Vince, you have no doubt hit on one of the major failings of pilots and it
is one of the major drivers that makes pilots good... the attitude that "I
can do it".
I have often said the question asked should not be "Can I" but rather
"Should I?" I can, for example, fly to the marker in the MD-80 at 210 kts
and land out of the approach. But the question is "Should I?" The pax aren't
paying for an airshow and the company is not happy about buying brakes but
the airplane is capable of it and my skills also are such that I could fly
such an approach. "Can I?" versus "Should I?"
One problem I see with some pilots is the reluctance to say "No!.. I can't
do that." I have had controllers pull me off an approach because I refused
to do 190 to the marker when the runway was wet/contaminated or there were
other circumstances that precluded a VFR approach. I have been at BOS when
it was CAT III and heard guys accept approach clearances of 180 to the
marker when I knew my ops manual said I had to be configured for such an
approach. The can do attitude had bled over to where it was not legal.
The odd thing is it only takes one pilot to say "NO!" and then everyone
starts asking, "What does he/she see that I don't?" In TPA once, we watched
aircraft after aircraft takeoff until we said, "We need the other runway."
Tower came back, "Everyone else is taking the primay... it may be as long as
:45." We agreed but then one after another, carriers started asking about
conditions and why the primary runway had us taking off into a thunderstorm
when to the north, things were calm. In about 15 minutes, everyone taxied
down to the other end and made routine takeoffs.
In CRM, we discuss that everyone should be on board with the decision... but
when the can do attitude unfolds, it effects everyone. It only takes one
person to say, "This is nuts!"
I think part of the problem is making decisions when the event occurs. If
one makes the decision prior to pressure, it is relatively easy for the
decision to stay in place. Example... a few weeks ago, we were holding near
CLT.. we had decided that when we got down to X fuel, we would divert to
CAE.. sure enough, we got down to that fuel and headed to CAE. We were not
more than 2-3 minutes into the diversion when ATC opened CLT up... we
continued to CAE..and later found that the airplanes that were cleared to
CLT only went to the next fix and then had to hold another :30-:45 minutes.
Had we reversed our decision, we would have been in dire straits.
Decide what you are going to do before events, agents, dispatchers, etc put
the pressure on.... it makes life easier..
Wiley