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In the news today, living and dying

By Dave English

Two big news stories today. One sad one happy. Both involve unique planes and expert pilots that I’ve flown with a few times. The sad one first: Man Killed in Plane Crash at Covington Airport was Avid Pilot I flew with Lance Hooley several times in the A320, about 14 years ago, when I was a first officer at the airline we both work at. Worked at I should say, in Lance’s case. That’s hard to write. He was an engaging intelligent pilot. Talked with him last just a few months ago, on a jetbridge taking a jet he had flown in. Yesterday he … Continue reading In the news today, living and dying

Fingerspitzengefühl

By Dave English

Fingerspitzengefühl is a German word. (As if you hadn’t already guessed!) It literally means “finger tips feeling”. As such it applies directly to holding the stick or yoke. The student pilot ‘death grip’ is really not helpful. You can’t make smooth gentle control inputs if you’re holding on too tight. And you can’t feel the aircraft talking to you. One of the most influential pilots I’ve known had a cool callsign when he was flying the F-4 and F-15: ‘Stroker’. People used to wonder what dirty fighter pilot innuendo it involved. But it actually referred to how he gently stroked … Continue reading Fingerspitzengefühl

Morning Checklist

By Dave English

My boys are 6 and 4. School mornings can be … challenging. So this weekend I nailed a checklist in each of their rooms: It worked great! They were actually excited to check off items as they were completed. Of course, how long will this diligence last? How long before the checklist is ignored? It takes us all a while to learn that having a checklist is not the same as getting things done right. I’m going to try and be consciously, mindfully, fully present for each of my flying checklists this week.   BONUS – There’s a whole book on checklists, … Continue reading Morning Checklist

Active Monitoring

By Dave English

How do we monitor autopilots better? How do we stop just sitting and sorta watching the magic show? A major US airline training slide says ‘Active Monitoring’ works by:   Visualizing the outcome. Acting to achieve the desired result. & Comparing expectations to reality.   Look FOR something, not just AT something.   I think they’re on to something. Monitoring has to be active, not passive enjoying the clever automation. What do you think of this? SaveSave SaveSave SaveSave

Wake? Wait!

By Dave English

The standard advice to avoid a wake turbulence encounter is to wait a bit, to give some room when taking off or landing right behind a large aircraft. And that is good, practical, physics-based advice. But what about when you hit wake turbulence and have to recover? What’s being rediscovered is when actually encountering serious wake turbulence, the best thing to do is: Nothing. Well, not just nothing, but initially just wait. That’s right, wait. You may be rapidly going inverted but don’t do anything yet. Breathe for a second. Resist the strong urge from our primal flying nature to quickly move the … Continue reading Wake? Wait!