>>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".
>>
>>
>>Wiley
>================
>>
>===Now we are getting at the root problems of a lot of accidents. Good
>discussion! Also, this is a major difference I believe between military
>pilots and civilian pilots...military is raised up with the can-do attitude
>and it often carries over to other things in life when maybe it shouldn't.
>
>Reid Fairburn
>Creative Kingdom, Inc.
>cr_king_at_cr_king.seanet.com
>206-946-9455/4815
>
Reid, I have had the privilege of flying military, general aviation and
airline. I did a tour in 02s followed by two tours in KC-135s in SEA. I then
got out and did about 3yrs flying Learjets and Citations before getting on
with the airlines. Each group has pressures. Each group has items they are
pressing for and in each group, one has to ask, "Should I do this?", not
"Can I do this?"
I have seen guys take airplanes in their desire to get the job done and then
wind up being part of the problem.. not the solution.
I must admit, there have been times when I did something, it worked out but
it was not pretty. I relish those times because they point out the stupidity
of what I did. I especially remember two times (different
airports..different times) when I got into a rushed approach in the
MD-80..one a precision and another a non-precision. In each case, the
approach was rushed, we were late, lots of factors *influencing* my
decision..when in fact, the various factors should have had NO influence. In
both cases, we were stabilized by 500ft but both were ugly...<G>. After
landing, I discussed how ugly they were with the F/O. Oddly enough, in each
case, he agreed it was not pretty and then I had to ask, "So, why didn't you
say anything?" Comments were the same, "I knew it would work out."
Our FOQA data is showing the likelihood of an unstable approach is higher
for a visual than for a full instrument approach. Oddly enough, the visual
is likely to be rushed, to be fast and to be high with a high sink rate
during some part of the approach. Thus, I have heard we will see more
emphasis on stabilized visual approaches in the future.
Pride in skill and comfort with mastery of the airplane is one thing....but
I remind myself and my F/Os, we are not here for an airshow, we are not here
to hop through narrow hoops....this ain't a mission to the moon or
"downtown". Let's do it right....<G>
I think someone has mentioned that when things start getting rushed, it is
probably a good time to pull back and see where errors are being
made...because invariably, something is being sacrificed in the rush...
Wiley