Transcript Airmanship - SKYbrary Aviation Safety

Airmanship
This presentation provides an overview of Airmanship in aviation. It is intended to enhance the reader's understanding, but it shall not supersede the applicable regulations or
airline's operational documentation. Should there be any discrepancy between this presentation and an airline’s AFM /(M)MEL/FCOM/QRH/FCTM, the latter shall prevail at all times.
1
Introduction
This visual guide defines airmanship and
illustrates its importance to safe flight
operations. Its objective is to reinforce the
importance of airmanship as the basis of
safe flight operations. The material may be
used for self-study or as part of a formal
training presentation. The speaker’s notes
provide additional information.
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Contents
• Airmanship Defined
• The “Building” of Airmanship
• Violations
• Summary
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Airmanship Defined
Airmanship is the consistent use of good judgment and
well-developed skills to accomplish flight objectives.
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The consistency required of good airmanship is:
–
Founded on a cornerstone of uncompromising flight discipline
–
Developed through systematic skill acquisition and proficiency
A high state of situational awareness completes the
airmanship picture and is obtained through knowledge of
one’s self, aircraft, environment, team and risk.
(Kern, 1996)
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Consequences of Poor Airmanship

Accidents and incidents
Poor airmanship is a causal factor in almost all of the 70 percent
of accidents that are attributed to human factors

Operational weaknesses and inefficiencies
Poor airmanship is responsible for operational weaknesses and
inefficiencies that lead to increased safety risk, poor
performance and wasted money
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The “Building” of Airmanship

Judgment — All of the
elements of airmanship support
good judgment and decision
making, just as all of the
structural elements of a
building support its roof.
Judgment
Situational Awareness
Knowledge


Knowledge enables situational
awareness, but, like judgment,
it is also a trait that must be
developed.
In-depth knowledge of many
subjects will support the
thinking processes of
Airmanship.

Airmanship is founded on skills
and proficiency; it includes
both technical and nontechnical subjects.

Discipline is the bedrock of
airmanship; it is the ability and
willpower to fly safely.
Self
Aircraft
Team
Risk
Environment
Mission
Proficiency
Skills
Discipline
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Discipline
Discipline is:

Behavior in accord with rules of conduct

Behavior and order maintained by training and control


An individual’s personal commitment to comply with rules
and procedures
The willpower and ability to operate safely
The exercise of discipline requires:

Not accepting that rules must be broken to accomplish a job
effectively

Rejecting opportunities for shortcuts or doing things better

Resisting temptation to break rules to impress others

Control of personal attitudes and biases
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Skills
Skills are abilities that are learned, usually through training, to
achieve a desired outcome. Two basic classifications of skills are:


Perceptual-motor skills, which involve an interaction between a
perception and a voluntary movement. Perceptual-motor skills are:
•
Taught during initial and recurrent training
•
Required to fly aircraft in normal and emergency situations
Cognitive skills, which involve mental processes such as
comprehension, judgment, memory and reasoning. Cognitive skills are:
•
More complex than perceptual-motor skills
•
Related to learning and recall
•
Involved in gaining and maintaining situational awareness and in
decision making
•
Used when speaking, listening and understanding
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Hierarchy of Skills
Precision
Precise technical and non-technical
skills result from personal endeavor
Efficient
An aircraft commander controls the aircraft and
leads a team
Effective
Broader, non-technical skills and experience give
efficient operation
Safe
Continuing training, experience and
improving airmanship will enable you to
operate effectively as a crewmember
Unskilled
Basic training provides only
those skills necessary to be safe
“The most skillful pilot had the most experience."
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Proficiency
Proficiency refers to competence in a specific area. Generally speaking,
research has shown that it takes practice four hours a day for 10 years for a
person to become an “expert” in a particular domain. With this in mind, it is
essential that pilots do the following to become proficient at flying:

Practice flying at every opportunity

Practice a variety of flying scenarios (e.g., nonprecision approaches, hand
flying, etc.)

Create meaningful situations that will expand your experience base (e.g., fly
new routes, learn a new aircraft, obtain an additional rating)

Practice often and practice consistently, so that skills become automatic
It is important to note that if a pilot transitions to a new aircraft, he/she may
have to learn new skills or relearn old skills in the context of the new
aircraft.
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Knowledge
Pilots must possess comprehensive knowledge about the aircraft, nature
of the flight, possible abnormal and emergency conditions, their own
qualities and the qualities of their team members. Pilots must have a
confident understanding of:

Aircraft
•





Procedures, techniques, limitations
Self
•
Physical fitness and flying proficiency
•
Sources of human error, methods of error detection, techniques for
reducing the effects of errors
Team
•
Capabilities and limitations of crew, ground staff, engineering and ATC
•
Common understanding of aircraft characteristics and operating
procedures
Environment
•
Weather and terrain
•
Organizational, political, regulatory and commercial environments
Risks
•
Identification and assessment
•
Organizational standards designed to reduce risks
Mission Statement
•
Corporate culture, philosophy and safety policies
•
Organization’s safety management system
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Situational Awareness
Situational awareness is knowing where you are, what is going on, where
you are going and what is likely to come next. It develops when you have a
mental picture based on accurate data. Situational awareness is a closed-loop
process in which a pilot continuously seeks more or better information to
gain and maintain it.


Three processes in gaining and maintaining situational awareness:
•
Gather information through basic senses (vision, hearing, balance, smell,
touch)
•
Integrate and interpret (i.e., comprehend) sensory information
•
Use information to project plans and actions into future
Pitfalls in the development of situational awareness:
•
The senses can be fooled in some situations (e.g., illusions)
•
Complete and reliable information may not be accessible, especially in
situations you have not encountered before
•
Information systems are not always reliable
•
Incorrect expectations
•
Distractions
•
Extremely high (emergency) or extremely low workload (boredom)
•
Overconfidence and familiarity with a situation that lead to failure to
accomplish and repeat the three processes
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Judgment
Judgment is the process that leads to a decision. Judgment is supported
by all the other elements of airmanship. Similar to judgment,
aeronautical decision making (ADM) is a systematic approach to the mental
processes used by pilots to consistently determine the best course of
action in response to a given set of circumstances.

Good pilot judgment and ADM require the ability and motivation to:
• Discover and establish the relevance of all available information
relating to problems of flight
• Diagnose problems
• Specify alternative courses of action
• Assess the risk associated with each alternative
• Choose and execute a suitable course of action within the
available time frame. (Jensen, 1995)
Judgment always involves a problem or choice, an unknown
element and usually a time constraint and stress.
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Airmanship Priorities
Good airmanship based on sound judgment involves the
following order of priorities:

Fly the aircraft — Check attitude, speed, altitude, instruments
and automation

Navigate — Know where the aircraft is and where it is going

Communicate — Discuss and review the issues, share tasks,
back up each other

Manage — Take follow-up action and use appropriate levels of
automation

Monitor — Check to see what has changed and take control
when unexpected events occur
These are the “Golden Rules” of flying.
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Airmanship Tips 1

Be alert and ready for the unexpected

Gather information before deciding

Challenge and validate information

Consult

Evaluate consequences
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Ensure mutual backup and cross-check

Check results of actions

Be prepared to reject any constraint that would decrease situation control
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Airmanship Tips 2

Be alert and prepared for typical flight-phase-related emergencies

Consider trajectory as priority no.1 at all times
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Adhere to published procedures, when available

Never leave a situation unresolved (ambiguity, doubt, disagreement, alert or
cockpit effect)
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Prioritize tasks as a function of prevailing condition

Keep all options open and be ready to change initial plans
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Airmanship Tips 3

Stay ahead of the aircraft at all times

Share experience and lessons learned
and -— last but not least —

Be aware, to be mentally prepared.
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Summary
Airmanship is:

Founded on discipline (self, team, corporate)

Continuously striving for self-improvement and optimal personal
performance
Airmanship requires:
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A wide range of perceptual-motor skills

A wide range of cognitive skills
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A wide range of knowledge (self, aircraft, environment, risk)

Appropriate attitudes
Airmanship can be developed through training
and refined through practice and experience.
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References — Links

“Redefining Airmanship,” Tony Kern, 1996, ISBN 0070342849
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‘Flight Safety’ magazine, Australia CASA
http://www.casa.gov.au/avreg/fsa/index.htm
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‘Airmanship, Measuring up’, ‘Vector’ magazine, CAA New
Zealand, http://www.caa.govt.nz/Safety Information,
Publications, ‘Vector’
‘Airmanship and Flight Discipline,’ Tony Hayes, Brisbane Valley
Leisure Aviation Centre
http://www.auf.asn.au/students/Airmanship.html
Jensen, R.S. (1995) “Pilot Judgement and Crew Resource
Management.” Avebury Aviation
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