I was looking through some research I did with an airline back in
1995 (94?) and found a critical incident survey that addresses this
issue rather nicely. In the hand of the flight engineer himself:
"747 Approach into JFK - summer - hazy - called VFR [visual flight
rules]
but, I doubt it. Flying with a New York Chief Pilot & the First Officer
is a Captain Line Check Airman. The two pilots pick up the runway and
are
having a discussion as to how the approach looks and the correct
altitude
they can descend to for noise abatement on a visual. - I realize they
have
lined up on the wrong runway (the parallel) in the haze but when I say
Îhey guysâ - I get no response because they are engrossed in
conversation.
So, I physically take my hand & wave it up and down between the two
seats
to stop their conversation and point out the correct runway. The
Captain
starts a turn for the side step to get back and says Îwhat do you thinkâ
- we say Îgo aroundâ and he does. The next approach was much better
- landing uneventful.
RESULTS: (1) The CRM training I had taught me to do what I had
to to get the message across.
(2) The two pilots listened to what I said - not how I got into their
conversation - I was rather rude with my hand waving to stop their
conversation - now - since I donât do that - they knew what I had to
say was important.
(3) The Captain asked for feedback.
(4) The Captain made a sound & safe choice with the feedback received.
[Emphasis in the original]
(Critical Incident, Effective #2)
Dan K. Patterson, Ed.D. 1995
Is that how it should be done? Not really. It should fit the crew in
the
cockpit at the time and it should fit the situation. The larger issue
is
that of the crew being open to the call of go around and willing (ego)
to
accept the input of others. SOP of accepting and executing the go
around
call goes a long way in that direction· but then again how much does it
cost ($) to drive a 747 around the patch?
To even suggest that Captains are infallible (we all know FOâs and SOâs
arenât perfect· toung in cheek) makes that person part of the problem.
How often does the "Go around" call get ignored and we never know about
it? Try this one from the ASRS data pool:
"We were on a visual approach to runway 11 at EWR [Newark, New Jersey] .
Approach told us to maintain two thousand feet until advised by tower.
At 4 miles out, approach switched us to tower[frequency]. Tower was busy
and finally told us cleared to land on 1 ¸ mile final. The Captain, who
was flying, pulled the GPWS [Ground Proximity Warning System] circuit
breaker, put gear down, flaps to 45 degrees, condition levers max and
descended at 3000-4000 feet per minute. He also slipped the aircraft.
I told him to go around , but he said he would make it. We made it, but
it was in no way a stabilized approach. Tower must have seen this. I
tried to tell him to go around, but he wanted to do things his own way."
Scary? Yes indeed. But he got away with it·
Dan