"Dumbing down" because we don't want to learn pointless trivia about our airplane? We don't think we deserve 300k to fly an airplane because we know what blue juice is made out of. We deserve 300k because in this job we're stuck working crap hours and forced to stay in crappy hotels on weekends and holidays sometimes 5 day in a row per week.

 

Exerpt from the Crew Survival Study published by NASA following the Columbia crash. A fitting epitaph for an aviator, rather than something like "QRH guidance was insufficient"

 

I enjoy learning the nuances of an airplane, I do, but I fully understand why that's being dropped.

a) We fly, they fix. Knowing the guts of the jet doesn't help us fly the jet better and knowing the aircraft like a mechanic does you little good if you're not authorized to do maintenance. Write it up, let them deal with it and more importantly track it.

b) If I get a message GEN OFF, I start the APU and run the QRH. The schematic doesn't matter much at that moment. I say stick to the procedures developed by the people who designed it and tested it, that's how I see it. You're not going to save the day because of your personal expert knowledge about the nuances of the aircraft; but your expert proficiency, discipline and experience would save the day.

If I've got a big problem, I do as helicopter pilots do and get it on the ground.

c) My only caveat to b is corporate aviation and international flying. In corporate aviation you don't have the maintenance support of an airline, you're on your own but even then it's not about learning how a molecule flows through the pneumatic system. It's about FAA compliance, warranties, TASKs, 8130s, compounding MEL items, etc. And flying the 767 over the Atlantic, okay, might want to review living with problems for a prolonged period of time.


I will say a pilot should be better exposed to schematics and systems in a better manner then here's a book or a 700 power point slide, but not memorize it. I have thoroughly enjoyed having a simulator program for at home use on the 717. I think money should be invested in that kind of stuff. I also like seeing a computerized schematic of an airplane (like FlightSafety produces for some of their corporate aircraft). Something about seeing it work and manipulating it or throwing in failures really helps you understand the jet better than if you know what the elbow is connected to the T/R and so on.

 

Spot on.

 

I hope you are trying to play devil's advocate. Because, if you are not, you are a gigantic (expletive) who doesn't begin to understand the difference between being a professional and an entitlement recipient. You have no regard for those who came before or who will follow you...a very scab like mentality.

You really need to examine your motives.

 

Tell that to the American 757 Crew a couple of years back who correctly followed the QRH during an electrical malfunction and placed the 'Standby Power' switch ON but didn't have the systems knowledge to realize that that meant the battery was running the show. The Battery (which I think was advertised as good for 45 minutes) lasted an amazing 1:40.....and then systems started rapidly dropping off line. The plane diverted to KORD and went off the side of the runway.

I'm not saying we need to know how to build the airplane, but the level of systems knowledge we now get is pathetic. It's going to bite us in the butt one day.

 

There is nothing that can be done about that. It's up to boeing and airbus to design better a/c.

 

You're right, they should build 'em so well that they can eliminate the Pilot altogether. Then we'd never have to know anything.

 

A basic CRM question for you CP. Does knowledge affect behavior? If you answer in the affirmative, where do you as a "professional" draw the line. How much knowledge is enough? When does one stop learning? It appears you are using the ole military adage...if the minimum wasn't good enough, there wouldn't be a minimum. IMHO, if the majority of your ilk have the same attitude as you, the profession of "pilot" is in danger. You will paid and respected accordingly.

This is a basic issue with the Y generation. Because information is so readily available with ipads, smart phones, tablets etc., there seems to be a reduction in internal knowledge and internal locus. You allow the world and your environment to control you, not vice versa. Senior surgeons are seeing this, as well, in the operating theater. The reliance on formulatic solutions and not having the ability to react out of the box.

You will mostly react to problems with "by the book". But there will be times when you "use the book" and others "what book". Black swan events do happen and one's knowledge of systems, operating areas, rules and regulations etc., will enable the outcome to be satisfactory.

So in effect, knowledge DOES affect behavior. Perhaps CanoePilot should change his moniker to CanoeOperator. I would not affix the title of "pilot" to him. His attitude is an affront to the profession. I would like to nominate him as runnerup to said professor of aviation for the title TFI. Seconds?

 

Negative! It's the crew's responsibility to know how every system works on their aircraft. It's there responsibility to understand the significance and effect by moving a switch be it under normal or non-normal situations.