VINTAGE INSTRUCTOR
THE
BY DOUG STEWART
CRM, Part II Last month I was talking about CRM. For those of you with an affliction similar to mine, CRM stands for cockpit resource management, not “can’t remember much.” In the airlines it stands for crew resource management. In any case it means using all the available resources to aid in the safe and efficient flight of the airplane. The other day, I heard a great example of this at work in the airlines as I was flying in the soup. The pilot of a 737 checked in with the final-approach controller at a busy class C airport. A small Cessna was battling a strong headwind as they got vectored onto the localizer, and so the controller requested the pilot of the 737 to slow to 180 knots. That wasn’t working, so a short while later the controller asked the 737 to slow to 150 knots. Unfortunately, the Cessna, although trying to keep “best speed to the marker,” was making slow progress, so approach once more asked the 737 to slow down—this time to 130 knots. At this request the pilot of the 737 responded to approach control with, “Approach, do you know what the stall speed of a 737 is?” Approach control came right back with, “No, I don’t, but I’m sure if you ask your copilot, she can tell you!” Using all available resources. It works for the airlines, and it can work for those of us in the airplanes that are so much more fun to fly. Last month we discussed some of those resources. They included: the use of checklists; assistance from passengers; having the proper, current charts and publications onboard, and having them accessible and organized; utilizing the many services provided by air traffic control; and the importance of not only receiving, but giving, pilot reports. Let’s now take a look at some more of those resources.
I know that all of us who are involved with the Vintage Airplane Association have a love affair with an earlier time in aviation, when things were so much simpler in so many respects. However, we are also aware of the many incredible and rapid advances being made in technology. The plethora of handheld electronic equipment now available is mind-boggling. Virtually all of them are great tools in our CRM bag; however, we do have to be aware of their shortcomings and “gotchas.” For me, standing at the head of the list are the portable handheld receivers that are capable of providing onboard weather avoidance information. I recently purchased one of these and have used it on almost all my flights since I received it, including several coast-to-coast flights. The ability to constantly receive weather information that is rarely more than five to 10 minutes old was absolutely invaluable. The availability of NEXRAD radar, METARS, TAFs, satellite pictures, echo tops, lightning strikes, winds aloft, storm cells, prog charts, and more make this such a fantastic resource that flying without it on any long cross-country flight becomes almost unthinkable. But as I stated before, we have to be aware of the shortcomings of this type of equipment. All the weather information that one can obtain on all the XM Radio receivers is five minutes old at its youngest. Therefore, although we can certainly use all this available information for tactical en route weather-avoidance planning, such as figuring out which way to go to divert around a line of thunderstorms, I would highly discourage trying to use the information to try and pick your way through that same line of storms. For
All the weather
information that
one can obtain on all the XM Radio receivers is five minutes old at its youngest.
32 APRIL 2006
that, live radar, along with a doctorate degree in how to use it, is perhaps the safest way to go (if you really must). GPS is another wonderful tool in our CRM bag. Its ability to give us situational awareness is remarkable. It seems like just a couple of short years ago it was said that GPS would be the navigation tool of the future. With the prevalence of GPS in so many cockpits now, whether handheld or panel-mounted, I guess we would have to say that we have come back to the future. However, GPS does have many “gotchas” and can also lead to a dangerous complacency. When using a GPS we have to be sure that we have correctly entered the waypoints we might be using. Since there is no Morse code to help confirm the identity of the waypoint (as we have with VORs, LOCs, and NDBs), we have to be sure that we have spelled the waypoint correctly. For example, ODDEL, or ODELL. Both intersections exist, but they are more than 100 miles and over 90 degrees apart from each other. The only thing that will ensure you are headed to the correct waypoint is a sense of the general direction that you will need to fly to get to it, as well as the approximate distance it should be from you. Another problem GPS presents is that pilots are getting lazy about doing any flight planning. (In fact, it is possible that the only pilots who remember what an E6B is will be members of the Vintage Airplane Association.) It is so easy to just enter a “direct to” airport waypoint and fly there, keeping the aircraft icon on the moving map screen centered over the LCD’s electronic course line. The GPS will certainly show you what your groundspeed is and the track you are making over the ground. But if you haven’t done any preflight planning, how will you ever know what groundspeed you should be expecting, and what heading you should be flying, to track the course to the waypoint? If, on the other hand, you have done that planning and know what to expect relative to heading and groundspeed, the GPS can become a wonderful CRM tool, in that it will show you when you are not getting those planned items, and that should be one of the first hints that the weather forecast might not be holding true. Knowing that, you should have ample time to enact “plan B” (you always have one, don’t you?) or at least start to formulate that plan, just in case. If we can get an early sense that the weather forecast is not holding true, our radio can be a good CRM tool in confirming it. If we check AWOS, ASOS, and ATIS reports along our route, we can tell if they are holding true to the TAFs we received in our preflight briefing. We can also always call an FSS (Flight Service Station) or Flight Watch to receive an updated briefing. In fact, just monitoring Flight Watch on 122.00 can afford us that early heads-up to a deteriorating forecast. Another good CRM tool, although not usually found in the cockpit, is the telephone. I know that if I am go-
ing to a new and perhaps strange airport, a telephone call to that airport, prior to making the flight, can answer many questions about that airport. Questions such as: Are there any noise abatement procedures? Is there a preferred calm wind runway? Are there weather or wind patterns that are particular to that airport? Is there an IFR departure to always expect (even though it might not be published)? All these questions, and more, can be answered with one short telephone call to the airport, or perhaps TRACON (Terminal Radar Approach Control). And then armed with the answers to these questions, you will be so much better prepared when you get there. All these tools and more should be packed in our CRM flight bag. Cockpit resource management means using all available information to aid us in managing the risks of flying, and in making proper, informed, aeronautical decisions. I have mentioned numerous tools in these two articles. Be sure you have packed them all (as well as any others I haven’t mentioned) in your flight bag, and be sure to bring that bag onboard the airplane. You’ll be glad you did, especially if you don’t have . . . blue skies and tail winds! Doug Stewart is the 2004 National CFI of the Year, a master CFI, and a DPE. He operates DSFI Inc. (www.dsflight. com) based at the Columbia County Airport (1B1).
VINTAGE AIRPLANE 33