air man ship and safety

8/14/2019 Air Man Ship and Safety

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GLIDING FEDERATION OF AUSTRALIA


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Airmanship

Good airmanship is that indefinablesomething that separates the superiorpilot from the average.

It is not a measure of skill or technique,rather it is a measure of a person'sawareness of the aircraft and itsenvironment and of his own capabilities,

combined with wise decision making anda high sense of self-discipline.


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What does Airmanship involve?

Pilot proficiency

Flight discipline

Knowledge of aircraft system andairworthiness

Skill in resource management

Being fully cognisant of every situation

Exercising sound judgement


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Airmanship & Proficiency

Airmanship is an integral part ofproficiency in aviation.

Proficiency may be defined as the

combination of knowledge, skills andattitude required to perform a task well or to operate the aircraft in all foreseeablesituations.


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Airmanship is a Complex

interactive system

Of pilot, machine, practical physics,traffic, weather elements and risk.

Stress

Discipline

Risk

Weather

Attitude

Traffic

PerceptionPhysics

Planning


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Airmanship is a Complex

interactive system When each and every flight is undertaken

the total environment airframe, engine(if a powered sailplane), pilot, atmosphere

and flight planning should be fit for thesafe, successful conclusion of thatoperation.

Poor perception and poor discipline

create an incident prone pilot.


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Risk Management

About 70% of our pilots fly less than 50hours per year.

This is probably enough to maintain their

physical flying skills. It may not be enough to maintain a high

level of cognitive skills e.g. situationalawareness, judgement and action

formulation.


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Managing Risk

A risk or hazard is any situation, event, orcircumstance that may affect the safety offlight:

The effects of risk occur in thefuture so plan ahead

Risks are not errors, but they

increase the potential for error


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Managing Risk

TrapTrap

AvoidAvoid

Safe FlightSafe Flight

RiskRisk

IdentifyIdentify

Identifying and classifyingIdentifying and classifying

a riska risk

Avoiding the risk or riskAvoiding the risk or risk

situationssituations

Trapping the risk andTrapping the risk and

resolving or mitigating anyresolving or mitigating any

effects or consequenceseffects or consequences

The process of managing risk involves: -


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Cultural Indicators for Increased

Risk Undisciplined behaviour

Inadequate flight preparation

Improper attention to detail

Shortcuts in procedures

Lack of pride and caring for resources

Substandard proficiency

Exceeding limitations (personal & aircraft) Pressure by peers to exceed limitations

Lack of responsibility

Poor judgement


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Appropriate Risk Management

Every flight should be conducted correctlyand precisely.

Follow appropriate procedures.

Do not take shortcuts. Do not push the margins.

Understand the environment you are

operating in. Dont let external pressures override

sound decision making.


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Appropriate Risk Management

Agreed standards = low accident risk

Time

Borrowing fromsafety

Acceptinglowerstandards=increased

accidentrisk


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Situation Awareness

Being situationally aware means:-

Being fully cognisant of the bigpicture at all times.

Continually collecting and judginginformation, from sources inside

and outside the cockpit.


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Situation Awareness in Flight

In flight a pilot has to be several minutesahead of the aircraft, not several secondsbehind it:

to perceive what's going on; and

be able to impose soundjudgement on every change, from

a minor distraction to a major in-flight emergency.


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Situation Awareness

Emergencies In an emergency situation stress may

build rapidly.

The pilot will tend to unconsciously focus

on very few aspects of the situationwithout noticing that other aspects aredegrading, e.g:

Airspeed;

Attitude;

Unco-ordinated control inputs; etc.


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Situation Awareness

Emergencies Good handling of any unusual situation

provides a basis for confidence inabilities.

Poor handling of an emergency willundermine confidence.


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How to Improve Situation

Awareness Assimilate an adequate knowledge base

Plan well in advance

Continually monitor flight progress

Use a scanning technique

Project ahead

Fly the glider at a safe airspeed and

within the performance limits Communicate as required

Don't be distracted


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How to Improve Situation

Awareness

He

igh

t

OPTI

ONSRememberOur options diminish as we get

closer to the ground!

Flightpath


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Rules, Regulations and

Commonsense Not even the most experienced pilot,

flying maximum hours every year, canjudge the probability of all likely outcomes

in any situation, expected or unexpected,and make the appropriate decisions.

For this reason, among others, a systemof regulations, rules, conventions,

practices and standard procedures existsfor glider pilots and all other aviationcommunities to follow.


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Self Discipline

Pilots who choose not to follow rules andregulations abandon the inherentprotection provided by them.

Such pilots thus ignore the trail of injuryand death that the rules were formulatedto prevent.

Each conscious infraction of the rules

further dulls good judgement until crunchtime finally arrives.

Such rogues often take others with them.


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Self Discipline

All pilots must occasionally askthemselves the question: Am Imaintaining a fully disciplined approach to

all flight and pre-flight procedures? And ifnot why?

Good airmanship cannot co-exist withpoor discipline; a self evident truth is that

a pilot lacking the appropriate self-discipline is an accident waiting tohappen.


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Self Discipline

Discipline overrides panic and reinforcesthe ability to maintain/regain control of theaircraft when faced with a serious flight

situation.


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Personal Operating Procedures

While standard operating procedures areincluded in the GFA OperationsRegulations, every glider pilot should

develop, and follow, their own set ofpersonal operating procedures and applythem, where applicable, to each flightoperation.


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Personal Operating Procedures

For example:-

a procedure to be followed ifunsure of position on a cross-country flight;

the turn-back criteria if you findyourself flying toward unsuitable

terrain; or having the self-discipline to decide

whether you should take-off in thefirst place!


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The Proficient Pilot

Flies accurately, using approvedtechnique, knowing the performancecharacteristics of the aircraft being flown

and consistently maintains a safeairspeed, attitude and heading.

Knows the minimum safe speeds forvarious angles of bank when turning and

at varying weights and c.g. positions.


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The Proficient Pilot

Knows the aircraft's glide performanceand will be continually monitoring theground for possible safe landing sites

should conditions deteriorate. Will have developed a set of tolerances

for personal performance assessmente.g. airspeed consistently within 5 knots

or heading held within 5. Aims to fly with style, making smooth,

timely and balanced transitions whenturning, cruising or leaving a thermal.


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Make Safety the Primary Goal in

all Decision-making

A superior pilot uses superior judgmentto avoid stressful situations which

might call for the use of superior skills.


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Christopher Thorpe

Chief Flying Instructor

Beaufort Gliding Club

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