AIRMANSHIP

For many years, a fundamental element of airsafety has been described as airmanship. Some examples are, Maintaining a good lookout is good airmanship, Maintaining a safe speed near the ground is good airmanship Deciding not to fly because you are not current is good airmanship. What is airmanship ? There have been many attempts to define this in other ways, situational awareness, common sense, Cockpit Resource Management and leadership have all been used, but do not clearly and succinctly describe airmanship. A model, which when considered as the components of a building from the foundation up, illustrate the 10 components which together describe airmanship. This model is illustrated below.

Roof Ceiling Pillars L S E R F

JUDGEMENT & DECISION MAKING SITUATIONAL AWARENESS A I A C R A F T T E V M E N S I R O N M E N T R I K

Mezzanine Floor Foundation

PROFICIENCY SKILL DISCIPLINE

Each of the 10 components have been divided into 3 categories - FOUNDATION - PILLARS - ROOF Flight discipline, skill, proficiency. Knowledge of oneself, aircraft, team, environment, risk. Situational awareness and judgement/decision making ability

Each of the components is interdependent - a weakness in one will weaken the others. A pilots decision making, judgement and situational awareness abilities depend on building solid foundations and pillars of knowledge. It is appropriate to expand a little on each of the components of the model to better understand the interdependency of each of these.

A high standard of airmanship requires: Discipline - a high degree of self discipline is required. Some examples of the maintenance of these high standards is the use of checklists, emergency planning before takeoff, personally deciding not to fly if your check flight is overdue and not taking any shortcuts in any aspect of flying. Skill - the maintenance of a high level of skill. Skill is developed by knowledge, demonstration and practice. Flying must be continually practiced to maintain the skill. Competence will quickly diminish without practice - the maintenance of a high level of Proficiency, which can only be developed by practice and repetition. - this component is about knowing your own limitations and having the preparedness to self assess and analyse your own flying performance. Dont be afraid to seek assistance or guidance with any aspect of flying with which there is some uncertainty. A check flight or review with an Instructor should not be seen or regarded as an imposition.

Proficiency One Self

Aircraft - a pilot must have a thorough knowledge and understanding of the glider, its systems and components, speeds and limitations, including the airworthiness status and all maintenance requirements. Team - flying is dependant upon a team winch driver, ground crew etc. A pilot must ensure these aspects are available in sufficient number to conduct flying operations safely. The team also involves Instructors, maintenance personnel, retreive crews etc. - there are many aspect to environment associated with gliding. Some of the environments are - cockpit. - airspace, which is continually changing. - weather - terrain - other airspace users Good airmanship requires a pilots to maintain a good understanding and awareness of all the aspects of the environment influences in which we fly. This is achieved by preparation, keeping a good lookout while flying, keeping a close listening watch on the radio, developing good situational awareness skills, understanding and watching the weather. - the identification, assessment and control of risk, with the aim of reducing the risk to as low as is reasonably practicable. Some aspects which glider pilots will be familiar with in risk reduction or minimisation are, - Maintaining a good lookout. - Maintaining a safe speed near the ground. - Performing (habitually) checks, ideally using a checklists. - Deciding not to fly in conditions which are hazardous. - Deciding not to fly if unwell. - Requesting a checkflight if not in current flying practice. (Many flying organisations today require a check flight if a period of 90 days has elapsed since the previous flight)

Environment

Risk

Situational Awareness

- a pilot must develop and maintain a high level of situational awareness. This is an awareness of everything which is taking place around the glider, and includes issues such as other airspace users, airspace requirements (ie controlled airspace) navigation, weather, outlanding areas, etc.

Judgement & - a pilot must develop and maintain a good level of judgement and decision Decision making. This high level is developed by education and training followed by Making regular practice to polish and maintain the skills. Using good judgement and making the right decisions is vital to the safe conduct of any flight. Pilots are encouraged to regularly self assess and analyse their own performance in each component of the model described above. Am I current ?, Am I proficient in every aspect of flying ?, Where or how can I improve my own performance ? are just some of the question to ask yourself. Good airmanship on the part of all pilots will greatly increase the safety of gliding at the same time making it more enjoyable. John Hudson

(This article was adapted from an article in INSIGHT, the official newsletter of the Australian Aviation Underwriting Pool).

SITUATIONAL AWARENESS In a previous article on Airmanship, the subject of Situational Awareness was raised. Situational Awareness is about always knowing where you are and what is going on around you. In this article, an attempt is made to better describe Situational Awareness and techniques pilots can use to enhance their situational awareness skills. Experience has shown that a significant factor in the loss of situational awareness is some distraction perhaps caused by an operating system fault or malfunction for the pilot. Experience also indicates its likely to be the more ambiguous problem that cause most difficulty a winch wire failure on takeoff is generally well managed, mainly because of the time spent training on the correct procedure to deal with this. Pilots should be alert to this aspect and ensure they do not get so involved with correcting a problem they do not fly the glider. Situational awareness is most likely to become an issue in a high stress situation away on a cross country flight, low and unsure of your exact position, unable to raise the base on the radio sound familiar. The potential for the wrong decision or action in these circumstances is high. Aspects that are considered relevant to the loss of situational awareness are, - High Stress Environments. - Too much work (overload situation) or - Too little work (underload situation). - available time What is situational awareness? It is the picture (information) obtained when you look at something, you (subconciously) note what it is, its location relative to you and its importance in the general scheme of things. Think about what you do as a pilot after joining the downwind leg of the circuit. You check the runway position, your alignment to it and distance out from it. You note the wind strength and direction, your height, speed and undercarriage and flap position and the position of other gliders in the air and on the ground. From all of the information presented, conclusions are drawn and decisions made. You are situationally aware. Remember, it is very easy to loose situational awareness. Time is a critical factor. When a pilot scans for information whether it be outside the glider or in the cockpit, it takes time to look and interpret the information, before an action may be taken. It is critical that pilots develop a scanning technique that enables them to spend sufficient time obtaining information and also having sufficient time to respond or control the situation. Knowing when to stop obtaining information is the trick. Active management of your scan and information gathering will help a pilot. The use of a checklist is a good demonstration of how a pilot can focus

attention to a specific aspect of glider. The checklist positively controls the where and when you direct your attention and how long you spend looking at it. How can situational awareness be enhanced. - Detailed pre-flight planning. (Maps, weather etc) - Any action a pilot may take that saves time in the cockpit. (maps folded right, checklists, - Avoid fixating on a problem. - Anticipate (ask the What If questions) - Sort out and discard ambiguous information. - Keep a good lookout at all times - Keep an ear on the radio so as to hear what others (around you) are doing. Use the radio to help develop the picture. - Use standard procedures and checklists. Remember to always AVIATE, NAVIGATE & COMMUNICATE (in that order).

See and Be Seen Much has been said about See and Be Seen always keep a good lookout, have your eyes out of the cockpit as much as possible are phrases you have heard often. For the See and Be Seen principle to work fully, there are some additional factors which are required. These include :- a clean canopy. - good scanning techniques. - avoiding fixation on an object. It is also necessary to have good eye sight, either naturally or with correction. If you can see clearly without corrective devices, congratulations. Treasure your eyes. If you cannot see clearly it may be the written words in this article or some distant object its because your eyes have lost or are losing the ability to focus. There are several reasons for this, including the changing shape of the eye or the loss of flexibility of the lens in the eye. Some of the most common focussing problems are, Short-sightedness (myopia). This is when you cannot clearly see distant objects. Long-sightedness (hyperopia). This is when you cannot clearly see close objects, such as the printing on this page. Astigmatism. This is when there in uneven focussing ability some items are blurred while others appear clear. This is generally caused by a defect in the front surface of the eye. Age related long-sightedness (presbyopia). As indicated, this is a common age related issue (in people over 40) and is related to the loss of flexibility of the lens in the eye. A pilot has a responsibility to himself and other airspace users to have good eyesight to be able to see and be seen. Take a few moments to check your own eyesight is the printing on this page clear, can you see the wires strung between distant power poles or the numbers and letters on a car numberplate 25 30 metres in front of you. If you cant see these clearly, you should visit is an optometrist for your eyesight to be tested.