NOTAM - imminent BOHICA event.
Hitch - "You have to applaud the courage and honesty of Ray Cronin."
Well; no I don't, not at all.
Hitch - "The AHIA president stood up at RotorTech last week and stated straight forward that pilots were to blame for most of the accidents in the helicopter industry.
Yet, the 'facts' contradict this statement - in reality a quick run through the ATSB data base contradicts most of the remarks made; -see - HERE -for a fast fact check.
Hitch - "It made a very refreshing change from people blaming the system, or management or the alignment of the planets.
Bollocks - Oh dear; spoken like a true amateur, holding forth at the bar; one who has never had to do the hard yards associated with making the transition from one who can pedal a light aircraft around the traps in fine fine weather but never faced the grim reality of operating in the 'real' world of commercial operations.
Hitch - "This was problem ownership at its best. Cronin spoke about poor decision-making skills, and although he was referring to the helicopter community, what he was saying has application in the fixed-wing world as well.
Clearly Hitch has never been involved in the working end of industry. Any Chief pilot or C&T bloke (or blokess) could educate him in about five minutes. There is a fine art in transitioning a newly minted pilot to the flight line - no easy task - bit of a dark art in reality. The raw product from flight school needs to be managed through that transition; its not just a matter of 'ticking' the boxes in the endless paperwork. In fact, that part of the process and attitude toward it sets the tone for future attitude - tick, file and dismiss to the file cabinet. How the new start is 'managed' during the first half year sets the 'attitude' for the next decade. New pilots 'copy' and 'carry' the early lessons onto their data base. This is a 'company' problem to solve not the individual. Monkey see - monkey do..
Hitch - "This is not to say the every pilot is to solely to blame for every accident in which they are involved; to do so would be to devalue the Swiss cheese theory so widely accepted by investigators right around the world.
Perhaps a clear eyed look at the 'cheese' related to Mt. Disappointment accident is in order. Not the glib reaction, but the deeper, underlying motivating factors, the real pressures. This was a 'commercial' - revenue flight; representing the first hole in that famous cheese. Were the clients briefed that the weather was marginal for the operation? Were they advised that a turn back was a probability; or, that perhaps the flight could be delayed until the weather cheered up a bit? Were the pilots briefed to take a look and make a judgement call - and risk upsetting passengers who wanted to be and payed to be on time at their meeting? Then there is the subtle pressure - what will the boss say when they return to base or land elsewhere to wait a while? Then, there is peer pressure - what if 'A' got through and 'B' pulled the pin? What then? When the flight was authorised were the pilots given clear instruction - "if it looks dodgy; bring 'em back, don't mess about".
Hitch - "But it seems to me that one of the holes in the cheese belongs to the pilot of the aircraft. They are responsible for the alignment of their hole, and somewhere in nearly every accident you can see where the pilot made a decision that, had they zigged instead of zagged, the crash may not have happened. Part of the solution is owning the problem, which is what Cronin and AHIA have done.
Seems to me Hitch, like Cronin, is talking through his hat. Blaming the pilots is an old saw; an easy excuse for piss poor, greedy flight line management and covering the 'real' culture within a company. Flight crew reflect to base line company attitudes and ethos. Did either of those pilots at Mt. Disappointment have the wriggle room to say - No, not today -or; let's wait a while and see how the weather works out. Yeah; sure they did - not....Not without 'penalty' in one way, shape or form..Command prerogative - anyone??? Shame on Hitch for a sorry, trite piece of sycophantic, inaccurate thoughtless scribble. 'Click'...
Toot - toot.
Hitch - "You have to applaud the courage and honesty of Ray Cronin."
Well; no I don't, not at all.
Hitch - "The AHIA president stood up at RotorTech last week and stated straight forward that pilots were to blame for most of the accidents in the helicopter industry.
Yet, the 'facts' contradict this statement - in reality a quick run through the ATSB data base contradicts most of the remarks made; -see - HERE -for a fast fact check.
Hitch - "It made a very refreshing change from people blaming the system, or management or the alignment of the planets.
Bollocks - Oh dear; spoken like a true amateur, holding forth at the bar; one who has never had to do the hard yards associated with making the transition from one who can pedal a light aircraft around the traps in fine fine weather but never faced the grim reality of operating in the 'real' world of commercial operations.
Hitch - "This was problem ownership at its best. Cronin spoke about poor decision-making skills, and although he was referring to the helicopter community, what he was saying has application in the fixed-wing world as well.
Clearly Hitch has never been involved in the working end of industry. Any Chief pilot or C&T bloke (or blokess) could educate him in about five minutes. There is a fine art in transitioning a newly minted pilot to the flight line - no easy task - bit of a dark art in reality. The raw product from flight school needs to be managed through that transition; its not just a matter of 'ticking' the boxes in the endless paperwork. In fact, that part of the process and attitude toward it sets the tone for future attitude - tick, file and dismiss to the file cabinet. How the new start is 'managed' during the first half year sets the 'attitude' for the next decade. New pilots 'copy' and 'carry' the early lessons onto their data base. This is a 'company' problem to solve not the individual. Monkey see - monkey do..
Hitch - "This is not to say the every pilot is to solely to blame for every accident in which they are involved; to do so would be to devalue the Swiss cheese theory so widely accepted by investigators right around the world.
Perhaps a clear eyed look at the 'cheese' related to Mt. Disappointment accident is in order. Not the glib reaction, but the deeper, underlying motivating factors, the real pressures. This was a 'commercial' - revenue flight; representing the first hole in that famous cheese. Were the clients briefed that the weather was marginal for the operation? Were they advised that a turn back was a probability; or, that perhaps the flight could be delayed until the weather cheered up a bit? Were the pilots briefed to take a look and make a judgement call - and risk upsetting passengers who wanted to be and payed to be on time at their meeting? Then there is the subtle pressure - what will the boss say when they return to base or land elsewhere to wait a while? Then, there is peer pressure - what if 'A' got through and 'B' pulled the pin? What then? When the flight was authorised were the pilots given clear instruction - "if it looks dodgy; bring 'em back, don't mess about".
Hitch - "But it seems to me that one of the holes in the cheese belongs to the pilot of the aircraft. They are responsible for the alignment of their hole, and somewhere in nearly every accident you can see where the pilot made a decision that, had they zigged instead of zagged, the crash may not have happened. Part of the solution is owning the problem, which is what Cronin and AHIA have done.
Seems to me Hitch, like Cronin, is talking through his hat. Blaming the pilots is an old saw; an easy excuse for piss poor, greedy flight line management and covering the 'real' culture within a company. Flight crew reflect to base line company attitudes and ethos. Did either of those pilots at Mt. Disappointment have the wriggle room to say - No, not today -or; let's wait a while and see how the weather works out. Yeah; sure they did - not....Not without 'penalty' in one way, shape or form..Command prerogative - anyone??? Shame on Hitch for a sorry, trite piece of sycophantic, inaccurate thoughtless scribble. 'Click'...
Toot - toot.