Single Pilot Looking for CRM - Bell Helicopter

Single Pilot continued
People outside the flight station can
profoundly affect the success or failure of
the mission before, during, and after the
day is done.
you aren’t the first person to whom it has
happened. You can contact the local FAA
office, an AOPA group, the instructors or
customer service from the manufacturer
of your helicopter for assistance. Any of
these groups would be happy to a help
you learn from an incident. As much as
these folks will help you, you have a much
closer resource in the pilots from your
own company or the pilots in your local
flying area. Be willing to talk to others
in the industry and you can increase your
knowledge base immensely.
The essential skill we all learn in CRM
is situational awareness. Believe it or not
all of the items and attitudes discussed to
this point will aid your level of situational
awareness. They may not speak to a
particular mission, but they will add
to your situational awareness on all
missions. If everyone in aviation always
acted with integrity, you would be more
aware about the status of your aircraft,
yourself, your mission and outside
influences. Sharing your experiences
with others and learning from theirs will
help keep your awareness high. Reading
about past mishaps and the causal factors
involved will help you avoid becoming
another statistic and will continually
raise your situational awareness. These
are all things you can do before you ever
take off.
There are several other skills we have all
heard about in CRM, but their effective
use depends entirely on your accurate
situational awareness. Your decisions and
analysis of the mission are based on what
you think is true. Your communication is
4 VOLUME 19 #2 • HELIPROPS
fixed in a paradigm based on what you
think is accurate. Your willingness to
lead, be adaptable or assertive are directly
effected by how you are interpreting your
reality on that day. The point here is you
need to ensure you have done everything
you can before and during the flight to
make certain your situational awareness
is as good as it can be.
We have talked about things to do before
the flight to better prepare you and your
attitudes before you take flight, but what
are some of the simple things pilots often
forego in flight which can help develop
better situational awareness and CRM?
Flight following is something pilots
frequently do without. You just want to
get in your aircraft and fly from point A
to point B and speak to no one. Air traffic
controllers can help you with traffic
information, coordination, weather,
and tracking your location if you have
a problem. They can be a vital member
of your “crew.” How often do you ignore
that resource? It will certainly make for
faster communication in an emergency
if you are already tuned in and talking
to them. What about tuning up a CTAF,
even if you aren’t technically going into
their pattern? At a minimum, you can
learn about traffic coming into and out of
the area. Often times you can learn more
than that. Next time you fly, consider
what other resources (crew members) you
have at your disposal. Now ask yourself
why you aren’t taking advantage of them.
LOOKING AHEAD
Are there any good reasons?
CRM isn’t a mechanism to eliminate
errors or accidents. It is a skill set to
help aviation professionals avoid errors,
recognize in evaluation they have made
an error or to reduce consequences if an
error is noticed too late to avoid. Human
errors will never be totally eradicated,
but we can help each other learn from
experience. We can also learn to be open
to reality and not the reality we create
in our own mind. We can increase our
awareness by taking advantage of all
available resources. We can also realize
we are just as likely to make mistakes
as anyone else. Learn from others errors
and help us learn from yours. Remember,
it really can happen to you on any given
day.
Here is a parting thought to consider
when you are inclined to judge someone
else too harshly after learning about
an accident; this is contributed to an
anonymous FAA inspector of long ago:
“For every mishap there were decisions
made by the pilot. He called upon the
sum of all his knowledge and made a
judgment. He believed in it so strongly
that he knowingly bet his life on it. That
his judgment was faulty was a tragedy,
not stupidity. Every person who came in
contact with him had an opportunity to
influence his decisions, so a little of all of
us goes with every pilot we lose.”
Keep each other safe.
Future issues of Heliprops will feature these upcoming articles:
LEAVE THE HELICOPTER RUNNING, NO PILOT?
Operations under Part 135
SPILT CONES – READER FEEDBACK
What to look for.
THE SAFETY CULTURE – MANAGEMENT BUY-IN
Does your management/owner pressure pilots to fly outside their
skill level or fly beyond the equipment’s capabilities?