Accident Prepardness or Not!!!!

If a person knew that sometime today, beyond a shadow of a doubt, they would be involved in a accident what would they do to prepare? Not knowing what, when or where could possibly cause you to jerk and flinch like a butterfly having lost it‘s tail end to a slick lizard.. It could happen in your house, perhaps a slip in the shower hitting your head against a tile wall, maybe tripping over a water hose and falling, hitting your head on a post, the sidewalk or other unforgiving hard place. Then what about driving, isn’t that dangerous? All that mass moving along at a fast pace and if not perfectly guided capable of smashing anything in its path and you along with it. Then there’s the airplane with a propeller that could cut you in half before you could blink an eye. Avoiding the gas powered food processor and getting the thing off the ground you now are subject to wind sheers, down drafts and a plethora of mother natures wrath all wanting to cause your fragile aircraft to break or slam you into the ground. In any case an accident can happen at anytime, any place and being an accident, without warning. So the question is, how do you prepare? By breaking a link in the chain of events leading to unsafe performance. As an example, situational awareness goes a long way in knowing what is around you and by being attentive you avoid slipping, tripping and falling down. While driving you buckle up the proverbial seat belt, never know when you’ll need that, drive the speed limit and obey traffic laws. It becomes more complicated in aviation. Flying is after all three dimensional.

So many things can go wrong with no place to pull over and make it right. Situational awareness can keep you from running over or getting run over while taxing at the airport but how do we mitigate potential accidents while flying? One way is to use check lists ensuring no switch is missed, check weather frequently to ensure you don’t fly into one of mother natures surprise parties, bad weather. Following long established rules, checking and double checking, making sure your choice of personal transportation is working as advertised, and not letting your ego write checks your ability cannot cash. Make a plan, pay attention, don’t lie to yourself and while your accident potential may not be totally abated it will be summarily reduced.

Pressure To Perform Regardless The Cost

There is nothing more stressful than being pressured to do something you do not want to do. And no where is that more evident than in Aviation. Flight crews are in a constant state of training, whether it be studying and understanding the many rules and regulations that make up the flying world, and there are many, or practicing the hands on applications of those rules and regulations. The majority of flight crews are also fairly intelligent and level headed, most know their limitations, when to say a particular maneuver or situation is more than they feel comfortable performing. Inevitably a flight crew will be confronted with the old “wrench thrown into the gears” of their safety zone. Seldom is it self inflicted but unfortunately there are exceptions. Typically though, pressure to aviate outside the safe environment of what you know you can do and into the fog of the unknown can be overpowering. Ego, fear of losing your job, loss of respect, the list is long in the reasoning to go where you know you shouldn’t. If you pull it off you get the nod of approval or the pat on your back. On the other hand should luck not be with you the only nod is that of the funeral director to lower your remains in to everlasting solitude There have been numerous occasions in my many years of flight experience where I personally saved the life or potential injury of an individual, their family, friends and coworkers by simply saying “no can do” or more appropriately “no will do”.

A very high ranking officer in the military once told me he wanted to get somewhere but I would have to fly close to the ground at a high rate of speed so as not to be observed by the opposition training forces. Training, regulations, and protocol required me to reduce airspeed when flying close to the ground. I conveyed to the General the requirements adding my concern about placing ourselves in a dangerous situation should we experienced a mechanical failure. His anecdote was he survived three crashes and to do as I was told. The pressure in the aircraft was tremendous. Two short months later we buried two of my aviator brethren for practicing exactly what caused my confrontation with someone who was not a pilot nor understood aircraft and crew capabilities. Sometimes saying “Sorry Charlie” could be the safest thing a flight crew could do. Don’t let pressure kill you.
An excellent video of the area my confrontational incident took place is available for viewing at: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=AX-MQ9SDEtA My aircraft was larger and not as agile as the aircraft in the video. An example of the exhileration and speed of earth skimming flight can be seen at http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=SloCREJoV6o&NR=1

Safe Through Technology

Does technology make us safer? In Aviation we use a wide variety of radio’s to communicate with air traffic controllers and on occasion to other aircraft. We convey such information as who we are, where we are and what we want to do. Two way communications using radio's has not changed much over the years but also at our disposal are the many high tech electronic systems that show a flight crew where the aircraft they are flying is, in relationship to the ground, how high above the ground and the path or course they are flying. Through technology you are able to know exactly where you are in a three dimensional world. As long as the equipment is working properly and you have programmed the correct coordinates your flight should go without incident except perhaps for a few bumps because of weather. But what happens when technology lets us down or we let ourselves down by having programmed our electronics’ incorrectly? Before high tech all flight training revolved around basic instruments and is still the basic’s used today. Most pilots are familiar with the older "standard" technology and except for some of the newer aircraft the dials and needles are still in service and installed in thousands and thousands of aircraft. Technology has come a long way and while high tech computers have brought new dimensions and reduced stress for flight crews the older equipment still works very well. So, while I enjoy the CRT screen and all the neat things it can display I believe maintaining a good working knowledge of the dials and needles makes me a safer pilot.