On a Continental Flight with a very "senior" flight attendant crew, the pilot said: "Ladies and gentlemen, we’ve reached cruising altitude and will be turning down the cabin lights. This is for your comfort and to enhance the appearance of your flight attendants."
Awesome low-level aerobatics (Video)
Check this out. I bet you wish you could do this in your Extra!
Understanding weather fronts video
Pilots need to have a good grasp and understanding of basic weather conditions that they may encounter in the air. Hence, Jason Schappert, the blogger behind the MzeroA.com blog, has begun a new “understanding weather” video series where he will be going over various weather conditions and how they impact pilots. Jason’s first video covers weather fronts and he begins by explaining what an air mass is and what a front is and then he explains the four most common types of fronts. The video is less than five minutes long and well worth watching as a reminder of what pilots face while flying.
VFR departure briefing simulator video
John Fiscus, the Chief Pilot of The Flight Academy, has recently posted a video on to the Cirrus Owners & Pilots Association (COPA) website where he demonstrates a VFR departure briefing and then a departure which utilizes some of that briefing. In his post, John made an interesting point that:
Many people I train with aren’t as ready as they ought to be for anything beyond the norm to happen in those first few seconds of flight. Performing a VFR departure briefing is a good way to prepare for the unexpected… and ensure the appropriate (and timely) reaction!
He also noted that:
A VFR departure briefing is going to be difficult for most established pilots to start performing. I have heard the excuses, but they really boil down to, "I have been flying this long and it works fine. I know what to do if something happens, I can handle this."
However, John then mentioned that when he see pilots doing simulator training, many aren’t all that prepared to make a tough call fast. Furthermore, he noted that many experienced Cirrus pilots don’t pull the CAPS handle soon enough – especially when a low altitude engine failure is simulated and time is short.
The video is less than six minutes long and hence is worth watching.
The neuroscience behind screwing up
“Aluwings,” the blogger behind the Wings Stayed On blog along with guest blogger Rob Close on Plastic Pilot, have both mentioned a very interesting article that recently appeared in Wired.com entitled: The Neuroscience of Screwing Up. While the article itself deals with how our minds work and how our minds go about processing data, its lessons apply to anyone involved in aviation.
In fact, Rob Close’s post on Plastic Pilot does a great job of explaining just how these lessons apply to aviation and he does this by first mentioning the Air Transat Flight 236 incident where the pilots inadvertently pumped out their fuel through a leak because their hypothesis was wrong and then he repeats the following four step process for scientists to learn from failure that was mentioned in the article:
- Check your assumptions: Is the hypothesis wrong not the experiment?
- Seek out the ignorant: explain your hypothesis in simple terms to see it in a new light
- Encourage diversity: If everyone is the same, everyone has the same assumptions
- Beware of failure blindness: It’s normal to filter out information that contradicts our preconceptions
Rob then mentions his own four step process for pilots who are flying without a crew to learn from and act in order to prevent failure:
- Train the brain to be aware.
- Be able to quickly diagnose a failure and act upon it in flight.
- Be open to a change in hypothesis.
- Conduct a thorough analysis once on the ground.
He believes the most important part of the article is to recognize that knowledge can actually lead to blindness. In other words, what you are taught may actually be wrong in a real world incident – a very interesting point indeed. Both the Wired.com article and Rob’s post are well worth reading.
My last known position
A student became lost during a solo cross-country flight. While attempting to locate the aircraft on radar, ATC asked: "What was your last known position?"
Student: "When I was number one for takeoff."