Author: Dave English

Reasonable rational individuals

By Dave English

“Most accidents originate in actions committed by reasonable, rational individuals who were acting to achieve an assigned task in what they perceived to be a responsible and professional manner. They have probably committed these same unsafe acts before without negative consequences because the existing conditions at the time did not favour an interaction of the flawed decisions or deficiences present in the system.” Peter Harle, Director of Accident Prevention, Transportation Safety Board of Canada and former RCAF pilot, ‘Investigation of human factors: The link to accident prevention.’ In Johnston, N., McDonald, N., & Fuller, R. (Eds.), Aviation Psychology in Practice, … Continue reading Reasonable rational individuals

Olé Olé Olé!

By Dave English

An electrifying movie about the Rolling Stones recent South American tour has awesome concert footage, and some reflective thoughts from all the band members after 55+ years of working towards excellence and mastery: “At the start of a tour, it’s like being on a tightrope, that once you’ve set foot on it, that rope widens and becomes a bridge that you can run across.” ~ Ronnie Wood. “I felt I’d been given a very complicated puzzle to solve. And that I could just figure a little bit more out every time, then there was another big of the puzzle solved. … Continue reading Olé Olé Olé!

A new TOPGUN book

By Dave English

I was lucky enough to receive an advance promotional copy of a new book: TOPGUN: An American Story, written by Dan Pedersen, founder of the famed US Navy Fighter Weapons School. It’s a good read. Written with the smooth wisdom of an eighty-three-year-old, who is proud of Navy aviation and his dog-fighting days, but isn’t just writing for wide-eyed and hair-on-fire teenagers dreaming of Mach 2. Now, understand this is an autobiography of a full navy career, not really a standalone history of the Topgun (and word to the wise, that’s one word, not two like the movie) fighter weapons … Continue reading A new TOPGUN book

The capability of the human pilot

By Dave English

The North American X-15 was a hypersonic rocket-powered experimental aircraft flown by the USAF and NASA in the 1960’s. The X-15 holds the official world record for the highest speed ever recorded by a manned aircraft, set in October 1967 when test pilot William J. Knight at 102,100 feet flew Mach 6.70. Clearly it was a hot rod rocket ride, and obviously important to the advancement of high speed and high altitude aeronautical engineering. But it was also important in understanding the role of the pilot in new highly dynamic systems, and what machine-human interfaces would be functional in those relms (see NASA history page). It’s a theme … Continue reading The capability of the human pilot

Ships are to little purpose

By Dave English

“Ships are to little purpose without skillful Sea Men.” Richard Hakluyt, 1589. As a piloting quote, these words ring true across five centuries. And as a quick social media meme they seem true for many activities we humans want to feel important about. And that’s good. But there’s a lot more here than just a two-second meme. Richard Hakluyt (1553 – 1616) was an English writer known for promoting the English colonization of North America. He wrote (with Edmund Goldsmid) the 16 volume opus The Principal Navigations, Voyages, Traffiques and Discoveries of the English Nation (online Gutenberg). It was in here he wrote … Continue reading Ships are to little purpose