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- Economy (1)
- General Aviation (4)
- SRM/CRM (5)
- November 24, 2008: Too Big to Fix
- November 5, 2008: Complexity
- October 9, 2008: WASS Up?
- November 24, 2007: New FAA Publications
- September 9, 2007: Keep the Change
- March 7, 2007: Top 10 Reasons GA is Better than the Airlines
- February 17, 2007: The Trouble with Trouble
- February 10, 2007: Wind Your Watch
- February 3, 2007: Word Allergies
- January 22, 2007: When the Going Gets Weird...
Archive for the SRM/CRM Category
Complexity
November 5, 2008 by neilkrey.
My wife and I each have our own alarm clock. Hers is a traditional analog type with the little pointer that indicates what time the alarm will go off. Mine is a fancy digital clock radio that has two different alarm times and lets you choose either an alarm tone or the radio.
If she is in a hurry to set the alarm, it can be as much as 15 minutes early or late. If I am in a hurry, I am likely to get a very precise 12 hour error.
“Fools ignore complexity. Pragmatists suffer it. Some can avoid it. Geniuses remove it.” - Alan Perlis, Computer Scientist
There is no question that my alarm is the more complex of the two, so I suppose it is no surprise that it would be more prone to operator error. This relationship is found in our cockpits as well. Avionics have made a huge jump in capability, and complexity, over the last decade. I often instruct in aircraft equipped with the Garmin G1000 and Avidyne Entegra glass cockpit systems. While I feel I am very proficient in their use, I still learn new things about them from time to time. And you customers have to work hard to learn to take advantage of everything these systems can do. Read the rest of this entry »
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The Trouble with Trouble
February 17, 2007 by neilkrey.
One of the difficulties, and attractions, of flying is how easy it is to get into trouble. And, once in trouble, how hard it can be to get out. For as long as man has ventured into the air, we have devised gadgets intended to keep us safe.
One of the newer ones is the “whole aircraft parachute” system. Such systems float the entire airplane down to the ground, and have been adopted widely in the ultralight community. Under the name of CAPS (Cirrus Airframe Parachute System), this equipment is installed on every Cirrus Design product. These systems are credited with saving numerous lives, but are still the object of passionate debate in airport lounges and online forums. Folks either love them or hate them. Read the rest of this entry »
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Wind Your Watch
February 10, 2007 by neilkrey.
Back in the ‘80s, I was part of the team that started SimuFlite – at the time the largest startup in dollar terms in aviation history. Besides seeing how a new business is born from the inside, I had the opportunity to give simulator instruction to some of the best business aviation crews in the industry. I spent many hours in the Learjet 35/36 and King Air 200 simulators running training scenarios that taught, tested, and sometimes humbled the pilots.
One session I remember vividly involved a Learjet crew who were very sharp – and quick. They had handled every emergency the lesson plans called for with accuracy and blinding speed. They always took the correct action, and often completed the emergency checklists from memory. It was too good to be true. Read the rest of this entry »
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Word Allergies
February 3, 2007 by neilkrey.
My years in the aviation industry have been evenly split between time in the cockpit and time behind a desk – over 15 years of each. In my desk-life, I have worked in management for some of the most successful companies in aviation – SimuFlite, FlightSafety International, Bombardier, Raytheon, Hughes Aircraft, and General Dynamics. I not only learned a lot about being a pilot, I learned about business. What I have learned makes me believe that sometimes they are not compatible.
Imagine, for example, sitting in a business meeting with your boss and coworkers. The boss asks if the project you are responsible for will be finished on time. If you answer “No”, the results are not likely to be pleasant. The same is true if you say “You will have to wait.” It seems that in our results-oriented business world, you need to develop an allergy to words such as “no” and “wait”. Read the rest of this entry »
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When the Going Gets Weird…
January 22, 2007 by neilkrey.
The media recently reported the 25th anniversary of the Air Florida accident in a snow storm at Washington, D.C. in 1982. These reports touted the “sweeping legacy” of this accident and the safety improvements that it spawned.
This accident remains fresh in my mind, partly because I watched the live reports on the then-new CNN as survivors and wreckage were pulled from the icy Potomac River, partly because I used this accident as a case study in Crew Resource Management (CRM) classes in the years since.
As with all accidents, there was a chain of events that led to the end of 73 lives. As with most accidents, the crew had several chances to break the chain of events and avoid the accident. Their last opportunity was as they began the takeoff on KDCA’s runway 36. Read the rest of this entry »
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