[Peetwo]

AIOS? - Acquired Institutionalised Ostrichitis Syndrome.

Question for V on AIOS - Is this disease a strictly Australian affliction?  

The reason I ask is because it seems that other prominent aviation nations & developing nations appear to be very aware of what the safety risk issues are and are determined to proactively attempt to mitigate the risks. This is highlighted in the following excellent Joan Lowy article (via the Seattle Times). Where the US Transportation Department’s internal watchdog - the Office of the Inspector General - is determined to insure that the FAA does not become complacent in oversighting the legislated measures put in place to mitigate these significant safety issues identified in the Colgan, AF447 and now QZ8501 air disasters:  

APNewsBreak: Government not ensuring pilot skills are sharp  

Originally published January 10, 2016 at 7:05 am Updated January 10, 2016 at 9:05 am

FILE – This Aug. 26, 2010, file photo, shows the view from inside a Boeing 787 full-flight simulator in Renton, Wash. The Federal Aviation Administration’s efforts to ensure airline pilots keep up their flying skills and get full... (AP Photo/Elaine Thompson, File) More  

By JOAN LOWY
The Associated Press

WASHINGTON (AP) — The government is falling short in ensuring airline pilots keep up their flying skills and get full training on how to monitor sophisticated automated control systems in cockpits, according to the Transportation Department’s internal watchdog.

Most airline flying today is done through automated systems that pilots closely monitor. Pilots typically use manual flying skills only briefly during takeoffs and landings. Studies and accident investigations have raised concern that pilots’ manual flying skills are becoming rusty and that pilots have a hard time staying focused on instrument screens for long periods.

But the Federal Aviation Administration isn’t making sure that airline training programs adequately address the ability of pilots to monitor the flight path, automated systems and actions of other crew members, the Transportation Department’s Office of Inspector General found. Only five of 19 airline flight simulator training plans reviewed by investigators specifically mentioned pilot monitoring.

The FAA also isn’t well positioned to determine how often airline pilots get a chance to manually fly planes and hasn’t ensured that airline training programs adequately focus on manual flying, according to the report, obtained by The Associated Press. It has not been released publicly.

In January 2013, the agency issued a safety alert to airlines encouraging them to promote opportunities for pilots to practice manual flying in day-to-day operations and during pilot training. But the FAA hasn’t followed up to determine whether airlines are following the recommendation, the report said.

The FAA published new rules in 2013 requiring airlines to update their training programs to enhance pilot monitoring and manual flying skills, but the agency is still working on guidance to airlines on how to do that, the report said. Airlines aren’t required to comply with the rules until 2019, the report said.

“Because FAA hasn’t determined how carriers should implement the new requirements or evaluated whether pilots’ manual flying time has increased, the agency is missing important opportunities to ensure that pilots maintain skills needed to safely fly and recover in the event of a failure with flight deck automation or an unexpected event,” the report said.

The rules on enhancing training were prompted in part by the 2009 crash of a regional airliner while approaching Buffalo, New York. The crash killed all 49 people on board and a man on the ground.

An investigation by the National Transportation Safety Board revealed that the pilots weren’t closely monitoring the plane’s airspeed, which began to decrease to dangerously slow levels. Thus the captain was startled when a safety system called a “stick shaker” automatically went on, violently rattling the control yoke. Instead of pointing the plane downward to pick up speed, the captain pulled back on the yoke to increase altitude.

That slowed the plane even more, eventually leading to an aerodynamic stall. The plane fell from the sky and landed on a house.

The board concluded that the monitoring errors by the flight crew demonstrated the need for more specific training on active monitoring skills.

The U.S. and other countries are transitioning to satellite-based air traffic systems and reducing their reliance on radar. Among the advantages of satellite-based navigation is that planes can fly more direct routes, reducing flying time. But the precision of automation is needed to allow planes to safely fly closer together and to increase takeoffs and landing in order to reduce congestion and meet growing demands for air travel.

As automation increases, pilots have fewer opportunities to use manual flying skills.

Industry studies and committees have found that pilots who don’t get to use their manual flying skills may not be prepared to handle unexpected events. Two of the nine airlines visited by investigators actively discouraged pilots from manual flying under normal conditions.

“The opportunities air carrier pilots have during live operations to maintain proficiency in manual flight are limited and likely to diminish,” the report said. “While the FAA has taken steps to emphasize the importance of pilots’ manual flying and monitoring skills, the agency can and should do more to ensure that carriers are sufficiently training their pilots on these skills.”

Clay Foushee, the FAA’s director of audits and evaluations, said in comments submitted to the inspector general that the FAA is concerned about “an overreliance on automation and the importance of training pilots to handle unexpected events and manually fly an aircraft.”

He said the FAA agrees with a recommendation about developing standards to determine whether pilots have enough opportunities to practice manual flying skills.
The FAA hopes to provide guidance to airlines on pilot monitoring by Jan. 31, 2017, he said.

___

Follow Joan Lowy at twitter.com/AP_Joan_Lowy. Her work can be found at http://bigstory.ap.org/content/joan-lowy
JOAN LOWY

Meanwhile in Dunce-unda land....

The fact is, regardless of the howls of protest from the techno-nerds that design them, and those who love them "on paper" when in their arm chairs, in the "real world" the systems are actually discombobulating, ( ie, they throw the crew into a state of mental uncertainty ) and as a result, in a crisis situation, the crews quickly become completely discombobulated.

The result, is needless disaster, after needless disaster.

The "industry" will however, never admit to this truth.  

The industry has "acquired institutionalised ostrichitis syndrome" (AIOS).





So, stand by for regular repeats of AF-447 and QZ8501.


Clues:
confusion, befuddlement, bewilderment, puzzlement, perplexity, disconcertment, discomposure, daze, fog, muddle, etc ........

And this is despite several perfect opportunities in two Senate Inquiries (one of which even had a recommendation to look into the AF447 Final Report, once released) & several related serious incidents since. Yet our seriously dysfunctional three Aviation Safety stooges - CASA/ATSB/ASA - are in self-preservation mode and are too busy obfuscating & delaying any real attempt at cultural reform..   


MTF..P2

Ps "...the Transportation Department’s Office of Inspector General found..." -

Hmm..wonder if that is where NX got the idea? Maybe if it was structured similarly to the US system it may carry far more clout??