Life Lessons From Cockpit

After a rather long absence, I am back writing my blog again about life lessons from cockpit, thanks to Muhammad Nazri who is currently undergoing his flying training. Nazri posed the following questions and rather than answering directly to him, I thought of posting the answers in the blog so that the others could read them as well. The following are his questions:

a) What does it take to be a great pilot and what attitude should a pilot possess?

b) What kind of habit that a pilot has to instill in ourselves so that it will become a

routine and discipline that can make us to be a better pilot?

c) Compared to yourself in the old days and young pilot nowadays, do you notice if

there is any gap or lack in skill, knowledge and discipline in fresh pilots and if

there is any ,can you describe why and how to encounter it?

Q a) What does it take to be a great pilot and what attitude should a pilot possess?

The above are powerful questions and very subjective. If I were to ask different pilots I would probably get different answers. One can solicit views from different people, and the answer would again be different. A passenger’s view of a good or great pilot would be different from the ground staff’s view, another different view from someone who works closely with pilots compared to someone who is not directly involved with pilots. I guess that it is in everyone’s mind that a good pilot is someone who is cool, calm, collected and confident under pressure and they are absolutely right with the above views.

I too agree with the above view plus a few more of my own perceptions that are based on my own experience after being in the profession for over 30 years as a management pilot, instructor, trainer and line pilot. The following are my views:

1) State of mind. If one were to ask me the difference between a great pilot and an average one, I would dare to say that it is in his “state of mind.” The first thing a great pilot must have is a good, positive mental attitude. He must be disciplined, confident, relax and focus in what he is doing. There is no substitute for a strong discipline. When he is flying, he is on his own and if he is in command of the airplane, there is no one to tell him what to do or what not to do. He therefore has to be disciplined and follow a set of rules, which is the “standard operating procedures.” Discipline will also make him knowledgeable, meticulous in his work and has the attitude to continuously learn from his experiences.

2) Beliefs. Next is in his beliefs. It is basically a guiding principle, what pilots think to be true; his feeling about what is certainty in life. It is assumptions he has about himself, other people, his work, and the world. His beliefs could be limiting or they could be empowering to him. In flying we are faced with challenges all the time, perhaps much more compared to someone working on the ground. If we believe that we cannot do something, chances that we will behave in such a way that will cause us to fail, by not trying hard enough (give up), or by doing things to sabotage himself in some way. It is therefore necessary to have beliefs that will empower him to carry out his tasks well, and for him to be able to overcome all obstacles that he is faced with.

3) Skills. A great pilot has to be skillful. This is his bread and butter. He should be able to fly the aircraft well. By flying the aircraft well I mean with great accuracy and precision. He should not settle for a mediocre performance. He should strive for perfection and this takes a lot of hard work, practice and discipline.

The above to me are qualities of a great pilot. The following diagram will illustrate these qualities.

From the above diagram which one is more important of the three? Well to me all are important and necessary. However before one could acquire the skills, one has to have the right mental state and empowering beliefs. With these two qualities acquiring the necessary skills becomes easier. By having the above qualities he will also become more confident of himself. However he has to always remind himself and be careful of the tendency of becoming over-confidence. I have seen people who become so over confident of himself to the point of being obnoxious in his behaviour. To prevent this from happening, another quality that a great pilot must have is “humility.” This comes from knowing oneself, your strengths and weaknesses and respect for others, be they your working colleagues or any man on the street.

If you are a great pilot and you know about it and you are humble about it, you can walk tall and gain respect from your working colleagues and whoever that you are dealing with. You will truly enjoy this profession and will be forever remembered.

Tags: Cockpit, Life Lessons from Cockpit, Pilots

If you have been in the cockpit of an airplane or if you have seen pictures of an airplane cockpit, you would have noticed a myriad of switches, buttons and dials to control the various systems and as an indication of systems status. The bigger the aircraft, the more complex is the system. These switches and buttons would have to be manipulated during each phase of the flight with different buttons or switches for different phases. Correct and timely switching of the switches and buttons is critical to the safety of the flight. Have you therefore wondered how could pilots possibly remember and not miss a single step of the procedure as dictated? The answer is the use of checklist.

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Sample of a checklist

The airplane checklist has long been regarded as a foundation of pilot standardization and safety. Studies have indicated that the non-use or the improper use of the checklist is one of the major contributing factors to aircraft incidents and accidents. Learning from the strict cockpit discipline and the effectiveness of the checklist, a lot of high-risk and critical industries such as medical care, space flight, maritime and power production have adopted the use of checklist as part of their procedures. The following are reasons why checklists are widely used in the above industries including aviation:

• Offers standardization. With the use of checklists there is no ambiguity with the various procedures. Everyone knows exactly what to expect and what to do during all phases of flight.
• Provides added safety. During a non-normal situation the checklist allows one pilot to manipulate the various switches and buttons on his own without much supervision and frees the other pilot to concentrate on flying the airplane.
• Reduces workload. Checklist reduces pilots’ workload since they do not have to memorise some of the procedures as these procedures are referenced to the checklists.
• Aligns expectations. All modern airplanes are manned by two pilots. Most airlines would have a few hundred pilots flying the same aircraft type. Checklist allows pilots to fly with any of them as whomever that they fly with, will know what to expect.
• Manages workload better. Pilots have to carry out certain procedures during different phases of the flight. By using checklist, their workload would be evenly distributed. One pilot can concentrate in flying the plane while the other pilot can carry out other required tasks.

Learning from the pilots we can use checklists in many of our daily activities. As an example we can create a checklist to plan and arrange our activities for the day. By doing so we will be able to plan our life better, reduces our workload and helps us to distribute our workload better. It ensures that we do not miss anything of importance.

Written by Azharuddin Osman

Tags: airplane, checklists, Life Lessons from Cockpit, non-normal, normal

When pilots fly, they could be exposed to environment and situations beyond their control that could test their knowledge and skills to the limit. This is where their experience could play a part in dealing with adverse situations. Whilst experience is necessary what is more important is the type of training that a pilot goes through, throught his career.

In the old days all training were conducted in the actual aircraft. As such the type of training that pilots went through was limited due to safety concern and aircraft limitations. With technological advancement pilots training could now be conducted in flight “simulators.” A simulator is a training device, a replica of the airplane cockpit that simulates the experience of flying an aircraft. It has a realistic motion, sound as well as visual to display the outside world to pilots. It is so realistic, that once inside the simulator pilots will easily be immersed in the realm of a flight.

Outside view of a flight simulator

In the simulator, the flight instructor will be able to simulate all types of malfunctions that one could possibly think of. A typical pilot’s training is a flight from point A to point B, subjecting him to various malfunctions and adverse environmental conditions enroute. In a way, the training is similar to training in scenario planning in the corporate world where executives generate strategic plans to cope with future changes in the business world.

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Flight Instructor’s Station

What the simulator training does is to create an experience data base for the various scenarios that pilots could use when faced with actual conditions. That is why the more experienced he is, the more data and scenarios he will have in his “experience file.”

A typical training session - approach and landing

Lessons learned from the strict pilots discipline is the type of training that they have to go through before they could take charge of the multi million dollar airplane. A pilot is considered as the CEO and he should be able to lead and react to the changes to the environment and to make decisions affecting the flight. Perhaps we should do this too in the corporate world where executives are subject to similar simulated training before they could be at the helm of the corporation.

Written by Azharuddin Osman

Tags: flight simulator, Life Lessons from Cockpit, Pilots, scenario planning, Training