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Published On: Jan 19, 2009 02:43 PM
Total entries in this category:
Published On: Jan 19, 2009 02:43 PM
Oh, Captain - my Captain! Please tell me what's happening!
To paraphrase Walt Whitman's famous poem, an ode to an assassinated Abraham
Lincoln, many passengers wish their captains - or whoever's operating the
plane's intercom, would tell them what's happening.
During the time I ran fear of flying classes for
Ansett Australia (1994-2000), those who had enrolled in the program usually had
two opportunities to meet and talk with flight
crew.
The first was in session 2 of our 5-session weekly course, when a pilot would hold the floor and discuss his or her role: their career path leading them to occupy either the left or right seat of a commercial aircraft, their recurrent testing and licensing, crew resource management, aspects of flight planning including weather, fuel, and air traffic control procedures, emergency management, and so on. At the end of the "chalk-and-talk" session, we would don fluorescent safety vests, ear plugs and warm gear, and head to the tarmac for the pilot to show us a typical walkaround he would do in his pre-flight check. (I asked all the participants to look for this to happen for each flight they might observe when they visited the airport.)
Then we would board the aircraft and three or four at a time, the group would get a tour of the flight deck and have their questions answered.
Most thought this was a very valuable component of the course. Their next visit to the flight deck was when it was a "working" one during the graduation flight, and they were invited in during cruise to see the crew in action (they actually weren't doing much in terms of activity, mainly monitoring systems with occasional radio contact with air traffic control).
Occasionally, the crew asked specific questions about the group's fears. Some were good at empathising, while others couldn't understand why something they enjoyed so much could be so feared.
Very occasionally, a question from one member of the group would see the flight crew inviting them to remain on the flight deck for descent and landing, in which case I usually stayed with the crew too, taking the jumpseat behind the captain, where I could keep an eye on my group member who got a brilliant view seated behind and between the two flight crew (at least on the very large Boeing 767 flight decks.)
Usually , most remarked on how slow we seemed to be travelling looking forward through the flight deck windows, with clouds coming towards us rather than alongside us.
The first was in session 2 of our 5-session weekly course, when a pilot would hold the floor and discuss his or her role: their career path leading them to occupy either the left or right seat of a commercial aircraft, their recurrent testing and licensing, crew resource management, aspects of flight planning including weather, fuel, and air traffic control procedures, emergency management, and so on. At the end of the "chalk-and-talk" session, we would don fluorescent safety vests, ear plugs and warm gear, and head to the tarmac for the pilot to show us a typical walkaround he would do in his pre-flight check. (I asked all the participants to look for this to happen for each flight they might observe when they visited the airport.)
Then we would board the aircraft and three or four at a time, the group would get a tour of the flight deck and have their questions answered.
Most thought this was a very valuable component of the course. Their next visit to the flight deck was when it was a "working" one during the graduation flight, and they were invited in during cruise to see the crew in action (they actually weren't doing much in terms of activity, mainly monitoring systems with occasional radio contact with air traffic control).
Occasionally, the crew asked specific questions about the group's fears. Some were good at empathising, while others couldn't understand why something they enjoyed so much could be so feared.
Very occasionally, a question from one member of the group would see the flight crew inviting them to remain on the flight deck for descent and landing, in which case I usually stayed with the crew too, taking the jumpseat behind the captain, where I could keep an eye on my group member who got a brilliant view seated behind and between the two flight crew (at least on the very large Boeing 767 flight decks.)
Usually , most remarked on how slow we seemed to be travelling looking forward through the flight deck windows, with clouds coming towards us rather than alongside us.
Landings were always the event that took their
breath away, as the aircraft came in over the runway threshold at 140mph,
seeming to glide in so slowly as if we were floating.
Sadly, even for me, such experiences came to an end after the events of September 11, 2001. I am so grateful I had the chance to do quite a few landings like this (also with Air New Zealand between Melbourne and Wellington) and on some occasions even videod the landings.
One thing pilots often would ask me is whether they should give advanced notice over the public address of upcoming mild turbulence. Severe turbulence would sometimes not be able to be forecast being it was the Clear Air Turbulence type.
But weather reports and briefings from air traffic control and aircraft ahead occasionally allowed flight crew to know what their flight could expect in a few minutes.
Sometimes, flight crew wanted to say something like "... please make sure your seatbelts are fastened. We expect a few bumps ahead." Other times, only if they actually began to encounter turbulence would they reinforce the seatbelt message.
I really couldn't inform the crew of the best choice. Some people would rather not be told, while others preferred not to be surprised even if they had no plan to handle turbulence.
My own guess is that after significant bouncing around, and having entered calm air, it would do no harm for the flight crew to come on the PA, and say "...we seem to have left those bumps behind us. Looks like it was some fast upper air jet streams (or whatever), and we've now found some stable air. While turbulence for some of you might feel uncomfortable, at no time is it a problem for the aircraft and us, it's safe for you as long as you keep your seat belt firmly on. Just think about it like a car going over rough roads with occasional potholes. You might have felt from time to time that you're falling, but in reality, we hardly changed altitude and the instruments here showed that too."
The other time that passengers become concerned over pilots' communication strategies are when things don't go according to schedule. Occasionally, when minimum equipment list (MEL) components become US (unserviceable) the flight is delayed until a repair is effected.
(MELs are determined according to federal authorities (including any countries the aircraft will fly to), the manufacturer, and the airline itself. As I have written elsewhere in this blog, it is not unusual for scheduled flights to leave with some items on board not working, or working less than perfectly. These items are not related to safety, but more related to passenger comfort or service. These item being US do not affect the safety in any way, but might mean less passengers than normal might be uplifted. There are also items that can be repaired by pilots, and there are other items which must only be repaired or replaced by licensed engineers. If you're interested in MELs, you can also Google for CDL (Configuration Deviation List), and PUS (Permissible Unserviceabilities).
Passengers may already be on board, or gathered in the gate area at this time. Sometimes, the crew will report a "few small problems". In another context, say during the descent stage of a flight, a last minute flight course changed issued by air traffic control will see the crew discuss "problems" requiring their attention prior to arrival.
Hearing flight crew discuss "problems" over the PA often triggers a series of catatrophising reactions on the part of fearful flyers. However, this is a distortion or misinterpretation of how the crew use the term "problem".
Having observed crews in action, the term "problem" has two connotations.
One is to see it as a synonym for "adjustment". So, an MEL problem means some adjustments need to be made to equipment so that the "problem" of a delayed pushback (and maybe missing the departure time slot) is overcome.
In another context, a change of runway wind direction on descent may see the crew making some hasty flight computer entries in order to set the aircraft up for a new approach. What was an easy, low level work environment, now becomes much more active with new arrival procedures needing to be computed quickly.
In this sense, using the term "problem" is more akin to its use in mathematics, where "problems" are solved. Here problems are not errors or mistakes, they are activities heading to a solution. . In mathematics text books it's not uncommon to see chapters or sections devoted to working through problems, in order to find find solutions. I recall my Year 12 math classes where we were asked to find the solutions to problems.
So, pilots discuss problems as seeking solutions to equations or changes of data, much like in mathematics. It doesn't mean when they use the term that some disaster is imminent. Far from it, in fact. They are using their skills to make changes using familiar processes practised daily.
Sometimes, the word "situation" will be substituted for "problem", meaning several factors have come together requiring some skillful decision making.
Next time you're on board, have a close listen to the words used by the crew, and see if knowing more about their communication styles makes a difference.
(By the way, the poem I listed above by Walt Whitman - Oh Captain! My Captain! - was converted into a song in Hebrew and dedicated to Yitzkak Rabin, the Israeli Prime Minister, after he was assassinated in 1995. The music was composed by Naomi Shemer, who wrote many songs dedicated to the life in Israel, and who died in late June, 2004.)
Posted: Tuesday - July 13, 2004 at 11:59 PM |