Point of View.
As it happened; I was having a quiet Ale with a few ‘mates’ – nothing serious – just a catch up and a chinwag. One of the fellahin’s had a new fangled I-Pad and was scanning AP; “read this?” says he: No, so he read it out.
P9 – “Seasoned, thinking pilots will understand the need to manage the whole process so as not to over speed the aircraft and wind up with a hard landing after two flame outs before selecting continuous ignition approaching heavy rain.”
These were ‘senior’ experienced men listening; there was quiet for while; then almost simultaneously we all had the same scary thought. Bear with me, there is a point. Standardization – essentially the aircrew across a fleet should be doing pretty much the same thing. – You could, without drawing too long a bow, parlay that into a statement to the effect that they are all operationally at the same standard; one crew pretty much the same as the next (give or take). With a little imagination you could paint a shocking picture where the events mentioned could all not only happen to the ‘same’ crew, but to the majority of crew – standardization; or, normalized deviance, if you prefer. If one lot could do it - etc.
It leaves the impression that any ATR crew could be operating with the regular noted over speed (and the effect this has on air frame integrity) hitting some routine turbulence; disconnecting the control channel through non SOP; entering heavy rain on approach without continuous ignition, then making a heavy landing in an already seriously damaged aircraft. The next step is have the elevator channels reconnected, a quick inspection and the broken aircraft returned to service for a further 13 sectors. You do realise that another ‘heavy landing’ or another rough ride in turbulence could have led to structural failure.
Us old folk quietly talked it through (as you do) the if’s the ands and the buts’ of it all. Then we applied the oldest test of ‘em all. “Would you let your wife and kids fly with this outfit? “ No prizes for guessing that answer. But the big question of course is – what the hell were ATSB playing at and where was a much self promoted CASA during the five year ‘investigation’. Seems to me some folk should be pulling their socks up, checking their belts and shortening their braces. No matter who drafted the ATSB report; or, more to the point whoever edited and approved the ATSB report should – IMO – be tarred, feathered and run out of Dodge on a rail. The report is even more dangerous than the entire stew of gross aeronautical errors. Scandalous.
Well, so much for old school thinking – a change of subject to happier matters; one for the road then home in time for dinner.
As it happened; I was having a quiet Ale with a few ‘mates’ – nothing serious – just a catch up and a chinwag. One of the fellahin’s had a new fangled I-Pad and was scanning AP; “read this?” says he: No, so he read it out.
P9 – “Seasoned, thinking pilots will understand the need to manage the whole process so as not to over speed the aircraft and wind up with a hard landing after two flame outs before selecting continuous ignition approaching heavy rain.”
These were ‘senior’ experienced men listening; there was quiet for while; then almost simultaneously we all had the same scary thought. Bear with me, there is a point. Standardization – essentially the aircrew across a fleet should be doing pretty much the same thing. – You could, without drawing too long a bow, parlay that into a statement to the effect that they are all operationally at the same standard; one crew pretty much the same as the next (give or take). With a little imagination you could paint a shocking picture where the events mentioned could all not only happen to the ‘same’ crew, but to the majority of crew – standardization; or, normalized deviance, if you prefer. If one lot could do it - etc.
It leaves the impression that any ATR crew could be operating with the regular noted over speed (and the effect this has on air frame integrity) hitting some routine turbulence; disconnecting the control channel through non SOP; entering heavy rain on approach without continuous ignition, then making a heavy landing in an already seriously damaged aircraft. The next step is have the elevator channels reconnected, a quick inspection and the broken aircraft returned to service for a further 13 sectors. You do realise that another ‘heavy landing’ or another rough ride in turbulence could have led to structural failure.
Us old folk quietly talked it through (as you do) the if’s the ands and the buts’ of it all. Then we applied the oldest test of ‘em all. “Would you let your wife and kids fly with this outfit? “ No prizes for guessing that answer. But the big question of course is – what the hell were ATSB playing at and where was a much self promoted CASA during the five year ‘investigation’. Seems to me some folk should be pulling their socks up, checking their belts and shortening their braces. No matter who drafted the ATSB report; or, more to the point whoever edited and approved the ATSB report should – IMO – be tarred, feathered and run out of Dodge on a rail. The report is even more dangerous than the entire stew of gross aeronautical errors. Scandalous.
Well, so much for old school thinking – a change of subject to happier matters; one for the road then home in time for dinner.