2009 10 risk management

Vintage Instructor THE

BY DOUG STEWART

Risk Management

I

think we are all in agreement that flying is an inherently dangerous endeavor. The risks we face as we operate our aircraft are numerous, and the only thing that really makes flying safe is the way that we manage these many risks. There are many tools that we can use to aid in this management.

For some pilots risk management seems to come naturally.

Whether this comes about as a result of one’s DNA or is the product of the way one is raised by one’s parents and early teachers, I am not really sure. But for whatever reason, some folks are just naturally cautious. For other people, however, the tendency toward a more reckless attitude does indeed exist.

Charles Lindbergh once said: “What kind of man would live where there is no daring? I don’t believe in taking foolish chances, but nothing can be accomplished without taking any chance at all.”

I guess I’m one of those types, so for me, and all those like me, using the numerous tools that we have to aid us in our risk management becomes much more important.

As pilots, our first flight instructor usually is the person who sets the stage for the rest of our flying.

The rule of primacy—the things we learn first are the things that stick—is so true, and thus the lessons learned in those first early hours of our flight training are so important. At this point the mold

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is cast for how we will manage the many risks of flying for the rest of our flying “careers.”

To this day, I still remember my first flight lesson. My instructor, since he was paid only for time when the Hobbs meter was running, hurried through the preflight inspection and quickly got me installed in the left seat as he was starting the engine. Now that the engine was running, he started to take a little more time, but we all know what a horrible classroom the cockpit is, and that, combined with my excitement to get in the air, left most of what he had to tell me lost to my awareness.

However, I do recall what he said as we taxied onto the runway and started our takeoff roll. “Push the throttle all the way in, and steer with your feet. Keep looking out the window, and when it feels right, pull back on the yoke.” Not a word was said about checking to establish that we were making full power. Nothing was said about ensuring that the airspeed indicator was “alive.” There was no mention of confirming that we had oil pressure. Just “…when it feels right, pull back on the yoke.”

It wasn’t until I was working on my instrument rating that my new instructor stressed the concepts of verifying that everything was working, as it should, prior to rotation.

Before that, I just did as my first instructor (whom I viewed as a god) told me . . . in essence, kick the tires . . .light the fires. Those things I

learned first were the things that stuck. To this day, I have to consciously check the gauges before rotation. It is not something that I do naturally, and I attribute that to the rule of primacy.

But I have digressed from discussing the numerous tools that we have available to aid us in managing the risks of aviation. I would like to share with you some of the tools that I use. The list is not allinclusive but includes those things that I have found most important in keeping me from being my own worst enemy.

Heading the list of tools, for me, is the concept of slowing down and not being in a hurry. If we rush through the many different tasks that we face as a pilot, the possibility of missing, or overlooking, just one small thing could lead to our demise. So at the top of my list are the words SLOW DOWN. Establishing personal minimums and, more importantly, adhering to them once you’ve taken the trouble to establish them in the first place will go such a long way in leading to the safe management of the risks of flying. Use of the P.A.V.E. (pilot, aircraft, environment, external pressures), C.A.R.E (consequences, alternatives, realities, external pressures), and I’M S.A.F.E. (illness, medication, stress, alcohol, fatigue, emotion) acronyms are great ways to help manage your personal minimums. Remember, too, that your personal minimums are not a static entity, remaining unchanged

once established. They should be dynamic and change as necessary to reflect your currency and proficiency, or lack thereof.

Closely related to establishing personal minimums is learning to recognize the “hazardous attitudes” that we might have residing within our being. Regardless of whether they are anti-authority, macho, invulnerability, impulsivity, or resignation, every one of these attitudes could kill us. However, recognizing them is only the first step. More importantly is developing “antidotes” to these attitudes that will work to counteract them.

With a set of realistic personal minimums, as well as a “bag” of antidotes for our hazardous attitudes, we will now be much less susceptible to the many “operational errors” that could remove us from a long life of flying.

Next on my list is the use of checklists. Even if the airplane we are flying is as simple as a J-3 Cub, the use of checklists can help us in ensuring that we have not missed anything in the safe operation of our aircraft. Mind you, I am not advocating these checklists as “do” lists, but there have certainly been times in my flying when a distraction of some form has allowed me to miss performing some action. So I put the use of checklists, to assist me in making sure I haven’t forgotten to do something as a result of a distraction, high on my list of tools.

Cockpit organization is an important tool in risk management.

If our cockpit is organized, then we will be able to find what we need quickly and easily. Whether it is a chart or Airport/Facility Directory (AFD), a sick sack, a flashlight, a snack or drink, having these things placed in the cockpit in an organized fashion, so that they are readily available, will definitely aid in risk management.

Unless you fly a single-seat aircraft, passengers can be either a great aid in risk management or one of the worst hindrances. This is completely dependent upon how

you brief your passengers. If you brief your passengers on the concepts of a “sterile cockpit,” particularly for ground operations as well as flight operations within the vicinity of an airport, your risk factors will definitely decrease. All it takes is one small distraction, created by a loquacious passenger, to lead to disaster.

Be sure to also brief your passengers on other ways that they can assist in the management of the risks of the flight. This will

Even if the airplane we are flying is as simple as a J-3 Cub, the use of checklists can help us in ensuring that we have not missed anything in the safe operation of our aircraft. give your passengers a greater sense of involvement in the flight and make it more empowering for them. Ways that they can assist include looking for traffic, folding charts, getting out food and water, and if knowledgeable, tuning radio and navigation frequencies, or programming a GPS. Whereas the readership of Vintage Airplane harkens to a day when things were much simpler, I don’t think any of us can deny how some of the new technology has brought

us tools that can definitely aid us in our risk management. In particular I am referring to some of the handheld equipment that offers us the ability to obtain data-link weather information. Save for the local flight, it is rare that I will fly without my handheld GPS giving me weather information at the push of a button. Just remember one important tip relative to the use of these tools. The information that you get on them is history. It is at least five minutes old when you first receive it. The tool is fantastic for developing strategic plans for weather avoidance, but it should never, ever be used as a tactical tool!

Rounding out this short list of tools that we can use to help us manage our risks is the help that can be gotten from air traffic control and flight service stations.

More than once, as I was reaching my wits’ end in trying to resolve an in-flight problem (usually weather related), a controller has come to my assistance. So many of us were taught, back in the “dark ages,” that one should never declare an emergency. “If you do, you’ll have to file a report, and you know what that means . . . .”

What hogwash! Controllers hate paperwork as much as pilots, and they would much rather just help you resolve what you, the pilot in command, determine to be an emergency. So don’t be shy in soliciting help. Good risk management means that we will use any and all tools available.

I still want to fly for as long as I possibly can. The only way I will be able to do that is if I manage, to the best of my ability, all the inherent risks that accompany me in flight.

Won’t you join me in that management, as we are beckoned aloft by . . . blue skies and tail winds.

Doug Stewart is the 2004 National Certificated Flight Instructor of the Year, a Master Instructor, and a designated pilot examiner. He operates DSFI Inc. (www.DSFlight.com), based at the Columbia County Airport (1B1).

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