distractions in the cockpit
 

Despite the sterile cockpit rule that every airline has.
Regarding cockpit distractions, specially on the ground during turnarounds, such has being constantly interrupted by maintance or by load sheet arrival.
What are your own techniques, or how do your airline SOPs cope with that problem.

Cheers,

TOMemo

Usually, lock the FD door.
Works every time...:}

I used to just deal with each on-ground problem as it came, and still work through my checks at a speed that I felt safe at.
If that resulted in the flight being late, then so be it.
Saying that, I did actually throw a Saudi ground bloke out of the cockpit one day. :)

Good topic -distraction is one of the major problems on the modern flightdeck.I would not interrupt a private conversation but there appear to be legions of ground personnel that interrupt checklists,briefings etc without thought.I always point this out and restart checklists etc.Lack of training and another by-product of the low cost revolution I suppose.

atb

Not always but if I am interrupted during a brief or doing checklists etc on the ground I put my (inboard!) hand up (palm forward) - this usually seems to convey the message that I do not want interrupting at this stage.

Interruptions seems to be a norm of the age that we live in now. Years ago ground staff were more respectful and would wait and/or pick a better time to talk. To some extent the flight deck is a sacred place and should be regarded as such.

When someone comes charging into the flight deck gobbing off at 10 to the dozen whilst I am talking to someone else I excuse myself from the first conversation, tell the second person to wait because I'm talking to someone else, and then continue, and complete the first conversation. People walk in in the middle of check lists and all sorts of things. Funnily enough I have the same exchanges with my 4 and 5 year old nieces, and nephews when I am in conversation with other adults: the nieces and nephews are getting the message...

I find the pilots get in the way of me trying to do my job in getting the a/c serviceable and fit to fly!:eek: (no tongue in cheek smilie!)

It's a case of having to work together, I'm fully aware of when the flt deck are doing their brief etc and know when or not to speak, easy really working as a team.:ok:

There is the possibility that some of this is a generation thing and some younger personel might not have thought about the consequences of butting in on the flight deck. However I think a lot of it is pointed in two other directions, one the rapid change over of ground staff that goes on because of the low pay and two because if this flight goes late someones going to carry the blame.

While on the ground and parked we're not in a life threatning situation, so I don't get bend out of shape by the usual distractions from ground crew. I accept it as a challenge and work around it, recognizing that the distractions are unintentional by eager ground staff who are generally eager to please and to get their part of the job done.

One should also keep in mind that when flying international that there are language and cultural challenges, and flight deck crews will establish better rapport when friendly rather than confrontational. If you have a short fuse and **** all over yourself in trying to shut people up, the job may altogether be too stressful for you. :{

Patience was always a virtue.
If I went into the FD and found the members were busy
I just waited until they'd finished.
Except when they were reading the Financial Times.

But what if they're reading The Sun?

Flight Deck Sterility.
 

A lot of the time the most sterile areas on the flight deck are the flight crew. "Incoming"

Back in the good old days of six or seven legs a day up and down the east coast with no dispatcher and no flight attendant(s) but still trying to make fifteen minute turns, I tried to set the tone by briefing the first officers that "I have one speed: I don't rush and I don't waste time. If you need a Coke, go and get one. If you need a pee, go and pee. If you see someone you know along the way, say hi and keep going."

Since those days, I have seen fireflybob's raised palm used effectively, as long as it conveys the sense that "you are in the queue" and not one of irritation.

Recently, however, I watched a captain handle one of these situations very well. It seems that operations had generated the general decs a day earlier (no doubt using advanced multi-tasking techniques), and consequently they had failed to capture two changes to the crew roster. Naturally, as we neared departure time and discovered the error, ops wanted the captain to use his authority to overwrite the names and sign off the general decs (all fifteen copies). He politely explained that he would do so but not until the cockpit crew had completed all of their preflight tasks, including checklists, etc. Not only did this preserve the cadence of the cockpit preparation, it also established a planned queue for the necessary tasks. This planned queue was front-loaded to allow time for other, as-yet-undiscovered-but-possibly-more-serious issues to be managed. Everyone's attention stayed focused and on the same page, and everyone knew what was next. It was CRM very well executed.

Of course, it had the accidental byproduct of placing credit for the inevitable delay squarely where it belonged. Oh well...you can't cover everything...:D

Actually on the ground you are potentially in a life- threatening situation if you load the ZFW into the GW box of the FMC and use V speeds 10's of knots too low.This is the situation that the MEL Emirates crew found themselves in and although they survived the ensuing tailstrike,the aircraft was badly damaged and the crew lost their jobs.One of the contributory factors was considered distraction.

Noticeably the Emirates engineering staff will not interrupt the pre- flight procedure,briefings etc but wait until you turn to them.This is a direct consequence of the MEL incident referred to.I stand to be corrected but I believe that the Emirates cockpit is 'sterile' from pre-flight onwards.

atb

Any checklist distraction or interuption should, unfortunately, result in starting at the top of that individual checklist. This avoids assumming you have completed the action point where your finger is held at. Not easy with commercial pressure but better safe than sorry. :cool:

To avoid distractions on the ground I tend to leave reading Nuts magazine until the cruise! ;)

CRM = Coarse Reading Material then?

CRM = CR&P (i was distracted)! Remind Me?

How else do you expect us to keep in touch with the numerous hosties that we are trying to be 'friendly' with :E