - no bulls..t, and always clear-cut concise use of the English language. Jeez - I miss reading those.

[gobbledock]

Worth A Scream !!!

Hi A37575, you quoted the following:

And at page 20 the CASA gentleman known to many as "The Skull" gets stuck into more "mission statements" and exhortations to have a plan what you're going to do, have sufficient reason to do it and then get on and do it. Resounding patriotic clarion calls to all pull together and help the big "R" regulator. This reader simply couldn't make sense of the gobbly-dook officialese

Slight correction,it's not 'The Skull' it is'The Screaming Skull' !!
Righto chaps, I have some work to do, cheerio then......

[Hasherucf]

Another example of new speak. There was a great interview on the 7.30 report with Bob Hawke's ex speech writer. Cant rememebr his name but he had written a few books on the subject . Hopefully someone out there will remember his name .

THe example he gave was in the inquiry into the vic bush fires the fire authority asked people to 'populate a document' instead of filling out the form :-D

Another great one highlighted on Hungry Beast was a media statement regarding a mining accident reported a rockfall as a 'gravity falling incident'

Most people see it as it is BULLS*&T

[40Deg STH]

A37575

Well said, bring back the old "Crash comics" They were great information,simple and informative

[Pedota]

Hasherucf, it was Don Watson - who was Paul Keating's speech writer.

Here's a link to an ABC AM radio segment on the subject (transcript provided) AM - PM guilty of tiresome management speak, says author 05/11/2009

Some examples discussed in the program are: irregular maritime arrivals; the stimulus spending has been re-phased; detailed programmatic specificity and framework for the future.

Cheers

[tipsy2]

Poorly researched articles, erroneous quoting of AD's as to be deceptive and a demonstated lack of both engineering and regulatory knowledge.

What a great publication, NOT

tipsy

[cficare]

Perhaps CASA could put togetrher a "crash comic" classic style in addition to the next "normal" edition of the Flight Safety magazine and let the readership vote as to which style they would prefer???

Gotta feeling I know the result....

Unfortunately the above will never happen....can't have pilots reflecting on the experiences of others......

[dude65]

CFI
About 12 months ago they did an insert section that was more like the old crash comics. I guess it was a one off.

On another topic but in the same edition, the report on page 53 makes for some pretty scary reading.

[Altimeters]

Took me about 20 minutes to read this one and then it ended up in the bin.

If anyone with influence reads this, I agree with what's been said before.

Well said chap. I did the exact same thing. Read only the 'Close Calls' then was filed away.

[Torquatus]

Well you don't actually want to say anything - then you're responsible for it!

Or, for the pollies in the audience:

While it is government policy to distribute rulings and descisions to as wide and varied an audience as possible, metricization or overly verbose distribution of the specification of certain policy areas and decisions can lead to undesirable liability resulting in a net reduction of outcomes. This can, in turn, lead to little in the way of detailed programmatic specificity moving forward.

(And it's a joke - there is no way that "distribut[ing] rulings and descisions" is in any way government policy! )

[FFG 02]

Just play

Direct anywhere,

Don't get stressed mate;

Do you fall asleep in meetings ? Well, here's something that will change all that !
To play: Simply tick off 5 WANK WORDS as you hear them and then shout BINGO !!!

Wank Words Bingo

[ForkTailedDrKiller]

Took me about 20 minutes to read this one

It took you that long?

I skimmed it for 5 min while having a bowel movement - then binned it.

Bring back the crash comic!

Dr

[VH-XXX]

I opened mine. It looked Gucci and fluffy, I started reading about some guy who became visual slightly below minima (yawn), got bored, so I threw it in the recycling unlike the non-environmental DR who threw his in the bin.

Seems to be the sentiment here.

[Tmbstory]

The old Safety Digests

Far better than the so called present ones.

The old ones are worth keeping and re- reading.

Some of the posts to the PPRune forums, should also follow the concise and to the point suggestions.

Tmb

[Pro777]

There was discussion a year ago re scanning and distributing the Aviation Safety Digest . John_tullamarine was chatting to CASA re the copyright situation, though I'm not sure of the outcome?

John - any news?

I for one would be more than happy to assist. I have a few old ones laying around, and also numerous copies of Asia-Pacific Air Safety (though most are on the opposite side of oz at the moment). FWIW, there also used to be some great articles in the 80's AOPA magazines - Now that could be a terrific opportunity for them to attract new members ... join and get access to a PDF archive of all their previous publications.

[OzExpat]

I'd never seen a copy of this magazine before today and agree that, after 20 minutes, I was almost asleep. The difference between this rubbish and the hallowed crash comic of old is that the latter was written by people with real experience, who knew how to communicate with us in our language. I suspect that the latest publication from ATSB suffers from a lack of experience and an intent to protect their backsides.

Seems to be much easier to use lots of big words to say nothing. Maybe they reckon it makes them sound knowledgeable?

[Dangly Bits]

Does anyone know the background of the Editor?

[john_tullamarine]

John - any news?

Other work caused the project to be put to one side but I have the relevant contacts and it will be resurrected in the near to medium future. Centaurus and I have long had a desire to see the old crash comics be available for all the new chums .. who would benefit from learning the lessons of those who often hurt themselves ...

[Scion]

"Political correctness is a doctrine, fostered by a delusional, illogical minority, and rabidly promoted by an unscrupulous mainstream media, which holds forth the proposition that it is entirely possible to pick up a turd by the clean end"



R. J. Wiedemann LtCol. USMC Ret


Just got this on the e-mail , it sort of fits dosn't it.

By the way one of the editors of the "Crash Comics" was Macarthur Job and I am sure he has copies of them.

[Tee Emm]

Well said, bring back the old "Crash comics" They were great information,simple and informative

The proposition to change the current format of FSA back to the original Aviation Safety Digest that had always enjoyed universal success, was canvassed two years ago with the current editor. The proposition was knocked back based on the fact that FSA magazine had to pay it's own way and it could only do that by copius advertising which is what we see now.

Just before the current editorial team took their desks, the previous editor Mr Robert Markmann was handed the job on a temporary basis (he was actually an illustrator) to replace yet another editor who had left. Markmann did an excellent job in the short time he was editor and FSA improved remarkably. He must have done too well, because he was "retrenched" by his superior who himself left shortly after.

The current editor and her staff have no operational experience (meaning pilots) and this shows in the current format of the magazine. Although so far only 20 or so correspondents have replied to the original post on Pprune about the short-comings of FSA, I would not be surprised if the majority of licence holders that receive FSA free of charge in the mail, bin it soon after. In marked contrast - and judging by the Pprune replies on this thread and previous others over the past year or so, Aviation Safety Digest copies were hoarded like gold. Surely therefore this sends a message to those who have responsibility for running Flight Safety Australia magazine that there is something seriously wrong with their product