Thanks for your post of 04/09/97; my schedule has not permitted a reply
until now!
Benny White wrote:
>
> Lonny,
> I was involved in writing one of the sets of manuals for the MD-11 during its
> initial introduction at Delta. One of the things that amazed me about
> training at that time was that the aircraft was still being taught like the
> DC-6 and other aircraft were always taught.
>
> "Ladies and Gentlemen,
> Here we have and aircraft made up of generators, fuel cells, lights bells and
> whistles. You will learn all of the meanings of the values on the indicators
> and regurgitate them to me at the end of class."
Benny, which book did you help write?? I am totally shocked regarding
your statement about rebuilding the aircraft in training. Twenty five
years ago on my B-727 oral, the FAA Inspector told me to hold my hand
out; he said he had just given me one molecule of air that he wanted me
to trace through the pneumatics, air conditioning & pressurization
systems and expected a thorough discussion. Two plus hours later that
discussion ended and all we talked about was the "air" system. Those days
are long gone, thankfully!! As a pilot, I must possess an understanding
of the systems and know where to go to get additional information, (POM),
however, the days of studying 4+ hours every night while in training to
memorize the pack trip temperatures have been gone for the past 10 - 15
years, and rightfully so!! The training today consists of a thorough
understanding of the systems SANS nuts & bolts!! While my MD-11 oral took
3 1/2 hours (APD with FAA observation) a very thorough oral can take well
under two hours including performance, perhaps even 1 1/2 hours!! There
is no reason in the world to teach pilots nuts & bolts, and especially on
an automatic airplane designed to be flown by two pilots!!
> It seems to me that it would have much more appropriate to concentrate
> training on what I would have called a functional integration approach. I was
> on about my fourth simulator period at Douglas when the light finally came on
> and I finally realized that the GCP, the FMS, and the MCDUs were all
> integrated with each other and that there was a tremendous amount of
> information being presented on the FMA and in the GCP windows that were
> significant to understanding what the aircraft was doing.
>
> The training that I received and that I observed for several years after that
> still focused on mechanical procedure following by the pilots and not
> necessarily requiring any knowledge of what the aircraft and systems really
> did when you made that "Level Change" call at 1000 AGL. I know that there was
> a little shift after awhile to tell students that there was an FMA and that
> they should be aware of what the displays meant but it seemed to me that this
> was delayed until the simulator and then it was only discussed to the extent
> that a particular instructor wanted to emphasize it.
Trust me, Benny, the days of "nuts & bolts" are gone!! Along that line,
we for many years had ex-mechanics teach systems; I remember one
instructor that worked for years as a "CSD overhaul mechanic". He tried
to teach us how to overhaul a CSD blindfolded while had no clue what made
an airplane fly - after all, he was a mechanic, obviously not a pilot;
the latest batch of ground school instructors hired came from Flight
Safety with a STRONG flying background. Hopefully standardization will
eliminate some problems, but again there is no overnight fix.
> This area of lack of awareness of what mode the aircraft was in and why the
> aircraft was doing what it was and not doing what you thought you told it to
> do cause a lot more problems in real life than not being able to describe the
> priorities of electrical power sources in the Non Break Power Transfer
> discussion.
>
> Just my opinion.
> Benny
>
As I'm sure you know, our MD-11 pilots are in the FTD or SIM from day 2
on in ground school so when FLIGHT TRAINING begins, the pilots are
already comfortable with Flight Training maneuvers & procedures - BUT - I
am told that our AQP program will not address the FMS for the first 3
periods as opposed to day 1 right now!! This is a concern of mine; I
shall let you know what happens - I'm told I will be observing the first
class of "small group tryouts" in early June.
Benny, thanks again for your posting!
Best Regards-
Lonny
> ----------
> From: Lonny M. Regan
> Sent: Saturday, March 29, 1997 2:07 AM
> To: fmc-list_at_wilbur.pr.erau.edu
> Cc: crm-devel_at_db.erau.edu
> Subject: AQP
>
> Good Evening Once Again,
>
> At Delta Air Lines, our MD-11 program is about to go AQP after a few
> years of very hard work & preparation.
>
> I would be interested in hearing from anyone with suggestions concerning
> training that you wish you had included in your course or training you
> wish you had not included in the syllabus, whether CRM related, perhaps
> as related to automation, hoops the pilot must jump thru in the AQP
> process, whatever! Thanks again.
>
> Lonny M. Regan