Any "Latest & Greatest" about Delta?
05-19-2012 | 08:03 AM
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From: DAL 330
From the article:
"Recent studies show that the effect of surprise is the subject of little, or no, simulator training," says the BEA. It is recommending to the European Aviation Safety Agency that surprise effects be introduced to training scenarios to help pilots react to them and work under stress.
How do you study for surprise in a simulator when most guys are constantly expecting to be surprised?
Quite the conundrum.Scoop
05-19-2012 | 08:14 AM
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From: Doing what you do, for less.
From the article:
"Recent studies show that the effect of surprise is the subject of little, or no, simulator training," says the BEA. It is recommending to the European Aviation Safety Agency that surprise effects be introduced to training scenarios to help pilots react to them and work under stress.
How do you study for surprise in a simulator when most guys are constantly expecting to be surprised? Quite the conundrum.
Scoop
"Recent studies show that the effect of surprise is the subject of little, or no, simulator training," says the BEA. It is recommending to the European Aviation Safety Agency that surprise effects be introduced to training scenarios to help pilots react to them and work under stress.
How do you study for surprise in a simulator when most guys are constantly expecting to be surprised?
Quite the conundrum.Scoop
A lot of times, this has been by accident. My favorite, and most recent example, was an engine failure being set for the wrong speed by the instructor. I was expecting the takeoff to turn into a reject... it instead turned into a V2 cut. Caught me off guard and I'd say I actually gained a lot more from it than had it actually ended up being the planned RTO.
05-19-2012 | 08:21 AM
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Just kidding, I'm sure they are going over the whole contract with a microscope.
05-19-2012 | 08:56 AM
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From: A-320A
The reps are not happy about being there over the weekend,but they know the debate needs to happen. Our careers and families deserve their honest thoughtful debate.
05-19-2012 | 08:56 AM
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From: window seat
This TA apparently isn't getting instant "approve this thing by acclimation" treatment, which tells me there are a couple of NO Votes. That's a good thing, indicating democracy is working. The bad news is that there are obvious indications of problems with this agreement.
05-19-2012 | 10:05 AM
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From: Light Chop
05-19-2012 | 10:27 AM
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Question. Due to a VD award on the last AE I have to rebid my vacation. Is there a way to see what weeks are available? When I go into Icrew all it shows are the start date and selection #, not weeks available.
05-19-2012 | 10:31 AM
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From: 7ER Capt
Didn't make the block party, but ran the scholarship 5k with 7:45 pace. Not to shabby for a 55 year old fart! 
05-19-2012 | 11:39 AM
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From: Light Chop
Airmanship is the problem. Airbus made a big point in their development that they intended to design a aircraft that did not require airmanship. Sadly it has not worked out quite like they planned. We have also watched as most airlines eliminate basic flying skills from training. If you don't require those skills you open the profession up to a larger group and can then lower wages. What does it say when a pilot at a major airline is not comfortable when cleared for the visual on downwind in a 757 flying a standard visual pattern and instead has to fly out to the OM before turning back into the field. They are not even comfortable with their own skills to fly the aircraft. When the chips are down and things go very bad it will not be a matter of trying to fall back on old skills, there will be no old skills to use and the result can be predicted in advance. More and more accidents are along these lines. Many pilots today could not pass a sim check from 25 years ago. The solution is make the check rides easier and easier. That falls back on management desire to expand the pool of pilots to keep wages low.
What does it say when a pilot at a major airline is not comfortable when cleared for the visual on downwind in a 757 flying a standard visual pattern and instead has to fly out to the OM before turning back into the field. They are not even comfortable with their own skills to fly the aircraft.
We can't deny that it's there for good reason for the criteria so everyone seemingly abides by it, especially knowing FOQA is watching us. So given the issues with close in visuals we now see the command to move towards OM visuals. So that degrades those visual skills. Tack on that no-fault-go-around policy seems to be adhered to by the company and the FAA but not necessarily the guy next to you and frankly, rightfully so. Thus you can see how there is less of a desire to "experiment" and therein not refine one's visual skills. Add on the severe consequences of an altitude bust and you can see why guys out of self preservation don't hand fly more and are not keen on the other guy hand flying more because they're not in the mood to baby sit them either.
Like I said, I don't have a solution that I think the company or FAA would buy off on, so that's just an observation of some of the things working against keeping one's basic airmanship skills current.
Now, I think we could be aided overall in basic flying skills if imho: Like I said, I don't have a solution that I think the company or FAA would buy off on, so that's just an observation of some of the things working against keeping one's basic airmanship skills current.
- In recurrent we would run an MEL that says no FMS, no AP, no FD (although that might not be allowed), and no autothrottles. Which I know the DC-9 guys say that's life out of ATL every day for them, but for the rest of us, it'd honestly be great thing to have hanging over ours and our instructors heads leading up to a LOFT.
- We also heard "if in doubt click off the AP" as much as we hear "VNAV to the marker! VNAV to the marker!" IMO I think we should have a no-fault-FMS-screw-up policy that says "the FMS can't keep up or is screwed up, probably my fault, don't care, AP is coming off and don't try to fix the FMS, thanks..."
That's all I can think of to add to your great post.
Last edited by forgot to bid; 05-19-2012 at 11:53 AM.
05-19-2012 | 11:59 AM
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On those rare occasions when the airplane starts to do something I didn't intend, I kick off the AP and fly it like the knuckle-dragging Herc guy I am. Nobody has ever hassled me about doing this.
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