AIRLINE COMMAND 25-02-2010 With Pagenumbers

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Who is AIRLINE COMMAND For? .............................................................................................................................................. 8
Who Else Can Use AIRLINE COMMAND............................................................................................................................... 10
Disclaimer - Necessary Legal(?), Check My Six, Stuff.................................................................................................... 12
How To Use AIRLINE COMMAND ........................................................................................................................................... 13
Who The Bloody Hell Am I? ....................................................................................................................................................... 14
Links To Aviation & Command Resources ......................................................................................................................... 16
Airline Command - Google Groups Discussion Area ..................................................................................................... 18
The Individual As Aircraft Commander ............................................................................................................................... 19
Self Concept (Part 1) ................................................................................................................................................................. 20
Johari Window - Your Four Selves (Part 2) .................................................................................................................. 22
Self Awareness (Part 3)........................................................................................................................................................... 25
Positive Thinking Vs Positive Knowing .......................................................................................................................... 27
Bullshit Antenna ......................................................................................................................................................................... 29
Emotional Rollercoaster ......................................................................................................................................................... 32
Mistakes And Criticism (Part 1) ......................................................................................................................................... 34
Airmanship (Part 1) .................................................................................................................................................................. 44
Airmanship (Part 2) .................................................................................................................................................................. 47
Airmanship (Part 3) .................................................................................................................................................................. 49
Preparation (P7) ......................................................................................................................................................................... 53
SA Enhancement - Quick & Dirty........................................................................................................................................ 56
Two Cases of Reverse Mind Set (RTO & Go Around) ............................................................................................... 58
The Difference Between THE Captain & AN F/O ....................................................................................................... 59
Skill Envelope ............................................................................................................................................................................... 61
Command Preparation (Part 1) .......................................................................................................................................... 63
Last Updated: 25-02-2010 Latest website article: 21-February-2010

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How To Be Above Average - The Zulu Principle ........................................................................................................ 71
SA – Your Crystal Ball............................................................................................................................................................... 72
SITREPs ........................................................................................................................................................................................... 72
Control The Controllable – Your “Circle Of Influence” ............................................................................................ 73
Photographic Situational Awareness (SA) .................................................................................................................... 76
Satisficing – Decision Making............................................................................................................................................... 77
Self Directed Learning (SDL) ................................................................................................................................................ 80
The Leader Of The Band ......................................................................................................................................................... 82
The Lumberjacks & The Wrong Forest ........................................................................................................................... 85
Lookout............................................................................................................................................................................................ 86
Keep A “Command” Journal .................................................................................................................................................. 88
Your Comfort, Learning & Anxiety Zones ...................................................................................................................... 89
Don’t Waste Your Apprenticeship ..................................................................................................................................... 93
YOU Run The Show YOUR Way ........................................................................................................................................... 94
Take A Mental Step Back ........................................................................................................................................................ 95
Command Rules (Part 1) ........................................................................................................................................................ 96
Command Rules (Part 2) ........................................................................................................................................................ 97
Command “Experience” .......................................................................................................................................................... 99
Situational Awareness (SA) Part 1 ................................................................................................................................. 101
Situational Awareness (SA) Part 2 ................................................................................................................................. 105
What Is Monitoring? .............................................................................................................................................................. 107
Aviate, Navigate, Communicate & Manage................................................................................................................. 114
Workload Management (Part 1)...................................................................................................................................... 115
Workload Management (Part 2)...................................................................................................................................... 118

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TEM (Part 1 - Overview)...................................................................................................................................................... 120
TEM (Part 2 - The Layers) .................................................................................................................................................. 125
TEM (Part 3 - Putting It All Together) .......................................................................................................................... 132
Have A Think About Leadership ........................................................................................................................................... 136
Can I Be A Leader? .................................................................................................................................................................. 137
Learning Leadership.............................................................................................................................................................. 138
Authority and Leadership ................................................................................................................................................... 139
Be a Leader, Not a Manager ............................................................................................................................................... 140
Aviation Leadership ............................................................................................................................................................... 141
http://nwlink.com/~donclark/leader/leader.htmlEarning Respect ......................................................... 142
Earning Respect ....................................................................................................................................................................... 143
Assertiveness............................................................................................................................................................................. 144
Leadership Styles .................................................................................................................................................................... 146
Situational Leadership.......................................................................................................................................................... 147
Cockpit Gradient ...................................................................................................................................................................... 148
Good Leadership ...................................................................................................................................................................... 151
Followers ..................................................................................................................................................................................... 152
Leader/Follower Interacting Skills ................................................................................................................................ 153
Decision Making - CRM .............................................................................................................................................................. 154
CLEAR Model - CRM ............................................................................................................................................................... 155
DECIDE Model - CRM ............................................................................................................................................................. 157
SOCS Model - CRM................................................................................................................................................................... 158
Cockpit & Cabin Crew – Two Cultures.......................................................................................................................... 159
Cockpit & Cabin Crew – Breaking Down The Barriers......................................................................................... 161
Communication - Birdstrike & Engine Damage....................................................................................................... 162
Your Team – Things You Should Know........................................................................................................................ 163

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Splitting The Cockpit & How To Join It Again ........................................................................................................... 167
A Better Team ........................................................................................................................................................................... 169
Lead in a Pinch, Cede in a Cinch....................................................................................................................................... 171
Delegate So You Can Regulate .......................................................................................................................................... 173
Just Say “We”, “Us”, “Our” & “Let’s” ................................................................................................................................ 175
Judgement & Decision Making (Part 1 - Introduction) ........................................................................................ 176
Judgement & Decision Making (Part 2 - Senses)..................................................................................................... 178
Judgement & Decision Making (Part 3 - Sense Filters) ........................................................................................ 182
Judgement & Decision Making (Part 4 - Perception)............................................................................................ 184
Judgement & Decision Making (Part 5 - Recognition) ......................................................................................... 187
Judgement & Decision Making (Part 6 - Define The Problem) ........................................................................ 189
Expectancy & Bias .............................................................................................................................................................. 192
Judgement & Decision Making (Part 7 - Risk) .......................................................................................................... 195
Risk Definitions ........................................................................................................................................................................ 196
The Nature Of Risk.................................................................................................................................................................. 198
The Four Essential “Rules Of Risk”................................................................................................................................. 200
Balancing The Risk ................................................................................................................................................................. 202
Risk Assessment ...................................................................................................................................................................... 206
Risk Management (or Managing The Risk)................................................................................................................ 209
Judgement & Decision Making (Part 8 - The Decision) ....................................................................................... 211
Judgement & Decision Making (Part 9 – Taking Action) .................................................................................... 214
Judgement & Decision Making (Part 10 – Evaluation) ........................................................................................ 215
The “Human Element” Of Aviation (And Life).......................................................................................................... 217
A Basic Decision Making Model ....................................................................................................................................... 221
General Ramblings....................................................................................................................................................................... 224
Stop and Think! What Triggers You? ............................................................................................................................ 225

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Red Flags ...................................................................................................................................................................................... 227
SEP - Somebody Else's Problem! ..................................................................................................................................... 229
Quotes To Keep You Going During Command.......................................................................................................... 230
K.I.S.S.............................................................................................................................................................................................. 232
R.E.D. .............................................................................................................................................................................................. 233
First Flight ................................................................................................................................................................................... 235
Smile............................................................................................................................................................................................... 236
Attention Suck - FMS ............................................................................................................................................................. 238
Mentors ........................................................................................................................................................................................ 239
Four Communication "Groups" ........................................................................................................................................ 240
"Holistic" Command ............................................................................................................................................................... 242
Just Say NO! ................................................................................................................................................................................ 243
Don't Just Sit There - Do Something! ............................................................................................................................. 244
Support System – For You .................................................................................................................................................. 247
Support System – For Your “Team” ............................................................................................................................... 250
The Fine Line (TFL) of Command ................................................................................................................................... 252
Control The Pace...................................................................................................................................................................... 253
Nicola – An Oldie, But A Goodie!...................................................................................................................................... 255
Time – And Its' (Mis)Management ................................................................................................................................. 256
Monitoring – It May Save Your Life................................................................................................................................ 258
TNB – Healthy Skepticism .................................................................................................................................................. 262
VUCA – Get Used To It ........................................................................................................................................................... 264
Sons & Daughters Of The Green/Magenta Line ....................................................................................................... 265
Recognise & React ................................................................................................................................................................... 266
The Light Comes On - A Major Command Realisation ......................................................................................... 268
Command Course – A Marathon, Not A Sprint ......................................................................................................... 269

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The Hard, Necessary Things .............................................................................................................................................. 271
Making P.A.s ............................................................................................................................................................................... 272
The Nature Of People ............................................................................................................................................................ 275
New Lines Of Thought .......................................................................................................................................................... 277
The “Joys” Of Command ....................................................................................................................................................... 279
100 Posts, 6 Months Old ...................................................................................................................................................... 281
Workload Vs Monitoring ..................................................................................................................................................... 283
The 2 Rules ................................................................................................................................................................................. 285
Playing The Hand Dealt To You ....................................................................................................................................... 287
A Sporting Command ............................................................................................................................................................ 289
My Command Course In Retrospect - Captain Jay.................................................................................................. 291
Why Did You Get Into Aviation In The First Place? ............................................................................................... 295
Risk & Your Command Course ......................................................................................................................................... 296
The Three Tests........................................................................................................................................................................ 298
The Grey Areas ......................................................................................................................................................................... 300
SKYbrary – A Good Resource ............................................................................................................................................ 301
FlightCog.com ............................................................................................................................................................................ 302
The Limits Of Expertise...................................................................................................................................................... 303
Command Jigsaw Puzzle – Putting It All Together ........................................................................................... 304
SKYbrary – OGHFA ............................................................................................................................................................. 310
Visual Approaches (Part 1) .............................................................................................................................................. 312
Good Captain, Bad Captain ............................................................................................................................................ 321
Cabin Crew Communication – Flight 1549 ............................................................................................................ 322

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Who is AIRLINE COMMAND For?
Airline Command is aimed at the prospective airline Commander or Captain who will shortly begin either an
upgrade course from First Officer or will soon be appointed as Captain by their employer.
Much of the material is targeted at modern civilian airliners, although with suitable modification smaller
commuter airliner or charter Commanders can still use the underlying principles. In fact, any Captain, civil or
military, of any aircraft can use the basic principles contained here.
While this is the primary group of individuals targeted by this blog, current Commanders can also use the
guiding principles to refine and improve their Command skills. Other airline crew members (Second Officers and
First Officers who do not have an upcoming upgrade) will also benefit from assimilating the knowledge and
beginning to apply the skills in their normal Line Flights. Future Commanders can then observe how their
current Captain leads, manages, organises and flies Line Flights – they are then free to choose the best of
traits and discard the worst, which they can then start to meld into their own unique style of Command.
Current Trainers (those who train Command Trainees) may also benefit from refreshing themselves with these
contents. It may remind them of the stresses and challenges that Trainees will face during Command Training.
Future Commanders should be in no doubt over the vastly increased responsibilities and wide scope of power
that Command authorizes them with (legally, practically, technically, ethically and morally). Depending on your
employer, a Commander may be described as:
The person ultimately responsible for the legal, safe and effective operation of the aircraft, crew members,
passengers and cargo.
Responsibilities include pre-flight planning, unscheduled, rescheduled, delayed and diverted flights, passenger
and cargo handling, economical and effective operation of the aircraft and compliance with the relevant laws,
regulations and procedures (both the operation of the flight and the crew members and passengers on that
flight). It is almost certain that you will lose your Command (if not your job) if you or any of your subordinates
seriously compromise any legal aspect or safety of flight and you will certainly be invited “up for a chat” with
management if you do not operate a flight effectively.
Unlike most modern managerial positions in ground based companies, Aircraft Commanders are charged with
the safe and efficient operation of a piece of machinery sometimes worth tens of millions of dollars. In addition
he is responsible for the health and safety of the crew and all the passengers (sometimes several hundred),
most of which are complete strangers. The aviation environment is constantly changing and the time scales

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involved for crucial decision making are often measures in the seconds or in extreme cases milli-seconds. Not
too many company executives are required to make individual, isolated, multi-million dollar decisions in a split
second, which can affect hundreds of people instantly with no chance of conferring with superiors or
specialists. As an Aircraft Commander the “Buck (truly) Stops Here”.
I could be President of Sikorsky for six months before they found me out, but the President would only have my
job for six seconds before he'd kill himself. (Walter R. 'Dick' Faull, Test Pilot)
For the majority of time as a Commander, Captains are not required to use the full extent of their powers. An
effective Commander is able to fulfil his role successfully and appear to be doing little! However, there will
come times when the full extent of the responsibilities and powers of Command are required (e.g. major aircraft
emergencies, unruly passengers or diversion and unscheduled services with no ground handling agent).
Developing your Command qualities and skills should have happened well before you are required to use them.
An ineffective Commander can at best barely handle a major disruption and at worst can turn it into a disaster
(for himself, his crew, the passengers and the Airline).
Most airline Command Courses, while not implicitly teaching Command skills, focus heavily on those skills
displayed by Captains under training. You can be sure that even if you can fly and operate the aircraft to a high
standard but cannot effectively lead a crew and passengers and manage the aircraft operation that you will fail
any Command Course. This is one of the most common causes of candidates failing airline Command upgrades
– lack of Command skills.
Most airlines expect their future Command Trainees to possess these Command skills prior to commencing the
Command upgrade Course. While your flying and operating skills of the aircraft as a First Officer are assessed
during various regulatory Simulator, Training or Line Check flights, very little emphasis is usually given to
Command skills. Most Command Trainees “learn through osmosis” – they learn and absorb Command skills
from observing and interacting with all the previous Commanders they have come into contact with.
This blog intends to rectify this paucity of Command skills training by setting out some Command skills building
blocks. It also endeavours to not only tell you what to do, but how to do it.
While this information does not guarantee that you will automatically become an effective Commander by
reading it, it does have the essential building blocks, which if diligently applied, will certainly increase the
probability that you will become an effective Commander. These building blocks of characteristics, skills and
traits need to be honed and developed as a First Officer prior to Command upgrade Training. Only then will you
have developed your effective and unique Command style to bring into the Command upgrade process.
NOTES:
Throughout this blog the terms Commander and Captain are used interchangeably – they mean the same thing.
Masculine terms in this blog, such as he, him or his also imply the female gender. This is not ment as a slight
against the female of the species - it's just that I'm too lazy to type (s)he, him/her...you get the picture.
This information is intended as a guide to individuals developing Command characteristics, skills and traits.
Ensure you read the DISCLAIMER.
Relevant procedures contained in Company Operations Manuals and Documentation, and Statutory and Legal
requirements of the country of your Airline or your Pilot’s License have precedence over material in this blog
and shall take precedence.

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Who Else Can Use AIRLINE COMMAND
Hopefully you’ve read all about the “target audience” for this blog in the Who Is Airline Command For?
When I was in the initial stages of producing this Airline Command blog I originally and intentionally decided to
have a fairly well defined and specialised “target audience” of pilots who were approaching Command in
civilian airliners. I know this group of pilots pretty well as it is what I am involved with professionally on a day-to-
day basis – it’s my primary job at the moment as a Training Captain in my airline Company.
However, most of the aviation topics that are included in this Airline Command blog can definitely be utilised in
other broader, alternative fields of aviation.
Power + Attitude = Performance works for a Cessna 172 just as well as a B787 or an A380.
And so CRM, TEM, communication, Leadership and team work, monitoring, earning respect etc. (all stuff that is
discussed here) also can be usefully applied in commuter airlines, corporate biz jets, helicopters, GA and in
military aircraft.
It can be used here most definitely (in the primary target audience).
But it can equally as well be used here:
Or here:

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Or even here:
So if you know of anyone in these other aviation types that you think may benefit from the info squirrelled away
in these pages then make sure that you let them know and point them to Airline Command.
If you are an aviator from one of these other fields of aviation, then jump in and get your feet wet! Let us know if
this is good info (or crap info) and how your job is different from ours. (See that little blue COMMENTS hyperlink
just below here - use it to leave a note for the rest of the readers.)

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Disclaimer - Necessary Legal(?), Check My Six, Stuff
This blog is intended as a guide to individuals developing Command characteristics, skills and traits.
These are for the most part my own thoughts, ramblings and suggestions gleaned from nearly 30 years of
military and civilian aviation experience.
While I have done my best to ensure that the information contained within this Blog is correct, there is always
the possibility that some errors may have slipped through the cracks.
If you are reading this and are part of the intended audience of pilots about to undertake Command Training
then treat it as it has been intended - as a guide for you to develop your Command skills and style.
If you've got this far in your aviation career you should be a big boy (girl) and know what is relevant and what is
not. Don't try and hide behind this information - part of being a Commander is accepting responsibility for your
decisions and actions. So start doing that right now!
Relevant procedures contained in Company Operations Manuals and Documentation, and Statutory and Legal
requirements of the country
country of your Airline or your Pilot’s License have precedence over material in this blog
and shall take precedence.
So don't blame me if you cock up, or even worse, try to weasle out of a mistake or error that YOU commit.
Caveat Emptor,
Emptor use at your own risk. You have been warned!!

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How To Use AIRLINE COMMAND
Welcome to the new age of Command Training!
AIRLINE COMMAND is my tiny little bit of this rapidly growing area of the Internet. If you regularly drop in here,
you can keep track of any new stuff recently posted.
But what if you've only just found about this incredible resource (well I like to think of it as incredible). How can
you get the best out of the ever growing posts chucked in here?
The easiest and best way is to check out the different subject headings (listed on the right hand side of the
page). Make sure you read the HOME section. Here is where I'll post the "How
How To Use AIRLINE COMMAND"
COMMAND
stuff.
I'll endevour to list all the articles in here somewhere so that all the posts are laid out in some sort of order
rather than just chronologically as I post new stuff (which then gets archieved Monthly and can make things
hard to find). Make sure you use the INDEX,INDEX which groups all the articles in one easy to use and find place.
I recommend that you plough through the The Individual As Aircraft Commander articles first (as much as
possible, even though it can be pretty dry reading sometimes), as the later articles will build on the information
from this. However, if you see something that catches your eye, just hop in and have a read of it. It's not like
this is a syllabus or required reading as part of your Command Course.
Make sure you read the DISCLAIMER part of this section.
Join in the AIRLINE COMMAND Google Groups discussion area (just click on the Visit This Group link on the right
hand side of the page) and see what everyone else is talking about.
Oh!, did I mention that you should read the HOME section first - just getting in early for all those people who add
comments asking how to access information in AIRLINE COMMAND and haven't read this section first.
Read the HOME section first!

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Who The Bloody Hell Am I?
I'm a current Airbus (A330 and A340) Training Captain with a major Airline in Asia involved with Second Officer,
First Officer and Command Training. I am also involved with presenting Ground Training Courses for future
Command Trainees in my Company - so I know a lttle bit about what you will be going through when you
commence your Command Course.
If you are remotely familiar with the latest Australian Tourism promos you will recognise the catch phrase
"...Where the Bloody Hell Are You?". Well as you may have guessed from the title of this post, I'm also an Aussie.
I don't intend to make this blog a dry, boring, politically correct discussion. So expect me to call a Spade a
Bloody Shovel! Undertaking a Command Course can be stressful enough - so I'll try and make this a bit light-
hearted and (semi) humourous. It's what us Aussies do.
I've been a full time professional (some may not agree) aviator since 1978. I joined the military and flew "real"
aircraft (helicopters) for eight years, got involved with training as a QFI and then swapped to flying P3s (also
instructing there). After 16 years in the military I figured it was either get a civilian job or get promoted to a desk
job (probably as OIC Folding Chairs - Wagga).
So I joined my present employer (a very large Asian Airline), who I've been with for over 13 years. I started out
as a First Officer on the Classic, then shortly after I swapped to the Airbus where I have been for over 10 years.
The aviation profession is quite small and so there are enough clues throughout this diatribe for people in the
know to guess who I really am. I would prefer however to remain behind my cloak of semi-anonymity, so if you
know who I am, don't blab it out to the entire world please.

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To try and keep my sanity I attempt to photograph things (some successfully, others not so). To absolutey
ensure that I don't have any spare time I have also elected(?) to train for and participate in Triathlons. So if you
what a "free" chauffer driven, airline trip to the latest Ironman Triathlon (Photo included), then I'm your man.
In the last few years I have been interested in assisting First Officers during their development, training and
progression towards Command. There is usually very little guidance and direction given by your employer
(depends on your particular Airline Company) as you progress towards Command. Usually your Company will
expect you to demonstrate "Command Qualities" or Command potential before you even turn up for your first
Command Training event.
You learn through Osmosis - observing your past Captains and taking the good and (hopefully) rejecting the
bad. I hope this blog will help, guide and assist you as you travel the sometimes rocky path towards being an
Airline Commander. I hope that it will also be a type of forum that Command Trainees (and Command Trainers)
can visit to disseminate knowledge.
Enjoy the ride and don't forget to occasionally smile.
Always remember that famous COW Philosophy - "Don't forget to stop and eat the roses."

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Links To Aviation & Command Resources
In here I’m endevouring to put links to other Aviation and Command related sites. This will grow as I seek out
further information.
Some of the sites may be Aircraft type specific or may be Aviation General, or may even be non-aviation but
related to getting your 4 Bars (e.g. Leadership).
If you see any good sites that you think would be worthwhile or even better, that you have found to be helpful to
you during your Command Upgrade or Training then let me know. I’ll be adding new sites continually as I go, so
drop in here every so often to check out the additions.
Airbus
http://www.airbusdriver.net/ - Bob Sanford’s discussion on everything Airbus A320 (and Airbus general).
http://www.a330jam.com/ - Airbus A330 Training & Operational Notes and Links by QF pilots.
http://groups.yahoo.com/group/Airbus_Discuss - The Airbus-Discuss Group is for discussion of operational,

technical and regulatory matters specific to the Airbus family of airplanes.
http://www.airbus.com/en/corporate/ethics/safety_lib/ - Airbus Briefing Notes have been developed to

constitute a safety-awareness reference for all aviation actors, regardless of their role, type of equipment and
operation. Briefing Notes provide an equal focus on Flight Operations, Cabin Operations and Maintenance.
Boeing
http://www.b737.org.uk/ - Chris Brady's very comprehensive Boeing 737 Technical Site. Here you will find
operational, mechanical and training notes; articles and photos contributed by 737 pilots and engineers from

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around the world. Well worth a look.
http://www.bradleymarsh.com.au/homepage/737start.html - Brad Marsh's home page. Contains B737 info for

those intrepid Trans Tasman aviators.
CRM
http://cabinfactors.com/ - A research and consulting organization specializing in human factors issues related
to the commercial aircraft cabin. Has a good selection of Cockpit/Cabin Crew research papers.
http://www.crm-devel.org/resources/crmadvocate/ - The CRM Advocate was a ground breaking quarterly

newsletter published from October 1993 until October 1996. These back issues of The CRM Advocate contain
relevant CRM Command articles.
http://www.crm-devel.org/resources/index.htm - Resources for development of CRM training organized by

topic. Contains lots of good articles on things such as SA, automation, CRM, Human Factors, Judgement and
Decision Making etc.
Leadership
http://www.nwlink.com/~donclark/leader/leader.html - The Art & Science of Leadership. A great web resource,

easy to digest and read basic primer to learn everything you ever wanted to know about Leadership (well almost
everything).
http://www.brainyquote.com/quotes/authors/w/warren_g_bennis.html - Leadership quotes by Warren Bennis.
General
http://www.thirtythousandfeet.com/ - Aviation web pages, aviation news, FAQs, and other sources of aviation
information.
http://www.andytracy.net/stuff.htm - Andy Tracy's (CX Airbus Captain) web site on aviation, astronomy and
computers.
http://www.smartcockpit.com/ - A free online aviation library, where anyone can obtain specific information on
virtually any topic.
http://www.skygod.com/quotes/index.html - Dave English's compendium of Great Aviation Quotes for every

occasion.
Photography (OK, this isn't Aviation or Command related, but I'm interested in Photography and I run this place -
so I get to put in stuff that interests me)!
http://strobist.blogspot.com/ - This place is THE BEST source of info for Off Camera Flash.
Flash

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Airline Command - Google Groups Discussion Area
On the right hand side of the page you will see an AIRLINE COMMAND Google Groups link.
Just click on the Visit This Group link and you will be taken to the AIRLINE COMMAND Google Group discussion
area. You'll have to sign in on your first visit (fill out your email address and hit Subscribe in the box provided if
you would like to receive an email whenever new posts are placed in the Discussion arena) and from then on
you just contribute.
Here you can post your burning questions, rant and blow off steam, add suggestions, good things, bad things -
in fact anything related to getting your Four Bars.
I hope that this area will become a living, vibrant discussion forum and that not only me, but all the other
readers of AIRLINE COMMAND will be able to assist, guide, blow off steam or hook up for beers (very important
for stress relief!).
This might even be a better place for your suggestions than using the COMMENTS link at the bottom of each
post and you won't have to E Mail me.
So join in - the more the merrier and disseminate the knowledge. You don't have to be in this alone!
Real Scenarios - Discussion Group
Like most pilots you probably like discussing real problems/malfunctions/scenarios that have either occurred
to you or others.
They can be extremely valuable ways to learn hard lessons from others without you risking your neck, aircraft or
your Command. They are also ways that you can be forewarned or have a ready made solution if you ever face
this type of problem yourself for real. This can be an excellent way to help make quality Command decisions
and take the pressure off you.
Hopefully as more people discover AIRLINE COMMAND they will increasingly make use of the AIRLINE
COMMAND Discussion Group to bounce ideas off one another. The Discussion Group also has the advantage
that not only me but YOU can start the ball rolling and then everyone else can join in.
To that end I've started to add a few real life scenarios that have actually occurred to me while training future
Commanders in the AIRLINE COMMAND
COMMAND Discussion Group.Group
I'll pose the question (or you can put forward something that happened to you), let you have your say or post
your solution/ideas/actions and then later I'll include what I actually did for real (and the lessons that I learnt
and how I would do it differently if it ever occurred to me again) and the reasons why I (or the Command
Trainee) chose that particular course of action.
So head on over to the AIRLINE COMMAND Discussion Group - you get there by clicking on the Visit This Group
link over there on the right hand sidebar - and check out what's been posted.
Join in and share the knowledge. You don't have to be in this alone!

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The Individual As Aircraft Commander
This is the introduction to a series of articles. At the end of this article there are links to the others.
At the very core of how you act as an aircraft Commander is; Who You Are.
This determines the style of your Command and Leadership, how you interact with your superiors (including
Training Captains), subordinates (both cockpit and cabin crew), ground handling agents, ATC and passengers
and how they in turn interact with you. It determines the way you approach your task, your attitude, your
perception of “reality”, decision making and risk taking and how you fly the aircraft. It affects how you cope with
stress and change.
If you do not know who you are, how can you change your thoughts, behaviours and actions? How can you
modify your Command and Leadership style to a more effective one? If you have an inaccurate mental image of
who you are and how you Command, you will not understand why people react towards you in what you
perceive as an illogical way. If you think you are “The Ace from Space” when in reality you are a blundering
dunderhead, you will have great trouble leading people and managing aircraft operations.
This section – The Individual As Aircraft Commander, examines various aspects of what makes people who they
are and why they act the way that they do. You will gain an insight into who you are and why you act the way you
do. It is essential to have at least a basic grasp of your inner workings as these determine how you interact and
the effectiveness of these interactions with people and affect your choices, decisions, thoughts, behaviours and
actions. A consequence of these choices, decisions, thoughts, behaviours and actions will be how you operate,
fly and lead and manage an aircraft, the crew and passengers as the Commander.
Don't think while you're reading this, that it is a load of cobblers, all that psycho-babble and trick-cyclist mumbo-
jumbo. It is actually quite relevant and you have to gain a deeper understanding of who you are to eventually be
an effective Captain.
So don't blow this section off - it contains basic building blocks for all the rest that follows.
Included in this section are, Self (a linked series of several articles), Attitudes, Reality and Perception,
Personalities and Interpersonal Skills. Some of these topics are under construction, so head back here
occasionally to check for new additions.

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Self Concept (Part 1)
This is the first part of a series of linked articles about the SELF. At the beginning there is a link back to the
Introduction and at the end of each article a link to the next one.
To be an effective person, Commander and Leader you have to understand yourself. Only when you have a
grasp of who you are can you then attempt to understand other people.
This eventual understanding of how you and other people interact will determine decisions you make (in the air
and on the ground), the type of leadership style you employ, choices you make and the effectiveness of that
interaction and the relationships you form with those people.
In essence understanding YOURSELF has a large bearing on your success or failure as a Commander. And it all
starts with you.
Self Concept
Everyone has a mental image of who they are and what they represent, their strengths and weaknesses and
their abilities and limitations. This may be an accurate image or may be somewhat distorted. This internal
mental image is your Self Concept.
Our perception of ourselves is continually being changed and updated from birth and is the end result of all our
experiences, relationships and interactions with people and the environment. It is a very subjective assessment
because of the individual associations we have with other people. It may be distorted and inaccurate due to
old, obsolete or inaccurate information. It is flexible and depends on the situation and environment we find
ourselves in. It may change depending on whether we are fatigued or rested, hot or cold, confused or alert, in
current flying experience or uncurrent, happy or sad.
Your Self Concept is moulded from four main sources:
Other’s Images Of You. People reflect how they perceive you as an individual back at you, like looking in a
mirror, through their actions and behaviours. If they think that you are a competent, capable and successful
person they will probably treat you with respect, courtesy and politeness. If however, they perceive you as
incompetent, clumsy and a loser they will probably treat you completely differently.
The more the other person is significant in your life, the more impact the reflected image will have on your Self
Concept. If, during the course of a flight, you receive a positive (or negative) image from a Senior Training
Captain, it would mean much more to you than if you had received the same message from a Second Officer or
a cabin attendant.
Social Comparisons. We tend to make social comparisons by evaluating ourselves with others, especially our
peer group. Am I better or worse than him, fatter or thinner, can I fly as well as him?
If you form some sort of support group or are paired up with others undergoing Command Training you will
invariably compare yourself with the other Command Trainees – especially if the simulator sessions or flights
are evaluated or graded by a marking system. This type of comparison should be approached with caution as
the marking can be influenced by so many variables, which may or may not be present in some of the flights.
You may also compare how you would have handled a particular situation described by another and determine
if you may have been better or worse. For example, another Command Trainee may describe how he executed a
Visual Approach and you then determine if you are better or worse than him based on your own knowledge of
how you would have flown the Visual Approach yourself.
Cultural Teachings. Your beliefs, values and attitudes are heavily influenced by the cultural environment that

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you were brought up in and now live in. Your race, nationality, parents, teachers, managers, the media, social
environment, religion, flying instructors and even your employer has, and is now, influencing the way you see
yourself.
The way you measure success and failure and determine if you are good or bad are influenced by your cultural
teachings. An Occidental pilot will view being a good Captain in a different manner to an Oriental pilot. An
Australian pilot will tend to have a different and distinctive Command style to a British or Japanese pilot. Even
different Airlines will have their own brand of "Culture" – their way of doing things that you are expected to
conform to, which may be quite different to another Airline.
Your Own Interpretations And Evaluations. As other people reflect back at you how they perceive you, so do you
react to your own behaviours and actions. If you interpret an action that you do as positive, then you will make a
positive evaluation about yourself and so increase your Self Concept.
You must learn not to be your harshest critic. People when they self-evaluate tend to be much more critical than
how others actually see them. However, do not delude yourself either. Your own interpretations and evaluations
can be a double edged sword. Self-evaluation is by nature very subjective. Depending on your past life
experiences and your current Self Concept, you may be making either accurate or inaccurate self-evaluations.
Feedback from other people is one way to confirm or deny your subjective self-evaluations.
The more you know of yourself, the more accurate your interpretations and evaluations will be.
This is the end of the first article about the SELF. Click here for the second article about the Johari Window
concept.

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Johari Window - Your Four Selves (Part 2)
This is the second part of a series of linked articles about the SELF. At the beginning there is a link back to the
previous article and at the end of each a link to the next one.
Your self awareness can be explained by examining a little concept known as the Johari Window model.
This is a concept used by pyschologists to help (try) and explain the Self. If you persevere and read this it may
even help you too.
It has four quadrants representing a different aspect of your Self. These aspects are also related to what you
know of yourself and what others know of you and are all inter-related.
The Open Self. This aspect represents everything that you know of yourself and what others know of you. It
includes such things as your name and age, marital status, your motives and desires, behaviours, rank,
aeronautical experience and your position in your Company.
This part of your Self is the one you have the most control over. Your Open Self window can vary in size
depending on how much information about yourself you are willing to disclose (to relative strangers), the
situation you are in or the people about you that you are interacting with. The size of the Open Self depends
also on the personality of the person. Some people are quiet and do not readily reveal certain aspects of
themselves and so have a small Open window, while others are very open and need little prompting to talk
about themselves and have a large Open window. The more comfortable a person feels in a situation, the more
likely it is that he will allow his Open window to expand by revealing parts of himself.
After meeting other members of your cockpit/cabin crew (and you feel comfortable with them) you may elect to
divulge information about yourself and so expand the size of your Open Self to them. This generally happens
quite early on in the team formation process (at the pre-flight briefing if you have not met these crew members
before) and generally takes the form of polite social questioning. Such queries may be; Are you married? How
many kids do you have? When did you last complete a take off and landing? Have you been to this destination
before?
The Blind Self. This aspect represents everything about you that others know but you are not aware of. Areas
which are blind to us may be an insignificant habit of saying "Err" at the beginning of every radio transmission, a
lack of piloting skills or poor communication skills with ground handling agents.

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The size of the Blind Self can also vary with people. Some people are oblivious to their faults and habits, while
others seek to determine their every fault. You can reduce the size of your Blind Self by judicious questioning
and prompting of others. Good interpersonal and conversational skills generally results in a smaller Blind Self.
However, be careful about helping someone "discover" their Blind Self – that person may resent the perceived
fault being pointed out to them.
The Hidden Self. This aspect contains all that you know about yourself but keep hidden from others. Such
things as successfully kept secrets and personal thoughts, motives and desires which we feel belong only to us
are examples of the Hidden Self.
The size of the Hidden Self is also dependant on the person. Some people readily disclose every minute detail
about themselves and others are reluctant to divulge much of this personal information. Most people keep
certain things to themselves and disclose other personal items and they make disclosures to some people and
not others.
The Unknown Self. This aspect of the Self contains details about you that neither you nor others are aware of.
There is little you can do about this aspect except be aware that it exists.
The Unknown Self is continually being reduced as you and others learn more about yourself and so transfer to
the Hidden, Blind or Open Self. The Unknown Self can be revealed in unusual or demanding circumstances.
During an inflight emergency or stressful personal event you may react and do things that you had not
previously been aware that you were capable of.
Command often produces unusual, unplanned and stressful moments in which you may be surprised at how
you react and the decisions that you make (both good and bad). Your mental image of yourself will be modified
by revelations of the Unknown or Hidden Self as they then become one of the other types of Self.
Inter-relation of the Selves. The relative size of the different windows can vary and are dependant on the others
and the circumstances you find yourself in. For example if the Hidden Self is reduced by disclosing a secret, the
Open Self becomes larger or if something of you that you or others were not aware of is revealed in an unusual
circumstance, the Unknown Self is reduced and the Open Self or the Hidden Self is expanded depending on
whether the circumstance was observed by others or you related the experience to others or not.
The Johari Window concept applies to not only you, but all people. So you can apply this same concept towards
your other crew members and even pax (if you want to get involved).

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This is the end of the second article about the SELF. Click here for the third article about Self-Awareness.

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Self Awareness (Part 3)
This is the third part of a series of linked articles about the SELF. At the beginning there is a link back to the
previous article.
Many of your Command decisions and actions and how you inter-relate with people will be based on the type of
person you are. Increasing Self Awareness is necessary if you want to increase your Open or Hidden Self and it
is also required to be able to form correct and accurate interpretations and evaluations of yourself. By
increasing Self Awareness you can capitalize on your strengths and minimise your weaknesses. As your Self
Awareness develops, so will your Self Concept. You may discover hidden strengths and so increase your Self
value.
You are basically learning about yourself and this learning should be a continuous process. It is a life long
pursuit. Realise that your Self Concept has been moulded by a lifetime of experiences and is usually quite slow
to change. Do not think that you can change yourself overnight. Any major changes you would like to attempt
should be completed before you begin the Command Course. For this reason you need to begin to assess and
increase your Self Awareness well before the Command Course starts.
With a suitably developed Self Awareness you may start to become aware of the core reasons behind why you
make certain decisions or do certain actions. It may also cause you to pause and examine a situation closer
before making a decision.
Self Awareness can be increased from two basics sources: yourself and other people.
Yourself. Just by reading this info you are increasing your Self Awareness. Anything that causes you to pause
and look inwards to yourself is expanding your Self Awareness, such as reflecting on why you have made a
particular decision and the reasons behind that decision. Essentially by looking inwards towards yourself you
are expanding your Hidden Self.
Learning about yourself can be as easy as taking a page of paper and dividing it into two columns headed
STRENGTHS and WEAKNESSES. Then as quickly as possible and without thinking too much about the results,
list your perceived strengths and weaknesses. Include not only the Command traits but also your basic personal
traits. You may wish to separate the two subjects and do a list for each.
Strengths Weaknesses
Loyal Not enough Command experience
Level-headed Can be too quiet and withdrawn
Assess the situation before deciding Not assertive enough
Honest Command leadership skills
Have concern for other people Can not remember people’s names
Good aircraft technical knowledge Procrastinate
Good flying skills Tend to waste spare time
Accept valid criticism Not enough time spent with family
Easy going and relaxed Sloppy dresser
Easy to get along with Low aircraft experience on new type
Respected by peers Expat (overseas) lifestyle
Thrive on challenges Away from extended family
Like learning new things Worry continuously about job security
Physically fit Low seniority in Airline
Good attitude towards work A bit blasé
Another easy exercise is to write "Who Am I" at the top of a sheet of paper. Then write "I am…" 15 or 20 times

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down the page. Once again as quickly as possible and without pausing to think too much about the response
complete the "I am…" sentence.
There are no right or wrong answers in such exercises, however, try to be as honest and as forthright as
possible. These exercises are for you to discover something about yourself and kidding or deluding yourself
deceives no one except you. These lists are not for others to peruse and should be destroyed or safely filed
away after you have finished with them.
After observing or making a flying or Command decision (especially an unusual or demanding situation), try to
pause and reflect on the situation. Did that go as I planned it? How could I have achieved a better outcome?
Why did I take that course of action?
This type of self-reflection is extremely valuable in the lead up to commencing your Command Course. When
observing other Captains in action try to put yourself in their place. How would I have handled that situation and
why would I have chosen that way? What other options were available at the time?
Other People. By being aware and observing other people’s behaviours, actions and reactions towards you can
reveal certain aspects about yourself. Try to see yourself as other people see you. By utilising other people you
are increasing both your Open and Hidden Self.
Actively listen to and observe others. During any conversation the other person is continuously giving you
feedback about yourself. This may not be as overt as the actual words they are using, but may be the way they
are using the words, the tone or volume they use. It may even be the non-verbal messages they are sending
you.
Examples of this are:

You know you are a bit untidy in your uniform habits. On meeting the Senior Check and Training Captain you are
to fly with, you introduce yourself and shake hands. While shaking hands he looks you up and down and sighs
with a touch of disappointment in his facial expression. No words were exchanged but the message was
conveyed unambiguously that he disapproves of your standard of dress.
As Captain you handle an unruly passenger with tact and defuse a potentially troublesome situation. You
observe the First Officer out of the corner of your eye wryly smiling to himself and nodding his head slowly in
agreement with your method and decision.
You can also actively seek information and question other people about yourself. You do not have to be blunt
and ask "What do you think of me?" You may not like the answer! Ensure you are not continuously asking about
yourself – restrict this type of enquiry to a few well chosen questions for each person. Choose people you are
comfortable with to seek answers about yourself. Use situations that occur during the normal course of events
to obtain relevant information about yourself.
Use your current Captain’s experience. Ask him such things as "Do you think I should be more assertive in the
pre-flight briefing?", "Am I too withdrawn and quiet during the cruise?" or "How could I have managed that
approach better?"
As I'll continually keep saying - it really is up to YOU. Start working on your Self-Awareness now so that you have
some idea of what sort of captain you will turn out like. And if you don't like it, then gradually begin to change
who you are.

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Positive Thinking Vs Positive Knowing
If you are interested in improving yourself (and you should be as a future or current Captain) then you're
probably aware of "Positive Thinking".
It's a little bit like "The Little Engine That Could" who achieved his difficult goal while incanting his mantra of "I
Think I Can, I Think I Can" until he succeeds. It is a children's moralistic story about optimism.
Some people blindly follow The Little Engine's philosophy and try to increase their self-confidence and self-
esteem by thinking to themselves "I think I can", continually reinforcing their positive mental image of
themselves and leaving inspirational quotes on the fridge.
Whether you think you can, or think you can't, you're right. (Henry Ford)
This is a great goal and you should seek to improve your self-esteem and self-concept at all times. However,
this blind faith is sometimes misplaced in the reality of the Real World.
As far as we are concerned you can think you are the best Captain ever to strap a jet to his bum, but all your
fantastic self-esteem will count for bugger all if you can't actually do the job!
Positive Thinking and Positive Knowing are very closely related and are essential tools for you to employ. I can
guarantee that if you think you can't do the job, then you'll probably act that way. Unfortunately the reverse is
not completely true and is where some people fall flat on their faces.
The BIG difference between Positive Thinking and Positive Knowing is simply the difference in the words – in
one you THINK you can do it and in the other you KNOW you can do it.
Some of the problems that you will be presented with during Command Training and as a Captain you will never

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have seen or heard of before.
So how do you get from Thinking you can do it, to Knowing you can do it?
95% of it comes from PREPARATION and adhering to the "Prior Preparation & Planning, Prevents Piss Poor
Performance". If you prepare, practise and if you can, actually do, the required task you have the self-
knowledge that you can successfully complete the job. The other 5% is equal measures of luck (either good or
bad) or plain rat cunning and common sense.
And that bit of Positive Knowing is extremely valuable as a Trainee or as the actual Captain.

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Bullshit Antenna
As the Captain you will have to develop and improve your own personal “Bullshit Antenna”.
Your Bullshit Antenna will alert you to situations when the aircraft, documentation, procedures, computers,
automation, and most especially people, are feeding or trying to feed you incorrect or erroneous information.
Your Bullshit Antenna will usually start vibrating or twitching when you get the gut feeling “Hang on.
Something’s not right here!” The light bulb above your head will come on that you’re being fed “duff gen”
(incorrect information). Depending on how well developed your Bullshit Antenna is, the light will be a barely
illuminated, dim 10 Watt bulb (“Huh?”) or a 10 million candlepower spotlight (“That’s absolute crap!”).
If you get this Bullshit Alert then treat it as a Red Flag and take some time to Stop & Think. Satisfy yourself that
the information is correct or not. Your Bullshit Antenna is part of your Situational Awareness (SA) and the “Big
Picture” that as the Captain you need to be continually updating and refining.
As the Captain you are the primary Decision Maker. To be able to make correct and high quality decisions
requires correct and high quality information. Decisions based on incorrect or erroneous information are at best
inefficient and at worst have the very real potential of creating a flight safety incident or accident.
As the Captain you will be expected to recognise this situation developing and do something proactive to stop or
correct it.
So how do you “fine tune” your personal Bullshit Antenna? How do you refine your gut feeling of “Hang on.
Something’s not right here!”
You need to prepare, fill your head full of knowledge, have a good working comprehension of the various
publications and documents available to you as the Captain (particularly those that are kept in the Flight Deck
of your aircraft, as they will be the ones that you will most likely have to refer to in a time critical situation),
study and know your aircraft systems, NPs/SOPs, MEL, Company Policy, have good interpersonal skills
(particularly those related to picking up mixed messages from other people – they say something but actually
mean something completely different – such as voice tone and inflection, body language, whether they appear
confident or uncomfortable etc.) and have a large dose of “Healthy Skepticism” so that you TNB (Trust No
Bastard, as they’re all trying to kill you).
Use the situations when you were being given “duff gen” or bullshit as an F/O (your previous experience) and
try to review that situation to recall the warning signs that you, or your previous Captain, had received a Bullshit
Alert.
Don’t only focus on people with your Bullshit Antenna. Automation, aircraft systems and computers are also
pretty good at giving you “duff gen”. Don’t fall into the trap of Automation Dependence or Automation Bias,
where you blindly trust the automatics or the computer or get side tracked because you think the aircraft
problem is an Indication problem rather than an Actual problem.
NOTE: Before you go and “Shoot the Messenger” by reacting to your Bullshit Antenna, ensure that you are
correct and not basing your Bullshit Alert on your own incorrect personal information. If at all possible look up
the correct solution in documents or publications, enquire about the situation with your F/O, the Cabin Crew,
ATC, Dispatcher, Ground Engineer or Traffic Staff or even seek assistance from other third parties (get on the
VHF, ACARS, HF, Satcom). Don’t “shoot yourself in the foot” by being incorrect. Use all your CRM and
communication skills.
Refining and fine tuning your Bullshit Antenna will come with further exposure and experience.

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So whenever you think “Hang on. Something’s not right here!”, it’s probably because your Bullshit Antenna is
vibrating and giving you a Bullshit Alert. That’s a Red Flag, so Stop & Think and get the situation clarified to your
satisfaction before proceeding.
Be Yourself
Be yourself - sometimes it's harder than you think.
Who You Are
You are a product of the entire sum of your life’s experiences – good and bad. All your beliefs, values,
characteristics, traits, behaviours, personality and Leadership and Command style are heavily and deeply
ingrained to form “who you are”.
It is exceedingly hard to change “who you are” because of this heavily and deeply ingrained, “whole of life”
experience that you, and you alone, have undergone from your birth to the present time. You can actually
change yourself, but it requires strenuous, continual, unrelenting effort over a relatively long period of time. It
has been suggested that it requires at a bare minimum 3 weeks to change one of your habits. Ask any smoker
or over-eater how difficult it is to kick the habit and you’ll get some idea of the powerful inertia that blocks any
changes to “who you are”.
Command Presence
A function of “who you are” is your own individualistic Leadership and Command style. Everybody is different
and what works for one person will be ineffective and useless to another. This is one of the reasons that you
really need to know yourSELF, what your Leadership and Command style is, the advantages and disadvantages
of it and how to apply it during the periods that you sit in the Left Seat.
One of the common phrases I often read in Training Reports is “the candidate needs to project his Command
Presence more”. I assume that this means that the guy in the Left Seat acting as the Captain needs to “act”
more like a Captain.
Indeed, there should be no doubt about who is the Captain. If there is doubt, you’re being an incredibly
ineffective Captain and in extreme cases there might even be a role reversal where your F/O takes over the role
as the Leader and Captain (a negative Command Gradient).
The vast majority of Captains and Trainee Captains have a positive Command Gradient, where there is

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absolutely no doubt about who is the boss and who is running the show. However, depending on the
Leadership and Command style of the Trainee Captain this Command Gradient can be either steep (I’m the
boss and you do what I say – now!) or shallow (we’re equals, but I’m the Captain, so any help would be
appreciated).
The idea of Command Presence is fine, but I think some Trainers take it a bit too far. They try and make the
Trainee Captain conform to their pre-existing, personal idea of what a Captain should be like.
Be Yourself
The problem with this approach is that the poor old Trainee Captain has to change “who he is” to try and
conform to his Trainers idea of how a Captain should look and behave.
This is a losing proposition, as it is really very, very hard to change “who you are”. In the process of being “who
you are NOT” you will inevitably impose some additional stress on yourself by trying to alter your habits and
behaviour patterns. In addition the Trainee Captain is under further stress as a result of being scrutinised and
assessed by his Trainer and in a novel and new Command situation.
To change “who you are”, to be someone “who you are NOT”, requires continuous, conscious, cognitive effort.
This cognitive effort takes up some of your short-term “working” thought processes and as a result leaves less
spare working space to be available to deal with Command problems, situations, MEL defects, etc.
The easy solution is to just BE YOURSELF.
Don’t try to be someone you are not. It requires effort and brain power to do that and you may need all that
brain power to be an effective Captain in demanding situations.
If there are aspects of your Leadership and Command style that are deficient and require changes, then you’ll
need to make a continual change over a long period of time to make that change permanent. As a general rule
you should stick with what you bring into the Command Course and only effect changes once you successfully
get out the other side.
It’s hard to pretend to be someone “who you are not”. You will not impress anyone by over-complicating the
issue, so use the KISS principle and just BE YOURSELF.

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Emotional Rollercoaster
Not too many articles about Command discuss the emotional aspects of undertaking a Command Course.
This line of though was brought about by a question I asked a Trainee the other day “What do you wish you had
known before this Command Course started?” His answer – “I wish someone would have told be about the
(emotional) highs and lows I’ve experienced, sometimes on the same day or even the same flight!”
You Are Only Human
You are human and therefore you are primarily an emotional creature. You are not logical and rational, but
illogical and emotional – despite what you may think or believe. As pilots and especially as men, we get pretty
good at disguising our emotions but they are bubbling away just below the surface none the less.
Be ready and prepared for this emotional rollercoaster of intense highs and deep lows. It will occur to everyone.
If they say it doesn’t happen to them, they’re lying!
Embrace, enjoy and revel in the highs. The times when you feel on top of the game, when your Trainer praises
you, when you recognise that you’ve done a good job, made a sound decision, displayed strong Command or
Leadership skills and feel in control of the entire situation. Store this good emotional feeling in your long term
memory bank and savour the exquisite pleasure of a job well done.
Have these highs stored away to buffer the inevitable lows you will also experience.
And sometimes all it may take is one bad landing, a teeth rattler, to kill all the good feeling that you may have
built up throughout the flight or previous flights. We really can be our own worst enemy. As pilots we tend to
focus almost exclusively on our faults, errors and mistakes and gloss over our triumphs, skilful flying and overall
good Command and Leadership.
Be aware that you may eventually sink to deep emotional lows. Be prepared and ready for this. Your attitude
towards mistakes and criticism, the training you are receiving and towards your job will determine how low YOU
allow yourself to go.
If you have a good, healthy, positive attitude the lows will be minimal and manageable. If you have a bad,
unhealthy, negative attitude you can plummet to deep lows – and this may affect your overall performance
during the Command Course. Some pilots have been to known to dig a hole for themselves so deep that they
have been unable to climb out.
Being able to recall the highs, the good feelings from your memory bank, acts as a buffer against these low
feelings. You have got to look after yourself.
Those Closest To You
Your own personal emotional state usually also spills over into your personal life and can affect those closest to
you, your significant other, spouse or kids. Whether they want to or not, they are also along for the ride on your
emotional rollercoaster.
If you are depressed, moody, terse, irritable, sad, grumpy, angry or pissed off, chances are that they will reflect
your negative emotions back at you. And your relationship with them will suffer.
If you are happy, pleasant, contented, smiling and at peace with yourself, they will also reflect these positive
emotions back towards you and your relationship will prosper. It doesn’t take a rocket scientist to work out
which guy will perform better on a Command Course (or life for that matter).

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Don’t under estimate the power of positive support from those closest to you. Treat them good and they’ll treat
you good. That will assist you in getting through this Command Course.
Build Yourself Up
You can be your own worst enemy – don’t fall into the common trap of beating yourself up mentally over
relatively minor mistakes or errors. You really should be focussing on the good things you do. You should be
building yourself up, not tearing yourself down.
Think of it as another “Command” problem that you as the Captain and Leader have to deal with and manage.
Be proactive, remember the highs, remind yourself that you are good and don’t let negative things adversely
affect you. Don’t keep dwelling on past mistakes. Learn from them and push on forward towards an improved
you.
Program days off during your training where you have absolutely nothing to do with your work, job or Training.
Re-connect with your spouse, family or friends. Chill out, de-stress, relax, have fun and do something enjoyable.
Often that “insurmountable” problem when looked at in the right context will in reality become a “minor”
problem.
Recall the emotional highs to act as a buffer for the inevitable emotional lows. Build yourself up, don’t tear
yourself down.
Keep your arms inside the car, tighten your safety belt and be prepared for the emotional rollercoaster of
Command.

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Mistakes And Criticism (Part 1)
This is the first of three parts about Mistakes And Criticism.
Humans make mistakes. You are human - therfore

you WILL make mistakes.
Get used to it.
I see so many pilots get their knickers in a really tight knot when they make mistakes and then let it affect their
performance.
You can’t afford to let any mistake you make during Command Training affect you so much that your
performance during the flight becomes sub-standard.
This is a multi-part section because there is a fair bit of material to be covered in this subject and it is important
that you approach Mistakes with the right sort of attitude. Your Command Performance depends on it!
Mistakes (or errors) come in many forms. They may be errors of judgement or Command, aircraft handling
mistakes, the application of incorrect procedures, forgetfulness - the list goes on.
The greatest mistake a person can make in life is to be continually afraid you will make one. (Elbert Hubbard)
Aviation Culture & Mistakes
Aviation culture tends to view mistakes or errors in a poor light. The consequences of major errors can be
catastrophic or have very dire results. The dynamics of flight (you can’t stop the flight in mid-air and sort a
problem out) mean that actions and decision making are required continuously and are often pressured by a
lack of time.
Mistakes and aviation safety are heavily portrayed as inter-related; the less mistakes you make, the safer the
flight. Safety journals point out the errors pilots (and others) have made and try to determine the error “chain of
events”.
It is generally inculcated into student pilots at the very beginning of their flying career that mistakes are
undesirable and are to be avoided. This theme of avoiding mistakes is perpetuated throughout the remainder
of a pilot’s career progression. Almost all types of training flights, Command Training included, finish with a
debrief. Here all your mistakes and errors are pointed out to you, even ones you were not aware that you made.
The almost non stop catalogue of mistakes is very often perceived by the Trainee as criticism and is sometimes

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taken very personally.
As a result of this aviation culture and continual reinforcement, mistakes are perceived as bad and undesirable
and are to be avoided.
Criticism is included here along with mistakes, as you must be able to handle the effects of criticism as a result
of your mistakes - particularly during any debrief. Debriefs sometimes can be a chronicle of everything you did
wrong, every mistake and error committed and can be damaging to your confidence and self concept. You may
walk away from some debriefs wondering if you did anything right. This is sometimes as a result of Trainers
utilising poor debriefing techniques.
During Command Training your every action and decision is being scrutinised, assessed and debriefed.
Someone is always “looking over your shoulder”. Major mistakes or lots of minor mistakes are what will get you
suspended from Command Training. Is it any wonder that when it comes to Command Training that you are
fearful of making mistakes. And when you make a mistake it assumes huge proportions in your mind. Not only
are you worried about the mistake itself, but also about how it affects your assessment of Command.
You must realise that everyone makes mistakes and that you are no different. Perfection is an unattainable
goal. During Command Training you will make mistakes. To successfully complete Command Training you must
be able to “manage” how mistakes affect you, direct a satisfactory outcome after the mistake, minimise the
stress (self-induced or otherwise) that they can cause and continue the flight to a successful conclusion.
What Are Mistakes
For the purposes of Command a mistake can be defined as;

Anything that you do that you later, upon reflection, wish you had done differently. This applies also to things
you didn’t do that you later, upon reflection, wish you had done - (McKay and Fanning).
Mistakes are always assessed as such in retrospect - they are deemed to be mistakes after you make them.
The time frame between making the mistake and realising that it was a mistake can vary. It may be almost
instantaneous (“I shouldn’t have deleted that waypoint”) or it may be after the completion of the flight during
the debrief or upon later reviewing the flight yourself days later.
There is no such thing as an “intentional mistake”. Using the definition of a mistake above, if you intended to
do something, then it was not a mistake. Commanders do not deliberately set out to make mistakes. Their
actions and decisions are made using the information available to them at the time. Using that information in
conjunction with their previous flying skills and aviation experience, airmanship, their training and their
knowledge of procedures and SOPs, Commanders then make what they determine to be the best course of
action. It is only later, after you have completed that course of action, that you may deem it to have been a
mistake.
Only you can allocate the term “mistake” to something you have done. If others determine that you have made
a mistake but you disagree, then in your own mind you have not made a mistake. This self-determination may
or may not be correct. This conflict over whether a mistake has been made or not often results in discussions
(sometimes heated and lengthy) during debriefs between Command Trainers and Trainees.
We’re not going to focus on major errors, such as hitting the ground or other objects while taxying, incorrect
procedures during TCAS RA’s or engine failures. If you commit a major error during Command (if you survive the
consequences), you will generally be suspended from Command Training. These types of major errors are
prevented by adherence to SOPs and Company regulations, through knowledge of FCOM’s (particularly any
procedures that are required to be completed entirely by memory and therefore must be executed accurately
and almost instantaneously) and by using your experience and not putting yourself in situations that require
extreme measures to get out of. Nor are we going to bother with the inconsequential and innocuous mistakes
that everyone makes during a flight, although by applying the principles that follow you may lessen or minimise
the effects of trivial mistakes.

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Between these two extremes of errors are the mistakes that have the potential to affect your Command
decisions and your progression through Command Training and these are the types of mistakes that we’ll be
focussing on.
As with most things in life the perceived magnitude of a mistake will vary with different individuals and will also
vary depending on that individuals mood or state of mind. What one Command Trainee perceives as a big
mistake will be perceived by another as minor error and not worth worrying about.
In Mistakes and Criticism (Part 2) we’ll look at minimising mistakes and how mistakes can affect you.

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In Mistakes And Criticism (Part 1) we discussed what mistakes are and how mistakes are viewed in the aviation
profession (usually negatively). Now we’ll look at how to minimise your mistakes (remember you will never
eliminate all mistakes) and how mistakes can affect you physiologically and cognitively.
Minimising Mistakes
Mistakes are an inevitable fact of life. But is there any way that you can somehow minimise the number or
severity of the mistakes that you will make in your aviation career? The following includes some guidance on
how to minimise or eliminate mistakes.
Successive Approximation. Many of the skills that are required as a pilot are fairly repetitious. As you do and
redo these skills you become more proficient at them. “Successive Approximation” is the redoing of skills to get
better and so move closer to the perfection of the skill by receiving feedback provided by mistakes. You do a
skill, make a mistake, learn from that mistake and the next time you do that skill you perform better since you
do not make the mistake again.
Flight Simulator Training is an excellent method for practising Successive Approximation. If you make an error
in the Simulator, get the instructor to reset the Sim and fly the profile again.
The same can be done during flights. Most approaches to busy airports in wide bodied airliners are via radar
vectors to intercept the ILS localiser. Use these opportunities to refine and improve your flying skills.
Successive Approximation can also be used to refine your “People Skills” – how you interact and relate with
people.
You should be actively doing Successive Approximation well before your Command Training begins.
SOPs and FCOMs. Airlines long ago realised the value of standardising their flight procedures. Airlines usually
operate their aircraft to a set of Standard Operating Procedures (SOPs) or Normal Procedures (NPs). These
SOPs result in all the flight crew knowing their particular responsibilities and required duties. They also
minimise errors. It is absolutely imperative that you know your aircraft’s SOPs intimately.

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In conjunction with SOPs are aircraft Flight Manuals or FCOMs, Airline Operations Manuals and other
Operational Directives your Airline may issue.The more you thoroughly know and are able to apply the contents
of these documents the fewer errors you will make.By knowing the contents of these publications, or by seeking
out the particular reference you require, you will be guided towards making the correct decisions and fewer
mistakes.
Publications and Documentation. Most Trainers will require that you know procedures and actions to important
items intimately (such as emergency procedures or your Company’s Fuel Policy). They also expect that you don’t
necessarily have to memorise absolutely everything, but must be able to find the required information, usually
contained in on-board publications, and then apply that information. Familiarity with all the publications stored
on the Flight Deck is essential. Know which publications are kept there and have a good working knowledge of
their contents.
When faced with an unusual situation you may be able to avoid making an error by looking up the solution in a
book. However, to do this you must be aware that the solution lays within the aircraft publications, you must be
able to quickly select the correct document, then find the appropriate reference and then apply it correctly. If
you are able to do this quickly and effectively it not only saves a great deal of time (which is usually in short
supply and therefore takes pressure off you) and conveys to the Trainer that you are a competent and
knowledgeable Commander.
Contrast this with a Command Trainee who knows that there is a problem and knows that the answer to this
problem is within the aircraft documents, but is unsure of which publication the solution is in or how to find or
apply that solution. The result is hurried searches through a variety of different publications, furious page
flipping trying to spot the solution (“I know it’s in here somewhere!”). Mean while time is marching on and our
poor ineffective Command Trainee is effectively wasting valuable time and increasing the perceived pressure
on himself. This type of activity does not convey a positive message to the Command Trainer.
Ensure you know your books and more importantly that you can apply the information that they contain.
Time Out. Take time to pause and then think through unusual problems (Stop & Think). Making “off the cuff”
decisions when pressed for time can be one of the most effective ways to introduce errors. If you are being
pressured to take a particular action or make a decision, take a quick time out. Stop what you are doing and
think about the situation. If required, get out of the cockpit, tell other non essential people to get out of the
cockpit or to be quiet or close the cockpit door. Minimise distractions so that you can think about the problem
and formulate an appropriate solution.
An effective way to get a bit of time out for yourself is to turn in your seat slightly so that you are not facing
others in the cockpit and gaze thoughtfully out of the side window. Other crew members or ground staff will see
you deep in thought and may leave you alone (for a while anyway). This only works for a short time so take your
quick “time out”, think through your situation, formulate a plan and then face the others and convey your
thoughts to the other related parties. If you take too long others will wonder what you are doing.
Other People. Utilise the expertise of other people available to you. Command is not a solo enterprise; you are
the leader of a team. Other crew members or ground staff may have experienced this problem before and have
a ready made solution for you. This is after all the essence of team work and CRM. Ask for their assistance,
question them or delegate the problem to someone else (ensure that you are not fobbing off the problem to
someone else when it is really you who are responsible for that problem and you who has to provide the
solution).
Affects Of Mistakes On Individuals
This section will discuss how mistakes affect you as an individual – as a person. Broadly speaking you will be
affected either physiologically (physical body) or cognitively (mind and thoughts).
As has been seen, mistakes are generally perceived as bad in aviation. This has far reaching effects on you as a

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person. While the effects mistakes can cause vary widely with individuals some common effects are listed in
the following table.
Physiological Cognitive
Increased Blood Pressure Stress
Increased Heart Rate Anxiety
Perspiration Embarrassment
Muscular Tenseness Irrational Thoughts
(can affect fine motor skills Feelings of Inadequacy
such as manipulating the Lowered Self-Esteem
control column or side stick) Negative Emotions and Moods
- Decreased Motivation
The fear of making mistakes can stifle your creativity and affect your piloting and Command performance. It
may also result in Command Trainees changing their style of Command and flying. You may become very
conservative and try to slow things down as much as possible, particularly your flying when acting as PF. You
may also start to off load you decision making responsibilities to subordinates or other airline staff. Remember,
as a Commander the responsibility is ultimately yours.
In Mistakes And Criticism (Part 3) we’ll look at managing mistakes and how to handle the inevitable debrief
and the associated criticism (this is always the fun(?) part of being a Trainee).

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In Mistakes And Criticism (Part 2) we had a look at managing mistakes and how mistakes affect you (both
physiologically and cognitively). Now we’ll get onto how you can minimise the affects mistakes have on you by
introducing a 5 Step Mistake Management plan and your responsibilities as a Commander. And to finish off
we’ll discuss that all time favourite of Trainees - the debrief - and how to handle the (perceived) criticism that
this fun exercise involves.
Managing Mistakes
Mistakes happen! What do you do when the inevitable error occurs? Have you even thought about your actions
after making a mistake?
The following section gives a Five Step model on how to manage mistakes. Realise that every situation will be
different and a strict, set formula may not be appropriate for all situations. In these cases the Steps may have
to be modified to suit the particular case. Like most things with Command Training, practise makes perfect -
use these Steps prior to Command Training so that you can effectively manage mistakes when they occur
during the upgrade Course.
Step 1 - Awareness. The very first step in managing mistakes is to be aware that you make mistakes and that
perfection is not possible. Mistakes are human nature and you should get used to making them. By all means
do everything in your power to minimise errors but be aware that you will make mistakes.
Most Command Trainers are very aware that you will make mistakes. The really good Trainers will let you make
mistakes and not interfere because mistakes can be a powerful learning tool, they want to see how you react to
the mistake and more importantly how you recover from the mistake. During Command Check Flights the
Trainer (Assessor) will usually not provide any guidance or assistance to help recover from your mistake as they
are assessing your overall performance.
Step 2 - Acknowledge & Move On. The next step is to acknowledge that you have made a mistake, learn from
the mistake and then move on.
The aircraft or flight will not stop to let you dwell on your mistake. Applying the definition of a mistake means
that they are now in the past but you must operate in the present to produce satisfactory outcomes in the
future.

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In acknowledging that you have made a mistake do not unduly criticise yourself. You are a human who has the
same imperfections as other humans. You can be your own worst critic, especially so as a pilot. Do not keep
vilifying yourself over a mistake by continually replaying the error or postulating “What if…” scenarios. You
should only have to pay for a mistake once and that is when you acknowledge the mistake - then move on.
This concept of moving on is particularly important if you make a mistake early in a multi sector (or even multi
day) flight and more so on a Check Flight. If you make a mistake on the first sector, criticising and vilifying
yourself and worrying about the mistake will increase your anxiety and stress levels. If you do not control this
self-induced form of stress it will inevitably affect your future performance and decision making. In extreme
forms this anxiety will create further errors in other sectors - you are fretting about the past mistake and fail to
operate in the present and so create further problems for yourself. If you then have an overnight, you spend the
entire time in the Hotel castigating yourself and worrying that the entire series of flights is turning into a can of
worms. You get a poor nights sleep and start the next day fatigued. Small mistakes then start building up and
creating further mistakes. You can get into a “Death Spiral” of self-induced mistakes, your confidence
plummets, you start to fly very conservatively (so as not to make more mistakes), your stress levels soar and
your Command performance suffers.
Some Command Trainees who have experienced this situation of mistakes perpetuating mistakes, increased
stress and decreased Command performance describe it as “Losing It”. You must break the vicious cycle, put
the mistake(s) behind you and move on.
Step 3 - Time Out. In moving on from the mistake take a quick time out to get yourself physically and more
importantly, mentally refocussed. The time available to do this may of necessity be very short (sometimes only a
few seconds).
Deep, rhythmic breathing and relaxing tense muscles can control some of the physiological affects as can
positive thinking. Reframe the mistake from a negative to a positive experience (e.g. “I learnt a lot from that” or
“I know how to solve this”). If you have the time, try to detach yourself from the situation by looking out the side
window or even leaving the cockpit (if that is possible).
These physical and mental skills are very individual and what works for one person will not work for another.
They are only acquired through practise and you should begin to incorporate them into your day to day flying
well before the Command Course begins so that they are ingrained and almost automatic.
You may need to continue to calm yourself, turn your thinking positively and reframe the error after the flight
has finished. As has been discussed this is important during Check Flights, multi sector flights and during
overnight stopovers.
Step 4 - Error Recovery. After refocussing you should be concentrating on Error Recovery. By operating in the
present to produce satisfactory outcomes in the future you should be formulating plans and taking actions to
recover from the mistake. Don’t just ignore a mistake, do something positive to either mitigate the effect or
produce a different satisfactory outcome. Be proactive and positive.
Some Airlines actually assess Command Trainees on their error recovery. While you may not receive an
optimum assessment due to the mistake, you may receive an above average assessment for the way that you
handled the recovery from the initial error. Error recovery is an important skill in being a Commander. Trainers
(and you) can learn a lot about you from watching how you react to a mistake.
Your error recovery outcome may not be as good as if you had not made the error in the first place, but it will
inevitably be better than if you had done nothing about the error.
Step 5 - Self Concept. Finally, don’t let mistakes erode your concept of yourself. Do not fall into the trap of
equating mistakes with failure. You are only a failure if you do not learn from your mistakes. Mistakes should be
viewed as a powerful learning opportunity. Whether or not you view mistakes as a positive experience depends
upon your attitude and the value you place on your self worth. Just because you make a mistake does not

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mean that you are a lesser person and you should not allow your self-esteem to be adversely affected.
Summary. Mistakes can be small or they can be monumental. Generally small mistakes, the inconsequential
errors everyone makes, are OK during Command Training but larger mistakes are not. Not making a mistake in
the first place is ideal but if you do make a large mistake use the 5 Step Mistake Management Plan to get back
on track:
Step 1 - Be aware that you make (and will make) mistakes.
Step 2 - Acknowledge and learn from the mistake, then move on.
Step 3 - Refocus physically and mentally.
Step 4 - Error recovery.
Step 5 - Maintain your Self-Concept.
You must be able to apply these steps quickly, efficiently and as instinctively as possible. Accomplishing Steps
2, 3 and 4 are the most important steps to be accomplished after making a mistake airborne.
The 5 Steps are a learned skill and the more you practise this skill the better you will become at handling
errors, especially errors which are time dependant. As an added benefit if you can control your attitude and the
way that you think about the mistake in a positive way, you will reduce your anxiety and stress levels and
increase your Command performance.
Responsibility
As Harry Truman said “The buck stops here.”
As an aircraft Commander you are charged with the ultimate responsibility of the crew, passengers and the
conduct of the flight. As such you must accept responsibility for any mistakes that you make and to a certain
extent the mistakes your subordinates make or you allow them to make.
Fobbing off the blame for mistakes to subordinates, ATC, the weather or the aircraft is just not acceptable. Step
2 of the Mistake Management Plan is to acknowledge and learn from the mistake, then move on. Part of the
acknowledgement of the mistake is to accept responsibility for the mistake.
Don’t try to make excuses about a mistake you have made. Most competent pilots will know why it happened
and by trying to pull the wool over their eyes will result in their having less respect for you. Especially do not try
to convince Trainers that it was not your fault - it is extremely unlikely they will fall for the deception. By
attempting to place the blame on some other person or object you display poor Command and Leadership skills
and if you regularly do this, will develop a reputation as a less than responsible person and someone not to be
trusted.
Criticism And The Debrief
After each and every simulator session and flight during Command Training you should receive a debrief. The
main aim of a debrief should be to not only highlight errors and mistakes but also what you did correctly and
praise you for the good things you achieved. Sadly most debriefs tend only to focus on what you did wrong and
how to correct what you did wrong on future flights.
If you experience this type of debrief it can seem as though it is non stop criticism of you and some people will
take this very personally. Most Trainers will only point out your mistakes and errors so that you are aware that
you made them in the first place and so that you can avoid making the same mistake in later flights. It is not a
personal attack on you - the Trainer is trying to improve your performance on future flights.
You should approach debriefs as a valuable learning experience. Not only your mistakes and errors should be
discussed but also how you could have avoided the mistake in the first place and what to do after the mistake
has been made (error recovery). If the Trainer does not cover these two items ensure that you ask him about
them. Be proactive in your development.

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Ensure that you leave the debrief on a positive note. If the Trainer does not finish it positively make sure that
you somehow put a positive spin on it. Recount the learning opportunities, gain satisfaction that you won’t
make the same mistake again and remind yourself that as a result of the debrief you will be a better
Commander in the future. Good Trainers should end a debrief on a positive note so that you are motivated and
enthused to continue to produce good flights.
Do not let debriefs erode your self concept or self esteem. Remember everyone makes mistakes and you are
no different.
The Debrief From Hell. Everyone at some stage of their aviation career has experienced the “Debrief From Hell”.
This is usually performed by a Trainer who has poor instructional and debriefing skills. In the Debrief From Hell
you are harangued for every minor and major mistake you made, everything is negative, there is no positive
criticism or guidance given and you leave the debrief feeling incompetent and worthless. Be aware that these
types of debriefs still exist, but are fortunately quite rare. If you are unfortunate enough to be on the receiving
end of the Debrief From Hell remember:
It is usually not a personal attack on you.
If the mistakes pointed out to you are all minor and trivial, then you must have conducted the vast majority of
the flight competently and satisfactorily.
Don’t ever allow a debrief to erode your self concept or self esteem. Try to put the debrief in its perspective.
Just because you made some mistakes does not mean that you are a poor Commander or a bad person.
Sometimes the criticism is the personal opinion of the Trainer - whether right or wrong.
Try to learn from any debrief; after all, the main reason for a debrief is so that you learn from your mistakes and
don’t make them again. Your attitude towards debriefs will affect whether you can make this experience into a
positive or negative one.
Don’t get into a slanging match if you perceive that the Trainer is incorrect or being unfair. By all means stand
up for yourself and clarify any debrief points that you think are incorrect (a good knowledge of SOPs and
procedures is required to successfully achieve this), but don’t allow the session to deteriorate into a personal
argument or shouting match. The Trainer usually has some form of power over you (the power of authority
derived from him being your superior, teacher and mentor given to him by the Company Training Department)
and you will in most cases come off second best.
Sometimes it is best to accept the criticism, ignore the debrief points you perceive as unfair or incorrect, learn
from the other debrief points and then get out of the debrief as quickly as possible. Try and then put the whole
unpleasant experience behind you and move on.
NOTE:
Some Command Trainees perceive that they are experiencing a form of the Debrief From Hell when in fact they
are receiving a fair debrief for a poorly executed flight.
It is not in reality a Debrief From Hell, just a fair and accurate assessment of their errors and poor conduct. If
you are unable to distinguish between a Debrief From Hell and a normal debrief pointing out your shortcomings
and errors, then you should not be in a position of Command.
The vast majority of Trainers have your best interests at heart and the Debrief From Hell is a rarity. You will not
do yourself any favours if you act as though you have received the Debrief From Hell when in fact you are totally
unaware of your shortcomings. People with this type of delusional thinking cannot understand why they are
suspended from Command Training.

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Airmanship (Part 1)
This is the first of a three part article exploring the concept of Airmanship. See the end of this article to get to
Part 2.
Airmanship appears in this day and age of glass cockpits and computers to be an old fashioned term. Perhaps
because it doesn't have a TLA (Three-Letter Acronym) or some aviation psychologist can't or hasn't written a
cutting edge paper on it, has resulted in it being "left behind". Current trendy terms such as CRM and TEM
receive much more wide spread prominance.
However, while Airmanship has been around ever since Man first took to the skies, it is still as valid today as it
ever was. Some "older" pilots even contend that CRM and TEM are really new fangled ways of describing
Airmanship.
Airmanship was probably beaten into you when you first learnt to fly. I can recall that Airmanship was always a
prominent part of the Pre-flight, In-flight and Post-flight briefings when I was learning to fly. It was expected that
you would eventually "learn" and apply Airmanship.
So what is Airmanship?
It is the end result of all those years and hours of flying, reading aviation articles and books, safety reports,
discussing previous or upcoming flights with your mates and peers, learning through osmosis from watching
more experienced aviators demonstrate "how it's done" and, (this is where you can learn a hell of a lot), from all
the Bar talk and "There was nothing on the clocks but the Maker's name" type of aviation folklore that you
personally have accumulated. It is a grand sum of all your experience. At a very simplistic level Experience =
Airmanship.
If you do a quick search on the Internet, the most common definition of Airmanship is something like; "The art
of operating aircraft" or "The safe and efficient operation of the aircraft both on the ground and in the air". Both
leave a lot to be desired and don't really capture the essential essence of Airmanship.
If you ask 10 different pilots to define Airmanship, you will get 10 different answers. While everbody's concept
of Airmanship may be slightly different any professional aviator will understand what you mean by Airmanship.
While trolling around on the Web doing a bit of research for this article I came across this description on a site
for Ultralight Pilots:
Good airmanship is that indefinable something that separates the superior airman/airwoman from the
average: it is not a measure of skill or technique, rather it is a measure of a person's awareness of the aircraft
and its environment and of her/his own capabilities and behavioural characteristics, combined with wise
decision making and a high sense of self-discipline.
While the web site that I took the quote from is for Ultralights, it contains very relevant information for pilots of
modern airliners, in fact any pilots, and is well worth a read.
OK, so you've determined that you have a modicum of Airmanship so how does it apply to you as a budding
Commander?
Don't ever forget where you've come from! You have a bunch of previous experience that you bring with you into
this Airline Command game. Your previous experience is your back-stop, your fall-back position, for when you
get into a situation that is not covered by the books or you have not experienced before. Use that previous
experience (Airmanship) to help you formulate quality, informed, common sense decisions.
Some examples of Airmanship I try to instill in Command Trainees are;

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Look out the window when turning to visually check for traffic or visually acquire TCAS targets displayed on your
ND (use the Mk 1 Eyeball and don't just rely on TCAS and ATC). The same goes for weather avoidance - look
outside and visually maneouvre around build-ups if possible. Remember - a peek is worth a thousand cross-
references! This is really basic stuff, but so many Trainees forget to do it.
If there is any doubt - there is no doubt. For example, if you are unsure whether to use TOGA rather than
reduced Thrust for Take Off when windshear is forecast or reported, opt for the safer option and use TOGA. If
you're unsure if the runway will be Wet or Dry when getting Take Off performance data then use Wet.
Do not blindly follow SOPs/NPs or Operations Manuals if that course of action will result in greater risk and
reduce safety. SOPs/NPs are usually written for routine and standard conditions. If you experience an unusual
situation it may be better to do something slightly different (but safer). Use some common sense and all that
previous experience that you have accumulated. This especially applies to multiple related aircraft defects
when dispatching under the MEL. The MEL most likely will not be able to legislate for the multiple inter-related
defects and it is left up to your aircraft technical knowledge and rat cunning to decide if you can get airborne
with the defects or taxi back to the bay and hand the aircraft over to Maintenance personnel. This doesn't give
you carte blanche to unilaterally disregard SOPs/NPs - you need to have a bloody good reason for pursuing your
alternative course of action.
Rule books are paper - they will not cushion a sudden meeting of stone and metal. ( Ernest K. Gann, 'Fate is
the Hunter.')
Think ahead and have a plan for when the "Shit hits the fan". Whenever I am cleared to Take Off or Line Up, I
mentally review my actions in the event of a Rejected Take Off and how I am going to get my backside back
onto the runway ASAP in the event of a time critical emergency (e.g. Cargo Fire - a visual approach, left or right
circuit, immediate radar vectors for an ILS or a procedure turn for a landing on the reciprocal runway), will I
need to do an Overweight Landing or dump fuel.
Treat every landing as a Go Around, so that on the day you have to do one for real for execute it flawlessly.
Strive for excellence in your aviation skills and demand the same from your crew. Act with integrety and display
leadership for both your subordinates and superiors.
Prepare for each and every flight you conduct (you should be doing this anyway when on any Training Course).
Where are my Nearest Suitable Alternate Airfields, what runways, length, elevation and approach aids are
there? Discuss new Ports or Routes with your peers and mates to get the "good gen". Ensure you have good
technical nowledge of your aircraft and its systems. This is a continually evolving learning experience.
When approaching possible weather induced turbulence, put the Seat Belts sign on early enough so that your
300 odd punters can strap in themselves in time, the cabin crew can check that the cabin is secure, reduce
speed if required, organise ATC diversion tracking and inform the cabin crew how long and how bad you expect
that the turbulence will last for.
We'll end this first article on Airmanship with a quote from Tony Hayes, (ex-CFI, Brisbane Valley Leisure Aviation
Centre);
For all my exposure to aviation – which extends over my entire life from my birth next to an operational bomber
airfield in World War 2 – when I came to pilot training myself I met a term so commonly used yet nowhere
could I find actually defined and explained, Airmanship.
So I will fix that right now in my own flying training manual. The problem is understood once Airmanship itself is
actually understood. It is very real and manifestations of it may be seen at every airfield or places people come
to fly aircraft. Yet Airmanship is an intangible, for it is a state of mind, personal convictions and self discipline
expressed in our actions and attitudes. It is the prudent operation of a machine, and the management of
circumstances surrounding that operation, within an element we were not naturally designed to inhabit.
Airmanship appears in every flying area and sets aside the Airman from the aircraft driver. It is founded firmly
in basic training where mental attitudes to flying are forged, and sometimes in self training where a pilot learns
the hard way about what is prudent or not, gets away with it, and elects to make more sensible decisions at the
right time, next time.
Under growing experience Airmanship may grow and blossom into a comfortable protective cloak, resting light
upon the shoulders, worn perhaps with pride, but never in vanity, and giving the protection of 2 inch armour

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plate.
The very need for its presence is a reminder that we are privileged to transit from our natural element into
another. There may be a high price for such transition if that act is made in scorn or ignorance. But we may go
there safely if we acknowledge the limitations of ourselves and our machines, so generating a curious mixture
of humility and confidence which is expressed in the very form of Airmanship.
Airmanship may be performing a proper pre-flight check of an aircraft rather than a casual look-around. It is
something as instinctively looking before turning. It is actually doing pre take-off and pre-landing checks – not
mouthing the words. It is sensible pre-flight planning – either for a circuit or going over the horizon. It may be
as simple as looking at the windsock before hitting the 'loud' lever, or as complex as interpreting a changing
weather pattern. It is the essential personal and situational management difference between being up there
wishing you were down here, rather than being down here wishing you were up there.
But, founded on flawed training, or growing experience driven by a different pride, Airmanship may wither into
a deadly weed of contempt for those who slavishly obey 'regulation' or are not deemed 'good enough' to sort
out situations as they happen. People driven by such views, in their ignorance, inhabit a perilous place of their
own making wherein they have become an accident looking for somewhere to happen, and so ensure that it
will happen.
The non-Airman will discount that the 'officious regulation' is (in the main) a book written in the blood of people
who found out the hard way and handed down to us methods of avoiding their fate. In discarding that
knowledge so is generated the certainty of the same fate, standing in the shadows, waiting.
The Airman is a person who maintains a valid skill and knowledge currency such that when the unexpected
does happen there is ability and composure enough to manage the situation into safety. He or she, is a person
with a sense of balance and intelligence enough to heed the lessons of the past, apply them in the present,
and so ensure a future to be able to fly again, and again, and again.
You will be hearing a great deal more about Airmanship in your time with us, and now you know what we are
actually talking about.
Thanks to John Brandon (Web Service Author) from Recreational Aviation Australia Inc. for permission to re-
print extracts from their excellent Airmanship and Flight Discipline web page and to Tony Hayes (ex-CFI
Brisbane Valley Leisure Aviation Centre) for the foresight to pen some truely insightful words on Airmanship.
(Tony retired from CFI duties in 2006 after training who knows how many glider and powered pilots over 45
years. He still maintains a very active and quite forthright interest in recreational aviation.)
All extracts or re-printed works remain © of the respective authors.
You'll also be hearing more about Airmanship in Part 2 of this article.

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Airmanship (Part 2)
In Airmanship (Part 1) we looked at what Airmanship is and how it affects us as Professional Pilots. Now in Part
2 we'll expand on this discussion further.
I spent a bit of time researching Airmanship to try and tie together all the Airmanship stuff I thought I knew(?)
prior to writing this post. In doing so I found;
I don't know very much about Airmanship (much less than what I originally thought I did anyway!) and I really
need to keep improving this facet of my skills,
Airlines generally don't promote Airmanship very much, but instead focus heavily on CRM and TEM,
There is not too much relevant stuff out there on the Internet and what is out there is hard to find or not very
relevant to actual real pilots doing the job, and
A lot of the good Airmanship stuff out there on the Internet is promoted by Ultralight and Gliding Clubs!
Maybe I'm looking in all the wrong places but Airmanship is a very esoteric concept and means so many
different things to so many different people. Why is it that the people at the top of the "food chain" (airline
pilots) receive almost no guidance about Airmanship and yet the recreational and part time pilots receive some
good guidance from their clubs and CFIs. You could perhaps argue that the less experienced pilots require
more information to offset their lack of experience. But, I would argue that you, as a professional full-time pilot,
should be seeking to continually refine and improve the Airmanship aspect of your flying skills. It can be very
important during your Command Training (or as a Captain). Nobody else will, so like most things in this game, it
will be left up to you. Are you prepared to accept the challenge?
The best reference for Airmanship that I have come across is Airmanship Training For Modern Aircrew (here-
after abbreviated to ATFMA) by Ms. Louise Ebbage and Mr. Phil D. Spencer.
This is a paper written for the UK Ministry of Defence to modernise military flying training across the UK's Armed
Services. The first half is for all pilots and the second half more for your Airline's Training organisation. It is easy
to read and more importantly is relevant to your actual job. I urge you to read it. And then re-read it when you've
thought about the ideas presented. And then re-read it again and again and again...
As a Captain of an aircraft you will be expected to possess superior levels of Airmanship - you probably won't be
formally taught them. It is usually assumed that you have mastered the basic levels of Airmanship as you will
have had to endure a considerable amount of aviation training and experience to reach this stage of your
career.
ATFMA puts forward the idea of three levels of Airmanship, which seems to agree closely with the normal career
progression for an airline pilot;
Basic Airmanship - Fortunately most good flying training organisations when you're learning to fly impress
Airmanship on you throughout your time with them. At this level you have a basic competence (skills, knowledge
and experience). Your foundation of knowledge and skills etc. evolves further through continuous improvement
and sometimes through making mistakes. You get this level of knowledge during your initial flying training and
in your first experiences as a pilot. With further exposure to real life situations and increasing experience you
progress to the next level. This first level can thought of as the Learning Stage.
Superior Airmanship - At this level you have gained enough experience in the real world to enable Situation
Management (foresight, problem solving, situational awareness etc.). You get to this level by observing other
more experienced pilots (your Captains when you're an F/O), reading aviation and safety articles, upgrades,
conversion courses, type ratings. Sometimes you get to this level by almost killing yourself or by making big
blunders with big consequences (hands up who's done that!). You are proactive rather than reactive and can
think outside the box. There is usually no formal training to progress to this level. You should be, at the very
least, already at this level - if you are not then you're going to have a very hard time passing your Command
Training! This can be thought of as the Being A Good Operator Stage.
Outstanding Airmanship - At this level you have the drive, motivation and the will to be an excellent,
professional, safe and competent aviator and are dedicated to self-improvement. This should be the level that

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you strive to achieve. Aircrew operating at this level seek airmanship excellence and this manifests itself in
outstanding performance. When you get to this stage you're at the Aviator Stage.
There are airmen and there are pilots: the first being part bird whose view from aloft is normal and
comfortable, a creature whose brain and muscles frequently originate movements which suggest flight; and
then there are pilots who regardless of their airborne time remain earth-loving bipeds forever. When these
latter unfortunates, because of one urge or another, actually make an ascension, they neither anticipate nor
relish the event and they drive their machines with the same graceless labour they inflict upon the family
vehicle. (Ernest K. Gann)
So how do you get from the Superior level to the Outstanding level of Airmanship? It's not as hard as you may
think and if you're prepared to invest some time and energy in dedicated, disciplined self-improvement you can
reach this lofty goal.
The secret is ATTITUDE.
No, not the pitch and roll type of attitude - your own personal attitude towards learning, aviation and striving for
excellence and self-improvement. You don't get something for nothing and to elevate yourself from the Superior
to the Outstanding level of Airmanship will require some effort.
This is an area that only you can expand and improve. If you haven't read the section on Self then get on over
there and start developing yourSELF! You'll need to be working at this continually.
Set high standards for both yourself and your crew, don't cut corners, lead by example, increase your
knowledge and skills, but most of all, have the extremely positive attitude that you will be the best you can be.
And expect nothing less.
Airmanship is more than simply having the requisite knowledge and skills; it is also about having an
appropriate attitude, self-discipline and a desire to perform optimally at all times. Airmanship is an approach to
aviation, which manifests itself in excellent performance. (Ebbage and Spencer)
This Airmanship thing is starting to take on a life of its' own! I originally only planned on two articles but I've
found so much interesting stuff that you'll have to have a look at Airmanship Part 3. To be continued...same
Bat-Time, same Bat-Channel.

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Airmanship (Part 3)
Welcome to Airmanship Part 3. Here we'll continue our Airmanship self-education. Airmanship Part 2 built
heavily on an Airmanship model proposed in a paper titled "Airmanship Training For Modern Aircrew". If you
have neglected to read it I urge you to go back to Part 2 now, as this Part will build on information from there.
"Redefining Airmanship"
An excellent book, Redefining Airmanship by Anthony T. Kern, contains a very useful Airmanship model.
The easy to understand analogy used is that of a house or building.
A house has a firm foundation, which is required first and upon which all else rests and is further constructed
upon. It also has walls and supports which need to be sturdy and firm enough to anchor into the foundation (so
you need a firm base) and support the roof. The roof over-arches all other parts of the house and is the
pinnacle of the entire structure. Each separate element of the house relies on the others - the roof would fall if
the walls or foundation were weak and damaged.
So it is with Airmanship.
Let's have a look at these "Building Blocks" in our context of being a Commander of an aircraft. (Click on the
picture to view at a larger size.)
Bedrock Principles
The foundation in Kern's analogy is called the Bedrock Principles and consists of three "foundation stones".
This foundation must be firmly established as the other elements or "Building Blocks" cannot compensate for a
weakness in this critical area. The three "foundation stones are:
Discipline - You will be required (and expected) to exercise a high degree of self discipline as a Captain. Kern
believes that discipline is so fundamental to your make-up as a professional aviator that he has written another
book about just that in Flight Discipline.
Kern defines flight discipline as;

"the ability and willpower to safely employ an aircraft within operational, regulatory, organizational, and
common sense guidelines, unless emergency or combat mission demands dictate otherwise".

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Note that it is YOUR ability and YOUR willpower that is required.
Examples of this might be the correct use of Checklists and pertinent Briefings, ensuring that you (or your crew)
do not take expediant short-cuts that may violate regulations, being the best that you can be, using correct R/T
phraseology - in essence, doing the right thing at all times. You are, or will soon, be a role model and the tone
and actions that you portray will be emulated by your subordinates.
Skill - You will be required to have a high degree of skill in your role as Captain. Skill is developed by knowledge,
demonstration and practice. Flying must be continually practiced to maintain the skill. This can be in the
aircraft, the simulator or any ground based flight training device. Competence will quickly diminish without
practice.
During your Command Training you will probably get very skilled in the physical manipulation of the aircraft
(stick and rudder skills) as you will tend to get a lot of sectors compressed into a tight time frame. Don't forget
about the other skills that you will require as a Captain such as, decision making, CRM, TEM or Inter-personal
skills (just to mention a few). They are just as important in your new role as Captain and some people tend to
neglect them.
Proficiency - Proficiency tends to go hand-in-hand with Skill and they are usually developed together. Practice
and repetition are the key drivers towards competent proficiency. It is more than just clocking up flight hours in
your logbook. Seek to obtain quality and not just quantity.
Examples of this might be requesting to complete a Non Precision, Visual or Circling Approach or manually
flying the aircraft rather than using the Autopilot. It's up to you (and your Trainer).
Pillars Of Knowledge
The walls are called the Pillars Of Knowledge and bridge the foundation and the roof. There are five Pillars of
Knowledge:
Self - You should already have read the articles on the SELF as this is an important area to work on - if not then
get cracking and read them! It is about knowing your own limitations and having the preparedness to self
assess and analyse your own flying performance.
Aircraft - As Captain you will need to have a thorough knowledge and understanding of the aircraft, its systems
and components, speeds and limitations, including the airworthiness status and all maintenance requirements.
This should have been accomplished well before you commence your Command Training. Use whatever
resources are available to you. If you are employed by a big outfit you will probably have access to CBT,
educational software on DVDs, a Technical Library (either hard copy or on-line) and Fixed Base Trainers.
Whatever method you use, having a firm grasp of the aircraft that you will be operating will make your job as
Captain so much easier.
Team - We operate in a team environment and our whole profession has been based around the concept of the
crew (and others) functioning coherently as a team.
You need to address your CRM and Leadership skills (and your subordinates Followership skills) and how you
as the leader of your crew "run the show".
Don't forget that your "team" is not only the other guy sitting in the right seat, it is definitely your cabin crew (and
on occasions may even be your passengers), ATC, Traffic, Loading, Airport, Outport, Maintenance, Engineering,
Dispatch, Operations and your aircraft Fleet Staff.
Environment - The Environment includes the physical, regulatory, and organizational elements that you operate
in as a Captain (and you thought it just meant the Met situation!).

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Some of the "environments" that you will be exposed to as a Captain are; the cockpit, airspace, weather,
terrain, other airspace users or your own Airline's corporate culture (is it supportive, antagonistic etc.).
As a Captain you will be operating in a different "environment" from that of when you were an F/O. You have far
more power and responsibility (remember Uncle Ben in Spiderman "With great power comes great
responsibility"?). Part of your Command Training should address this aspect of your new role in this new
environment. Ask your Trainer to include this area if you feel that you are missing out.
Risk - A big part of your new job as a Captain is the assessment of risk and suitable risk management to ensure
that your desired outcome is safely, legally and efficiently achieved.
This job entails risk. If you want to be relatively risk-free stay locked up at home.
Now you as the Captain get to make decisions on whether to accept that risk or not (and sometimes you have
multiple choices). Sometimes there is a lot at stake (hundreds of people's lives sitting just behind you springs
immediately to mind).
Risk management involves gathering information and making an assessment and then a considered decision
based on your knowledge, previous experience and common sense to pursue the safest, least risk option. You
will be required to judge and evaluate the amount of risk you (and your crew/team) are prepared to accept to
achieve your goal.
Capstone Outcomes
The final structure which goes over all the previous "Building Blocks" and could be thought of as the pinnacle of
this "Airmanship Building" is called Capstone Outcomes and consists of:
Situational Awareness - Any pilot is required to have Situational Awareness (SA). Now as the Captain your SA
will have to be further expanded and refined and take on a "global" aspect. In a normal Line Crew the Captain is
usually the most experienced crew member and as such he is potentially the "last line of defence". You won't be
able to rely anyone else as a "back-stop" as you may have done as an F/O. In addition YOU are responsible for
the safe conduct of the flight.
You need to have enough spare mental capacity to be able to take in all the things occuring around you such
as; weather, traffic, navigation, ATC, aircraft serviceability/defects, what the aircraft is doing and where you
want it to go and how you will accomplish that (aviate, navigate, communicate), flight schedule keeping,
potential hazards, terrain, nearest suitable airfields and so on, so that you can formulate plans and keep ahead
of the aircraft.
If you can manage to do all that (and you will be expected to) it will help you enormously with the final Capstone
Outcome.
Judgement - In some other Airmanship articles that I've seen, some people also include DECISION MAKING as
part of the Capstone Outcome of Judgement. For the purposes of simplicity for this article I'll stick with just the
one word - Judgement, but you can use either judgment or decision making.
The annuals of Aviation Safety articles are littered with instances of incidents and accidents that were the
result of poor judgement by the pilots (you know...that really nice term "Pilot Error"). You now have to ensure
that you make considered and high quality judgements.
During your training your Trainer may get you to justify why you made a particular judgement. Practise this
BEFORE you get to the Command Training stage. Write down the reasons why you chose a particular course of
action. If you practise prior to your course commencing you will find that your judgments will be of a higher
quality because you've forced yourself to utilise your brain. Judgement and decision making is just one more

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skill that you will have educate and train yourself through continual practise as a Captain.
Using good judgement and making the right decisions is an essential Command skill and vital to the safe
conduct of any flight.
Here is a brief interview with Tony Kern discussing his concept of Airmanship.
Use the two Airmanship models presented in Part 2 & 3 of these Airmanship articles and begin to gradually
integrate them into your "Operation". As always, the earlier you can begin practising these skills and improve
your attitude, the easier it will make your life when you undertake your Command Training.
Get Redefining Airmanship and have a read. If you can't get a copy here is a PDF book review that you can
download to get a bit of a better idea of what the book is about.
This is the third and final Airmanship article in this series (unless I find some other good material!)
I'm really interested in what your thoughts about Airmanship are. Hop on over to the Discussion Group or leave
a Comment to share the knowledge.

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Preparation (P7)
An old military saying is "Prior Preparation & Planning, Prevents Piss Poor Performance" (here-after abbreviated
to P7).
And so it is with Command Training. It will be patently obvious to your Trainer if you have done little preparation
or have studied the wrong things. This almost certainly guarantees Piss Poor Performance!
Why is preparation so important? Why not save your brain cells, some time and dispense with any preparation
altogether!
There are a couple of reasons.
Decision Making
As Captain you will be required to make decisions. To make decisions you require information. Some of that
information you get at the time a decision is required and some you can have "pre-loaded" in your head ready to
use.
After acquiring the necessary information and then by using your previous experience, Airmanship, knowledge,
CRM, the particular circumstances of the situation that you are in and common sense, you eventually arrive at
your decision.
Your decisions can be good, bad or indifferent. As a Command Trainee you want most of your decisions to be
high quality and correct ones. Your tenure in the Left Seat will be cut abruptly short if you either can't make
decisions or make lots of poor decisions.
To improve your decisions, improve your preparation (P7). "Pre-load" information before your flight(s).
Often good preparation will enable you to make use of ready-made solutions to problems. This might be as
simple as;
Following the correct procedures (SOPs or NPs) or your laid down Company Policy (publications).
Discussing a Port that you have never been to with your peers and obtaining some local knowledge.

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Being aware of your nearest suitable airfield (and being aware of the runway(s), their length(s), elevation ,
approach aids, hours of operation and if the approach is in your particular aircraft's Nav Database).
Knowing how to correctly and instictively recognise and apply Memory Checklist Items with minimum delay (e.g.
TCAS, (E)GPWS, Windshear etc.)
Knowing the likely SID or STAR for the departure or arrival runway in use and any ATC constraint(s) associated
with them.
Knowing where the high terrain (both around the airfield and en-route and possible escape routes) and how
high is it so that you can have a plan formulated ready for a Depressurisation situation.
Which airfields would you use if you suffered an engine failure (these may be quite different for twins or quads
and if ETOPS).
Determine, if possible, what defects and possible MEL Operational Procedures (if applicable) exist on the
aircraft that you are about to take flying.
All this type of information (and much more) will help you make an informed decision in far quicker time than if
you had to seek out the knowledge from some other source first.
You will display your "Command Qualities" to good effect. Contrast this with someone who knows the answer is
in the books (at least he knows it is in there somewhere!) and spends 5 frantic minutes seeking out that
information. I can assure you this does not look good and you will put yourself under immense (self-imposed)
stress.
Skill Development
How often do you actually execute a Missed Approach, Go Around, Diversion, LWMO, Emergency Procedure,
Non Precision or Visual Approach?
In actual, real life airline operations, very rarely.
You get to practise these flying skills in the simulator, but that was weeks or months ago. So how can you be
prepared for the day when things don't right and you have to do something slightly unusual?
Practise in your head.
Arm-chair fly the sequence mentally (visual simulation). Make it as realistic as possible.
Try to include colours and sounds, what your PFD, ND and other instruments will display and what the attitude
will look like (visual and aural simulation), practise making the actual physical body movements to touch, push,
pull, move switches, push buttons, manipulate the yoke or side stick and the thrust levers (kinesthetic
simulation).
If you are not very good at visualisation (and this is a valuable skill to practise and refine - it costs nothing and
you can do it anywhere) get cockpit photos or diagrams and put them up on your wall, then practise
kinestheically using the photo/diagram. If you are fortunate enough to be in a Company that has a Flight
Training Device or CBT simulations, then use those. This improves your "muscle memory" and you can practise
where you have to look to recognise and receive information.
As you have rehearsed these unusual manoeuvres (i.e. prepared for the unusual situation - P7), when you are
required to actually do them, you will perform them better and with less conscious thought required (so you
have a greater amount of spare "brain power") to manage the situation and direct good quality outcomes. As
these are slightly unusual situations, you will be working under some increased pressure.
"By Failing to Prepare, you are Preparing to Fail" (Benjamin Franklin).
As with military campaigns, diligent preparation is an essential requirement as part of your Command
campaign. As a by-product, good preparation will increase your self-confidence and self-concept which is also
an essential requirement to navigate the rocky path of training to be a Commander.
So get preparing and remember P7.

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SA Enhancement - Quick & Dirty
It's the little things in life that will kill you.
You're unlikely to be killed in a grand

and dramatic way (well, a smoking hole rates as grand and dramatic), rather you'll be "nibbled to death by
ducks". Or to put it another way, suffer "death by a thousand paper cuts".
Aviation is a bit like that too. The resulting accident investigation is usually littered with a chain of minor Human
Factor elements that all link together to produce the final "grand dramatic end". It's not one big thing that gets
you in the end, but lots of little things combined. If you can break the chain of lots of little things, you can avoid
the big thing; the "grand dramatic end".
So whenever you're faced with something unusual or out of the ordinary try and make yourself Stop And Think
(you'll have to really discipline yourself to not jump in to the Action stage immediately) and quickly run through
this very basic mental SA enhancement checklist.
Will I hit the ground (TERRAIN – Lookout, what am I pointed at, (E)GPWS, ND map display, am I below MSA or
MRA).
Will I hit another aircraft (TRAFFIC – Lookout, TCAS, ATC listenout).
Will I run into weather (WEATHER – Lookout, Wx radar).
Where am I going (NAVIGATE – FMS, HDG, AP use).
Is my configuration suitable to do this (AVIATE – L/G, Flaps/Slats, Speedbrake, Attitude, Thrust (A/THR or
Manual Thrust)).
Tell the team (COMMUNICATE – your initial thoughts/plans/actions).
Whenever I'm faced with something minor (e.g. a trivial ECAM/EICAS after Take Off), I quickly mentally run
through those six things. It's big picture, quick and dirty stuff, doesn't focus too much on details, but it might be
the one thing that saves your ass one day.
Notice that Lookout is in all of the first three items. You've got a dirty great transparency (i.e. window) just in
front of your nose - use it! That's just basic Airmanship!
It has to be a pretty demanding and time critical event for me to spring into action whenever I'm below MSA or
MRA - I'm more likely to "sit on my hands", Stop And Think about the six SA enhancement items and get above
MSA, then deal with the event in a low workload environment. KISS.
Ensure that you let the rest of the crew know what you're doing if you assess that the situation can wait, as
they'll be expecting to launch into action, i.e. use the magic word "Standby". Otherwise they'll be wondering if
you're incapacitated or not!
You will need to practise this new thought pattern to include these six items when something unusual happens.

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It will not happen automatically and requires strong, continual discipline. So have a think about how you'll
handle unusual events - before they occur.
You definitely don't want to appear as the front page news of tomorrow's newspapers! These six, quick and dirty
SA Enhancers might just prevent that.

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Two Cases of Reverse Mind Set (RTO & Go Around)
In the book Aircraft Command Techniques, Sal J. Fallucco states;

There are two times, as a Captain, when you will find it hard to say "No." One is when the need for a rejected
takeoff occurs, and the other is if a go around is necessary.
When you think about it, this is spot on.
In both cases you have a very limited amount of time to make a decision and do exactly the opposite of what
you intended - in the case of takeoff, stop instead of go and in the case of a go around, overshoot and climb
instead of landing.
Both of these actions require a complete reversal of mind set. Both also require a prompt and correct decision
and flawless execution of the "reverse" manoeuvre.
As Captain you will probably (it depends on your Airline NPs or SOPs) have to complete the rejected Takeoff
(RTO) yourself and you may even have to order your F/O to "Go Around" if the approach parameters are not
stable.
These two cases are not situations in which you want to be indecisive and unsure. A lot hangs on completing
either of these procedures correctly to ensure safety. And guess who is ultimately responsible? YOU, as the
Captain!
You have to be prepared mentally to do the opposite of what you intended - reverse your mind set - and this is
sometimes hard to do. Start prepraring your mind now for this rapid role reversal. It will occur in a stressful,
time compressed, high workload environment and you cannot afford to hesitate because you are unsure of
what you should do, or are reluctant to do the opposite of what you originally intended.
Review both the RTO and Go Around case, do some visualisation (arm chair flying) and be prepared for the day
it will happen to you. I have copies of the QRH pages for RTO and Go Around in my nav bag, with all my notes
and highlighted passages and I can review them while on the bus going to work.
When I get cleared to Line Up or Take Off I quickly mentally review my RTO actions.
When on finals I mentally review my Go Around procedures (and where I will most likely track - either be
vectored by ATC or follow the published missed approach).
Both cases have happened to me and when it happens you want to make sure that you've got your shit in one
sock!
So continually prepare yourself for the RTO and Go Around cases, mentally review your actions before takeoff
and landing and be aware of the reverse mind set to quickly change your takeoff to an RTO and your landing to
a Go Around.

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The Difference Between THE Captain & AN F/O
What's the difference between being THE Captain and being AN F/O? (Apart from the sciatic nerve damage due
to the difference in sizes between their wallets!)
The table below is a general, gross simplification of the differences, and some Captains and F/Os will be
different from what I describe.
But make no mistake, there is a definite difference between being THE Captain and being AN F/O.
CAPTAIN FIRST OFFICER
The Leader A Follower
Makes decisions Has opinions
The ultimate authority and responsibility Second-in-Command
Master and mentor Apprentice Captain
Left Hand Seat (LHS) Right Hand Seat (RHS)
Thinks globally and "Big Picture" Thinks in a narrower view
Includes others (builds the "team") More self centred
Responsible for ALL team members and pax Responsible for just himself
The next in line to be hauled up to the "Office"
First to be hauled up to the "Office" when things go wrong
when things go wrong
The second last line of defence (has one layer
The last line of defence (has no back-up)
of back-up)
Can be invisible (usually through no fault of
Everyone looks to him ("What do you want to do Captain?")
his own)
Considers the present and several flights into the past and
Considers the present flight
future (even if they don't involve him)
Has to legally sign documents Wishes he could sign stuff
Considers the Past, Acts in the Present and Plans in the Future Acts in the Present
One of the common areas that Command Trainees often fail at (and this in turn causes them to fail their
Command Course) is: BE THE CAPTAIN. They think like an F/O rather than thinking like the Captain.
They have not adjusted their ATTITUDE and their mental MIND SET to embrace the Captain qualities, traits and

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characteristics contained in the above table.
Sure they can fly the jet, their handling skills are usually very good, but they either don't or are ineffective at
Leading, making decisions, thinking "Big Picture" and running the show safely, legally and efficiently. And you
will have to do this under some form of stress, usually self-imposed (especially when doing your Command
Course).
Moving from the RHS to the LHS is much more than laterally displacing yourself physically left a couple of
metres. That's the easy part, but paradoxically, the area that most people focus on (even if you do a type swap
and Command upgrade simultaneously). Much harder is the need to adjust and change yourself mentally; your
ATTITUDE and MIND SET. You need to accomplish this well before you commence your Command Upgrade
training.
Command does not begin when you start your formal Upgrade training, it starts many months beforehand when
you make the conscious decision to BE THE CAPTAIN and start to mentally prepare to take on your new role.
This mental transformation is what this blog is all about – it is the key idea. If I achieve nothing else, if you think
most of what I write is crap, but you change your ATTITUDE and your MIND SET to BE THE CAPTAIN…well then, I
think I've achieved my main aim of this whole enterprise!
Always remember; the most important airspace is the six inches between your ears.
ATTITUDE
MIND SET
BE THE CAPTAIN
Work on it right NOW!

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Skill Envelope
As Captain you, yourself, should never, or allow your subordinates (e.g. F/O), to fly or operate outside of YOUR
own personal "Skill Envelope". You must retain and remain in control of the situation. Otherwise safety is
compromised.
So what do I mean by "Skill Envelope"?
To explain, I'll use the analogy of a balloon. A balloon can be filled with varying amounts of gas to produce
different sizes and volumes. It is quite elastic and can expand (up to a limit when it will suddenly burst). or
contract depending on the amount gas blown into it or released. It is quite flexible when filled with gas. A
balloon can be small, with a small volume, or if extra gas is added, big with a larger volume. Different balloons
can be different sizes, colours and shapes.
And so it is with pilots. Each individual pilot has their own personal "Skill Envelope", which may be very different
from another pilot's. The "balloon" can be thought of as the outer limits of your "Skill Envelope". This "Skill" is
not only your physical handling skills, but is also your decision making skills, your SA skills, your Leadership
skills...in fact your anything skills.
You can usually tell when you’re approaching the outer limit of your “Skill Envelope” as your bum starts
“puckering”, you get a bit “twitchy” and outside of your “Comfort Zone”. These are all highly technical aviation
terms that every pilot recognises and has experienced at some time in his career.
When you first start flying your Skill Envelope is quite small. It gradually expands as you fill your "balloon" with
the “gas” of experience. Your “balloon” may contract occasionally (e.g. if you have an extended time off flying),
but its’ volume generally should remain either relatively constant or be gradually increasing as you fill it with
your experience “gas”. As a Command Trainee you definitely want to be gradually expanding your “Skill
Envelope”.
When you do your Command Training you will be with a more experienced Trainer. That Trainers’ “Skill
Envelope” will be greater than yours (his balloon is bigger than yours). That’s why your Trainer may occasionally
“push” you into something you may not have considered or are uncomfortable with attempting – he knows that
as long as YOU don’t exceed HIS “Skill Envelope” that he can safely recover the situation.
Why should your Trainer put you in this situation? It’s one effective training technique to expand YOUR “Skill
Envelope”. Once you have accomplished successfully the new skill (effectively and while under supervision),
you will have the confidence and attributes to be able to repeat that skill. Also, sometimes you can probably
achieve successfully the goal required but you just don’t know it yet. Remember your “balloon” is flexible. But
only up to the point that it bursts – push things too far and you’ll exceed everybody’s “Skill Envelope”!
When you are Captain, you also have to ensure that your subordinates do not exceed YOUR own personal “Skill
Envelope”. This includes not only your immediate subordinate, your F/O, but Cabin Crew members or anyone
else that is part of your “team”.
Generally your F/O will have a smaller “Skill Envelope” than you. But not always. Never allow anybody to put you
in a situation that YOU cannot recover safely from, even if they think they can. This can sometimes be a
problem if you fly with an experienced on type F/O and you have completed Command Training AND an aircraft
type conversion (so you’ve got low experience on that particular type).
When you are monitoring your F/O and he is approaching the “balloon” boundary of your personal “Skill
Envelope” you need to employ your CRM skills. Depending on the severity or time available of the particular
situation the CRM skills that you use can either be subtle or blunt and direct.

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I use a three layer, escalating defence mechanism when I start feeling uncomfortable and I can see my “Skill
Envelope” may possibly be breached.
Enquire (tactfully or not, depending on the circumstances) how he will manage this situation. “How’s your
descent profile looking?”, “Are you going left or right?”, “When will you start decelerating?” As a Trainee, if your
Trainer asks you these sorts of questions it should be a Red Flag – your Trainer is asking these questions for a
reason and it might be because he’s getting a bit uncomfortable with the situation and you are approaching HIS
“Skill Envelope”.
Direct his actions to stay within YOUR “Skill Envelope” “Use Speedbrake now”. “Fly heading 120”. “Put flap and
gear down”.
Take Over Control. If it all turns pear shaped, take over control and fly the aircraft to remain within YOUR “Skill
Envelope”. You should never allow anyone to put the aircraft or situation outside of your “Skill Envelope”. If you
do, you have effectively lost control of the situation and that usually means that safety is compromised.
During your Command Training take the opportunity to expand your “Skill Envelope” with the “gas” of
experience. Ask your Trainer if it is possible to do a Non Precision Approach, Visual Approach or FD Off Take Off.
Pose testing scenarios that have happened to you or have heard about and ask your Trainer how he would have
handled the situation. Review (or ensure you are debriefed) your good and not so good performances and
determine why they were good or what you could have done differently to improve the outcome.
Continually expand your “Skill Envelope” with the “gas” of experience. Aim to improve a little bit every time you
go flying.
Be aware of your “Skill Envelope” and never let anyone put you outside of YOUR personal outer boundary limit.
Otherwise safety is compromised.

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Command Preparation (Part 1)
This is Part 1 of a three part series of articles on one person’s thoughts (me) on suggested ways of
approaching preparing and studying for your Command Course and your Command Training. A link to Part 2 is
at the end of this article.
This first part is a general discussion of getting ready to undertake your Command Training. Part 2 looks at pre-
Command Course study and Part 3 at study while you’re actually on Course and doing the Training.
What I propose here is based mainly on my experience and discussing with other F/Os of their experience,
preparing and studying for Command Training in my particular Airline with my Airlines particular Command
Training “syllabus”. I suspect (but don’t know for sure) that this rough guide will work for almost all Command
Upgrades, irrespective of your Airline or Employer. You, however, may have to adapt this suggested study guide
to suit your Airlines’ Command Training program and you as an individual.
If you’re in a “Career Airline” and have progressed from the bottom of the pile as a Cadet or S/O or direct entry
F/O to almost being a Captain, then you should really have been preparing for this Upgrade for all the years that
you’ve been employed as a professional aviator. Most Airlines don’t hire Cadets or S/Os; they employ Future
Captains. So if you’ve been a slack arse and just done the bare minimum to complete your regulatory sims,
check rides and upgrades, then you’ve effectively wasted years of potential preparation for your Command
Upgrade.
Six Months
If you’re just about to start a Command Upgrade or you’ve already started and you think that reading this blog
will solve all your questions or woes – then you are sadly mistaken! You’ve left it too late! Sure some of the
articles will help you as you go through your Command Training, but to get maximum value out of this type of
material you need to start about SIX MONTHS before you do your first formal Command Upgrade training
session or ground school class!
As we discussed in P7 (“Prior Preparation & Planning, Prevents Piss Poor Performance”), preparation is key to
getting the most out of your Upgrade training. And as we discussed in The Difference between THE Captain &
AN F/O the biggest change, the major thing you have to do prior to commencing your Command Training, is to
change your ATTITUDE and MIND SET so that you can operate and BE THE CAPTAIN. If you haven’t read those
two articles yet, then have a read of them before you go any further.
You cannot change your attitude and mind set to form different thinking patterns and ways of “running the
show” as the Captain overnight. It’s like changing an ingrained habit or giving up smoking; it takes a gradual
change over a long period so that the new behaviour becomes a part of who you are and how you function.
That’s why I recommend starting to really study for your Command Course about six months before you turn up
for your first “formal”, rostered session.
I can’t emphasis this enough – the main change that you have to undergo is a MENTAL one. And to effectively
change your mental processes takes a considerable amount of time (but you’re a professional, right? You’ve
been secretly preparing to become a Captain ever since you started flying, right?).
What’s In Store For You
You should know or find out the date your Command Course is planned to commence. If you can’t nail down a
firm date you should have a rough idea by asking your Fleet or Training Managers or by keeping an eye on who
is currently doing their Command Training and comparing your Seniority Number with theirs. It’s simple then to
estimate when your turn will arrive.

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As part of your Command preparation you should have a fairly good idea of the “syllabus” for Command
Upgrade; how many classroom, ground training and simulator sessions, the number of training sectors,
progress or check rides required and how long the entire Course normally takes from start to final Check out.
If you’re doing a Command Upgrade AND a type conversion, find out what extra ground school, sims and
training flights are built into the syllabus.
Talk to your peers and mates who have recently gone through the “sausage machine” of training to get a feel
for what it was like, areas that they had problems with or were easy, what the Training Department was like
(ambivalent, supportive etc.), what airfields they mainly operated into to, what the ground school, sim and flight
training was like, what training aids are available, books they read/studied or how they approached their study
for the Course. Get as much information as you can “bleed” out of people. The better informed that you are on
what you can reasonably expect while on Course, the better you can plan your study and preparation.
The Only Person Who Looks After You - Is You!
Don’t expect anyone to hold you by the hand, spoon feed you and walk you through your Command Training. If
you can’t manage your study and preparation for Command, then how in the hell will you be able to manage the
job as Captain?
For the most part, everything is pretty well left up to you. No one will force or remind you to study or prepare. If
you have problems areas with study or flying, you will generally be expected to sort it out yourself (use some
common sense here, if you really need help, then YOU seek it out and get it from your Trainer or Training
Department).
If it is to be, it is up to me.
Your Training Department
Get to know the people in your Training Department.
What? Fraternise with the enemy management?
Your Training Department is in existence for YOU. They are the ones who will read all your Training Reports and
who you will need to go to and discuss any problem areas that you may have. Use them like any other “team”
member that you would use as Captain. Believe it or not, they can actually help you (and they actually want to
help you – they want you to be successful and pass your Command Course!)
If you have any problems that concern you deeply (personal, flying – whatever) and you think may affect your
performance during Training, then get it sorted out EARLY rather than later. Sometimes if you let a major
problem fester (and keep it to yourself in the hope that it will somehow resolve itself), it come around and bite
you in the arse in a big way by decreasing your Command performance. Now not only do you have your previous
problem, but now you’ve got a new problem, with all that extra stress of performing badly during your Command
Training. It can be a vicious circle; get it sorted out early.
Resources
Do a bit of digging around and find out what training resources are available to you.
Does your Company have a Resource or Technical Library and if so what books, DVDs, VCRs, tapes and training
aids does it have. I found out that my Company's Resource Library has copies of Aircraft Command Training,
Redefining Airmanship and Flight Discipline (among other stuff) so I went up there and borrowed them.
Do you have access to Computer Based Training (CBT)? If so, can you use it at any time, take it home and use it

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on your PC/Mac? Is it possible to obtain copies of FCOMs and the QRH early if you are doing a conversion in
conjuction with your Command Training?
If your Company is resource poor, how much does passing this Command Course mean to you? Are you
prepared to buy books or resources from commercial vendors (e.g. Amazon).
Are there any Captains in your Company that you trust enough to ask if they could help you out, even to be a
mentor to you? You should be actively pumping every Captain you go flying with for their tips, suggestions and
recommendations.
What information is currently "out there" that others in your Company doing Command Training have? Usually
there is a plethora of handed down information that gets passed from one Command Trainee to the next. (Note:
be extremely careful about this type of "information" - it may be out of date, someones personal preference or
just plain wrong).
Seek and you shall find. A little bit of effort now may pay big dividends later.
Firehose
I sometimes liken undergoing a Command Course as “having a firehose stuffed into your mouth, then turned
full on and it gets backed off only when the water starts squirting out of your ears”.
By getting in early and studying and preparing will allow you to “soak it all up”. It will reduce your stress levels
and you might even perversely enjoy your Upgrade. After all, it’s not rocket science.
If you are any sort of professional aviator, you should have made this Command preparation a career long
“study effort”.
Start to really put in the “formal” study and preparation about six months prior to commencing your Upgrade so
that you can absorb all the knowledge and start to change your Attitude and Mind Set so that you can BE THE
CAPTAIN.
Part 2 of Command Preparation I P7 Preparation

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approaching preparing and studying for your Command Course and your Command Training. Go to Part 1 here
and a link to Part 3 is at the end of this article.
This second part is about pre-Command Course study. Part 1 is a general discussion of getting ready to
undertake your Command Training and Part 3 is concerned with study while you’re actually on Course and
doing the Training.
We discussed in Command Preparation (Part 1) the need to commence “formal” study about six months before
your first rostered Command Training session. Now we'll have a look at what to study.
Try to determine what is Essential and definitely Need-

Need-to-
to-Know,
Know as opposed to Should-Have-A-Bit-Of-An-Idea-
About and Nice-To-Know or For-Info. You want to aim to manage your study workload and focus your main effort
on high value, essential items and just brush over the less important stuff. Don’t try and commit everything to
memory and burn yourself out one month before your Course starts! Pace yourself and do a little bit every day.
So what do you need to concentrate on and actually study?
Books and Publications
In this pre-Command Course preparation phase get all of the “bookwork” out of the way before you get
anywhere near an aircraft or starting your Command Course.
This is all of your Company Publications, Policy and Procedures. You need to have a very firm grasp of what is
contained within these documents. As you study these documents pay particular attention to anything that
relates to “The Captain”;
Captain” e.g. The Captain’s responsibilities are…, The Captain shall do this…, The Captain is
required to sign this… etc.
You don’t have to recall every single thing within these documents, but you will be expected to know that a
particular situation is covered in such-and-such publication and be able to locate the item so that you can apply
it. Some items you will have to know extremely well and will have to put quite a bit of effort into e.g. Fuel Policy,
Emergency Memory Items, Limitations etc just to name a few. Ask your peers, other Captains that you fly with
and your Training Department what is expected of you.
Don’t just read the document and go onto the next item. There is a world of difference between being able to
regurgitate the item word-for-word and being able to practically apply the specific item in the real world. Set
scenarios for yourself and think through how you apply the policy/procedure for real. If you can, actually do the
required items e.g. physically complete a Non Standard Fuel Load form or actually get RTOW information via
SMS or complete a Manual Loadsheet or calculate the Minimum Fuel Required Inflight. You can often find that
actually doing the required actions is quite different from just reading about it. Books generally tell you what to
do, not how to do it; a big difference. By practising beforehand, if you are ever required to actually do one of
these things for real during your Command Training you will approach it with confidence, not waste time and
create minimal stress for yourself.
If your Company has its publications on-line for you to study at home, try to spend a bit of time using real-live
paper publications if that’s what is in the aircraft and what you’ll have to use for real. Doing a PDF computer
search to find information (easy) is very different from locating stuff in a document using chapters and indexes
in a book when you’re under pressure (harder).

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Don’t limit yourself to just Company Publications, Policy and Procedures. Know how to read and use Jeppesen
plates and charts, AERAD Guides (or whatever particular brand your Company uses), Company Notices,
Dangerous Goods Regulations – basically if it is in the cockpit and you can access it, then know how to read,
decipher and practically use it.
It doesn’t matter whether you are going from Right to Left on the same type or doing a Type Conversion in
conjunction with your Command Upgrade as this stuff is usually very general and not normally type specific.
NP, SOP, FCOM, QRH
There is no easy way around this. You will be required to have a very good working knowledge of your aircrafts’
Normal Procedures or Standard Operating Procedures and any other Supplementary Procedures that are
contained within your Company’s flight publications.
You need to know how to use your aircraft’s QRH and what information is contained within it (as this is quite
often the first document you will access in flight).
You need to know and have a reasonable working knowledge of your aircraft’s FCOMs or Flight Manuals.
Contained within these documents are, normal and emergency procedures, system descriptions, limitations,
Warnings, Cautions and Notes.
Again, try to determine what is Essential and definitely Need-to-Know, Should-Have-A-Bit-Of-An-Idea-About and
Nice-To-Know or For-Info.
When I did my Command Upgrade (and this is what worked for me, you will likely do it differently) I would spend
a few days or a week and just focus on one aircraft system e.g. the Pressurisation System. I would read the
Pressurisation System description, normal operation, the switches and push buttons associated with it and
what they did, the abnormal and emergency procedures, the QRH Pressurisation information, how it interacted
with other systems and the Pressurisation MEL items. While I was doing this I took notes, drew diagrams (just
don’t get too carried away – you don’t have to draw and actually design the whole system!) and if I came across
questions asked someone. At the end of the few days or week, I would review all the information and have a
pretty good idea on how the Pressurisation System works. Then I went onto the next system. It worked for me
and I had a Study Plan and forced myself to stick to it.
If you are doing a Type conversion in conjunction with your Command Training you’ll have a bit of trouble here.
You’ll be expected to remain current and competent on your current aircraft type, but some of the stuff that you
attempt to learn about on your new aircraft type will just will not make any sense through reading about it in a
book. Find out if your Company has CBT or on-line training and use that if it’s an option. Gradually start to soak
in some knowledge but don’t get too worked up if it is all completely new. Hook up with a peer or mentor if you
can to guide you through your learning. If you go through a Command/Conversion dual Upgrade there should be
extra sims, sectors and training to cater for this.
The "REAL" Command Stuff
So far we’ve looked at all the stuff that your Company provides for you, FCOMs, Company Policy and Procedures
etc. Much of this should have been available for the entire time that you’ve been in your present Company and
so shouldn’t hold any surprises. You should have a pretty good grip on all of this already.
What about all the “REAL Command Stuff” that nobody tells you about?
Things like Leadership and Management, CRM, TEM, Decision Making, Judgement, Team Building, Situational
Awareness, Risk Management, the Legal Aspects of being the Captain etc.?
This is where you really are left to your own devices. Not too many Companies give adequate direction and
guidance in these essential “Command Qualities, Traits and Characteristics”. And these are the areas that most

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Command Trainees who fail their Upgrade are lacking in.
Fortunately, it’s not all bad news. This is THE primary reason that I cranked this blog up. You don’t have to
blindly follow along with just me and only have one point of view either. The Internet is a wonderful “Information
Super-Highway” and there is a lot of really good info out there just waiting for you to discover and soak up. You
just have to be prepared to invest some time and effort and go out there and find it and sort out the “wheat
from the chaff”. Congratulations on doing just that by being here and reading this!
Check out the Book Reviews that I’ve posted. If you can get your hands on Aircraft Command Techniques and
Redefining Airmanship, then you’ll be a better Captain than if you didn’t – I highly recommend both of these
books. Seek out other books on aviation and non-aviation topics that interest you or are areas that you are
weak in (e.g. Leadership).
A lot of this Real Command Stuff you will have been learning sub-consciously, “learning through osmosis”,
throughout your entire aviation career. Hopefully you’ve been aware of this and have been continually soaking
up the lessons presented to you through out the years. You adopt the good Command Stuff into your
“Command Toolbox” and decide to not use the not so good or bad Command Stuff that you’ve seen and
experienced (usually by poor Captains) as an S/O or F/O or in your previous aviation career.
There is wealth of information out there – you just have to make the conscious decision that you are prepared
to expend the time and effort to find and absorb that information. You’ll probably spend quite a bit of time
studying your aircrafts’ systems, why not spend a bit of time studying YOU as the Captain. It’s time well spent.
Spread It Out
There looks like there is a heck of a lot of stuff in there - and you'd be right!
By starting your "formal" study six months before your Command Course you can spread the study load out over
that six months. Do a little bit every day. That's a much better way to do it rather than cram everything into the
last few weeks. Occasionally (continually?) go over your notes and review subjects that you studied weeks or
months earlier so that you retain all that good knowledge.
It will take discipline, effort and some planning to accomplish the required study. But it will pay off big time
when you're stuck with a tricky defect with a confusing MEL item, when you're pushed for time in a real aircraft,
with real pressures and stresses and everyone is looking to you as the Captain during your Command Course to
sort the problem out!
Continue onto Part 3 of Command Preparation. I P7 Preparation

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approaching preparing and studying for your Command Course and your Command Training. Click here to go to
Part 2.
This third part is about Command Course study while you are actually undertaking the Training. Part 1 is a
general discussion of getting ready to undertake your Command Training and Part 2 is concerned with pre-
Command Course study.
This area of Command Preparation is pretty much "where the rubber meets the road". It's where everything
comes together so that you can approach your Command Training with confidence and with the knowledge that
you've prepared as best as you possibly can. Confidence is a huge factor during the stressful time of your
Command Training - Tony Kern in Redefining Airmanship calls confidence "a skill multiplier".
Preparation can make or break your Command performance - ensure that it MAKES yours.
What To Study Now?
All of your "book work" should have been completed before you get anywhere near a real aircraft and before you
commence your "formal" Command Course. Just occasionally review selected parts of your previously studied
work to clarify any questions you may have, now that you've entered the "practical" phase of Line Flying.
Most of the hard work has already been completed if you've been disciplined and put the effort in. All you
should really need to study and prepare for now is each sim session or training flight(s) that you are rostered
for.
Simulator
The sim sessions may require a bit of systems review and probably will require extensive study of abnormal or
emergency procedures. This is not normally too much of a hassle if your Company has a decent sim syllabus -
that will tell you exactly what is required to be studied for each sim session. If it doesn't ask around and you will
soon find out.
If you are paired up with a "crash buddy", get together every so often and study together as team, pose
scenarios to each other and generally learn and help each other out. Without even knowing it you will be
exercising your Command skills as you both begin your Training.
Line Flying Training
You may get to go to places you've never been to before as a Command Trainee, and you will be expected to
manage the flight safely and efficiently. Local knowledge goes a long way in operating into some of the places
you may go to. Ask around and glean as much local knowledge as possible from other pilots who have operated
into these places recently.
Read every bit of information that you can get your grubby little mits on about the places you will operating into.
This might be Jeppesen (or other third party providers) produced info, or info that your Company publishes. Find
it, read it and absorb it.
For your departure, arrival and alternate airfield(s) review the operating times, taxi routes, restrictions, SIDs,
STARs, ATC frequencies and restrictions, curfew times, navigation and approach aids, terrain, likely weather

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patterns for the time of the year, alternate(s) and their routeing, where you will hold, at what altitude and
speed, alternate runways, hazards, de-icing facilities and methods, what ground handling can you expect, is
there a Company Engineer there, any special operating procedures...you get the picture.
Review also the route that you take, the MRA and terrain, ETOPS procedures and airfields, the Enroute Airfields
where you will divert if the shit hits the fan (runway(s), approach aids, elevation and runway lengths), special
use airspace, RVSM, CPDLC, ATC route restrictions, Danger and Restricted Areas.
Apply some common sense here, as it is obviously stupid to study every single item in minute detail.
Concentrate on the high value items that you as the Captain will be expected to have a good knowledge of and
that you will definitely require. Again, pace yourself - a lttle bit of study every day adds up to a lot over the
course of a few weeks or months.
Leave no stone unturned. The more you prepare the less likely you will be caught out, the more confident you
will be and the better you will look as the Captain.
Link to P7 Preparation

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How To Be Above Average - The Zulu Principle
The phase “Zulu Principle” was coined by Jim Slater in his investment book The Zulu Principle. In the preface he
writes:
I first named this approach “The Zulu Principle” after my wife read a four page article on Zulus in the Reader's
Digest. From then on she knew more than me about Zulus.
The Zulu Principle describes your ability to become an expert (when compared with the majority of “non-
experts”) in a tiny niche, specialist area in a very short time.
In our profession of Aviators it is easy to become above average (i.e. to know more than the majority of “non-
experts” who are the pilots who don’t study or prepare) by simply doing some personal study or preparation. Do
not permit yourself to become “lazy” and slip into the below average category by not learning, studying,
refreshing or renewing your required aviation knowledge and skills.
For instance, all pilots know about TCAS and all the pilots on your particular aircraft type in your particular
Airline should know the symbology, procedures and actions to react to a TCAS alert. But if you sit down and
really study the TCAS “system” (what TCAS does and how it does it, equipment components, inter-relationship
with other aircraft components and equipment, PFD and ND symbology, the version type of TCAS fitted to your
aircraft and its limitations, Traffic Advisories and Resolution Advisories and the actions required for TCAS alerts,
the correct radio phraseology required to communicate with ATC when you get a TCAS alert – then you will
almost certainly become above average, because most pilots are “lazy” and only do superficial research, study
or preparation.
You can apply this Zulu Principle to any aspect of Command. If you study and learn your aircraft's systems, the
Company Fuel Policy, windshear, volcanic ash, engine inoperative procedures, Leadership, CRM, TEM - pick any
aviation subject - then you will almost certainly become above average.
Normally as a Command Trainee you naturally apply the Zulu Principle by studying and preparing for your new
role as the Captain. Brand new Captains straight out of the Training environment generally have so much
information crammed into their heads as a result of study and preparation that they are above average in the
knowledge department (and then later let it all slip away by becoming “lazy” after completing their Command
Course – but you won’t do that, will you?!).
There are a few provisos with this Zulu Principle.

Don’t overstudy and increase your study or preparation workload to astronomical levels. There is a “Law of
Diminishing Returns” operating here. Up to a certain limit you will acquire lots of good information, but further
study will only add a little extra information and the extra effort is not worth it. Manage your workload (to keep
yourself sane and your stress levels down).
Treat non-Company information with care, especially stuff you get from the Internet, books or other sources or
second-hand from your mates. It may be correct, but then again, it may not be. And you won’t be able to blame
anyone else but yourself if you cock-up because of incorrect information.
Being above average in the knowledge department does not automatically make you above average overall.
You have to effectively apply the above average knowledge to be an above average Captain. This is the main
difference between novices and experts. Recognise the limitations your novice "applied knowledge" or
experience may have and act accordingly.
Like most things in life there is no easy option or shortcuts. If you want something you usually have to work to
get it. To become above average is no exception; you will have to invest time and effort.
So apply the Zulu Principle to be better than most.

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SA – Your Crystal Ball
I recently came across this article “Managing Situation Awareness On The Flight Deck or The Next Best Thing
To A Crystal Ball” by Sheryl L. Chappell in the CRM Developers web site.
It is a good “pilot speak” article that is easy to comprehend, avoids over complicating things and provides a
bunch of good items for you to think over and hopefully incorporate into your operation as a Captain to improve
your SA skills.
It talks about what you need to do in the Present (Monitor

(Monitor and Evaluate) and what you need to do in the Future
(Anticipate and Consider) to expand your SA.
There is a very good section about Traps that can reduce your SA and what to do to avoid them and so increase
your (and your teams) SA.
The analogy of SA as a flashlight (or torch to those of you from the (ex)-Commonwealth), that you can focus to
highlight a narrow area or change to a broad spread to illuminate a larger area is quite apt.
Have read – it will be worth your while.
SITREPs
SITREP – Situation Report
If you’re ex-military you’d be familiar with the term SITREP. If you’re not, then you’ve probably been using
SITREPs in the course of your aviation career without even being aware of it.
SITREPs are handy ways to share, update and inform your team members about the current aircraft state,
serviceability, automation state and modes, ATC clearance; in fact any type of information that you need to
disseminate with your other team members. It’s one way to update your team’s Situational Awareness and
share your Mental Model (communicate your intent).
You only really need to discuss items that your entire team is unaware of or to clarify uncertainties, such as ATC
clearances that were issued while you were in the rest-room splashing your boots, or were on another radio
talking to your Company or to rejoin a Split Cockpit or after a malfunction or emergency.
SITREPs can work both ways. You can give your F/O a SITREP to update him, or your F/O (or Cabin Crew,
Ground Engineer - anyone on your "team") can give one to you if you've been busy accomplishing some other
task.
Your SITREP might be something along the lines of;

“We’ve been cleared direct to ALPHA, maintain 5,000, which is above the sector MSA, Selected Speed 230
KIAS as an ATC requirement”. In this short, succinct summary you’ve outlined to your team the ATC clearance
and how you’ve set up the aircraft to comply with their requirements, while ensuring that terrain avoidance is
complied with.
”We’ve completed the ECAM actions. I intend to remain above MSA, enter the hold at BRAVO and dump fuel
below Max Landing weight”. You’ve communicated your intent and how you mean to accomplish that intent to
your team.

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”While you were gone, we’ve been told to contact Singapore Radio on 8942, I haven’t done that yet and there’s
weather ahead at 80 miles, when you talk to Singapore could you request up to 30 miles left of track”. You’ve
updated your team on the ATC communications change, alerted them to the weather ahead and asked them to
contact the ATC agency and request deviation (all in one complete package to cut down radio clutter).
”We’ve completed the MEL operational procedures, the Ground Engineer has signed the aircraft tech log and
released the aircraft, there are no major effects on our operation that I can think of. Can you think of any?”.
You’ve summarised the maintenance actions that the Ground Engineer has completed, including the paperwork
(which your F/O may not be fully aware of as he generally is not involved with signing the paperwork) and asked
for his input into the situation.
”The unruly passenger has been ejected off the aircraft, I’ve talked to the Head of the Cabin Crew and the
Ground Traffic Staff and everyone is ready to go. We’re just awaiting a new Loadsheet. Is there anything we’ve
missed?” Again, you’ve summarised actions that your F/O may not be aware of (liasing with the Cabin Crew and
Ground Staff) and alerted him to the fact that you require some updated paperwork and sought his input.
Try and make your SITREPs relevant, short, concise and to the point. That way everyone will have a common
goal, know how they are going to achieve that goal and then get on with it as a functional team.
So use SITREPs to update your entire team's SA and communicate your intent.
Control The Controllable – Your “Circle Of Influence”
I often hear of Command Trainees, especially when doing Checks, bemoaning how “unlucky” they were – the
aircraft had multiple MEL items or it broke on them, the weather was atrocious, they had a “bad” F/O, “poor”
cabin crew or “difficult” passengers, “abysmal” ATC – essentially everything that could go wrong, went wrong
and made their job as Captain much more difficult than it “should” have been.
It’s all a conspiracy – they’re out to get me, it’s not fair! I should have got fine and beaut weather, a dream
aircraft and a superb F/O and crew with really nice and pleasant pax and ATC anticipating my every wish (like
my buddy had a few days ago).
Yeah right! Dream on!
Fact 1: Get used to it – this is what life as a Captain is like in reality! See VUCA.
If you can’t stomach this fact, then you’re going to have a very hard time completing your Command Course and
you will be under an increased amount of self-imposed stress. Aircraft and things break, the weather does what
it wants and people are illogical and irrational emotional creatures.
Fact 2: “Luck” has nothing to do with it.
You make your own “luck”. The harder you work, the more you prepare, the more you develop and hone your
Leadership and Command skills the “luckier” you get with the situation that you are dealt with on the day.
Fact 3: You are only able to control things or items that you have actual influence or control over.
The corollary to this fact is that if you have no control or influence over these items or things then there is not
much point in fretting over them, getting your knickers in a knot and attempting to try and control them. You
cannot do anything about things that you have no control or influence over.
You need to focus your energy and efforts towards those things you CAN control and have some form of
influence over. This is a form of being Proactive.
“Circle Of Concern”

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Things that concern you and you have to take notice

of as the Captain are your “Circle Of Concern”.
They include the aircraft and its serviceability state and MEL malfunctions, the weather, your F/O and crew,
your passengers, ground engineers and other ground staff, ATC, other traffic, relevant NOTAMs – everything to
do with your flight. You have to recognise and react to these things using your Leadership and Command skills.
Some of these things you will NOT be able to control.
Reactive people focus their energy and efforts on the “Circle Of Concern”, usually to no great effect. This “Circle
Of Concern” is an everyday, every flight occurrence for you as the Captain (see Fact 1).
“Circle Of Influence”
Within your “Circle Of Concern” is a smaller “Circle Of Influence”. These are the things that you actually are able
to influence and control.
They are things that you, as the Captain, have the power to really do something about. You might be able to
“direct” the Ground Engineer to the correct MEL item to dispatch the aircraft, use good CRM to pull your “team”
(F/O, cabin crew and pax) on the aircraft together to work effectively or uplift extra fuel if the weather looks
dodgy.
Proactive people focus their energy and efforts on the “Circle Of Influence”. Now you are controlling the
controllable (see Fact 3).
The Two “Circles”
If you are a Reactive Captain and you expend your time, energy and effort within your “Circle Of Concern”, but
outside of your “Circle Of Influence” – on things that you have no control over – you effectively shrink your inner
“Circle Of Influence”. You miss opportunities to influence things that you have control over by incorrectly and
inefficiently mis-focussing your efforts. This is when some people state they were “unlucky” (see Fact 2).
If, however, you are a Proactive Captain you will expend your time, energy and effort within your “Circle Of
Influence”. All of a sudden you start to pick up and notice things that you have some influence over. You are
controlling the controllable and your “Circle Of Influence” tends to then expand.

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The Role of “Luck”
Personally I don’t believe in “luck” (see Fact 2). As the Captain you have to deal with the hand that you are dealt
with.
Normally you cannot control who your F/O, cabin crew, Trainer or Checker is, you turn up to work and go flying
with them/him or her, you can’t control the serviceability of your aircraft by wishing it was a good one or hoping
that it won’t subsequently break later in the flight, if the weather decides it is going to be crappy then you’re
stuck with that crappy weather situation.
“Unlucky” Reactive people focus on their “Circle Of Concern”, while “Lucky” Proactive ones control the
controllable within their “Circle Of Influence”. You really do make your own “luck”. The harder you work on your
“Circle Of Influence”, the more you prepare, the more knowledge, Leadership and Command skills that you
develop the “luckier” you will get.
An example of “luck” happened to one of my Command Trainees on his Final Line Check – the big one! After
getting airborne, on selecting the Gear lever up, the Gear promptly stayed down, accompanied with an ECAM
Caution. How “unlucky” can you get! However, this guy didn’t focus on the “bad” aircraft and how “unlucky” he
was, he just got stuck into controlling the controllable. He liaised with ATC, levelled off and tracked to a clear
area, followed the ECAM actions (didn’t fix the problem), did some trouble-shooting (still couldn’t fix it),
considered his options and did a quick risk assessment, made the decision to return and land, communicated
his intent with his “F/O”, completed all checklists, informed the cabin crew and made a PA to the passengers
and went back and landed. Total time airborne - 20 minutes.
He did a really, really good Command job. He managed, through focussing on his “Circle Of Influence”, to turn
an “unlucky” occurrence into a “lucky” one. He turned an aircraft malfunction into a “Command Opportunity” to
display his good Captaincy and Leadership skills and as a direct result of this focussed, Proactive effort got a
glowing report.
“Unlucky” events are really “Command Opportunities” in disguise and by focussing on your “Circle Of
Influence”, being prepared and acting proactively you turn an “unlucky” event into a “lucky” one!
For those of you who say “Well, what if he hadn’t handled the “unlucky” situation well and cocked it up?”. All I
can say is, in that case he probably wasn’t displaying adequate Command and Leadership skills and may have
possibly failed the Check. Shit happens – you get to control the outcome by focussing on your “Circle Of
Influence” and being prepared.
Don’t whine and waste energy about being “unlucky”; make your own “luck” and accept the challenge of the
inevitable “Command Opportunity”.
Do not let what you cannot do interfere with what you can do. (John Wooden)
Be Proactive, control the controllable and focus your time, energy and efforts on your “Circle Of Influence”. It's
what all good Captains do!

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Photographic Situational Awareness (SA)
As the Captain you are required to have a global, broad, all-encompassing view of the Situational Awareness
(SA) concerning your aircraft, its’ operation and anything else that concerns you. This global SA (or the “Big
Picture”) has to be much more developed and refined than what you may have had previously as a F/O and is
one of the distinguishing differences between being THE CAPTAIN and being AN F/O.
Some Trainees either don’t develop this broad, global SA view or allow their focus of attention to become very
narrow (“tunnel vision”) and then miss all the things occurring in the periphery that go into the “mixing pot” to
allow you to form a “Big Picture” SA.
Photographic Analogy
Imagine this “Big Picture” SA as a photographic analogy.
Your perception of the view of SA is like looking through a zoom lens. Your Field of View (FOV) can be like a
wide-angle lens or you can zoom in and magnify the scene by using the telephoto lens.
When you take a wide-

wide-angle view you get to take in many things that are covered by a very broad FOV, the
things that surround you and are sometimes just at the periphery of your range of view. You don’t get to see
these things close up with a great deal of detail, but you do get to see lots and lots of different things. This is
like the “Big Picture”.
Now that you’ve taken a snapshot of the wide-angle “Big Picture”, you can scan the resulting image and look for
items of interest. When you locate an item of interest you can use your telephoto zoom lens and home in on
that detail and magnify it and examine it in great detail. While you’re zoomed in you only get to view a very small
part of the overall scene (but that small part contains great detail) which means that you don’t get to view what
is going on outside of your small FOV.
Like a photographer, you need to alternate from the wide-angle, large FOV, with minimal detail (“Big Picture”),
to the telephoto zoomed in, small FOV, with sharp magnified detail, and back again. You’ve got to continually
“pump” your lens – wide-angle to telephoto to wide-angle to telephoto, ad finitum. Only by continually varying
your FOV will you be able to recognise the broad picture, locate items of interest and then focus on them, and
then switch back to the broad FOV so you don’t subsequently miss other stuff.

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Remember also that any lens has a finite FOV and we’re after a global, 360 degree, all around view. So you’ll
have to look up and down, left and right and even behind you. Don’t lock on to one particular FOV and fixate on
it.
For example if the weather is bad in front of you on track, can you go around it to the left or right, climb above it
or descend below it, or if it is really bad is it worth turning back? If the weather at your alternate is poor,
consider another alternate and do you have the time, fuel, charts and knowledge to safely get there? What’s
happening with the traffic flow into your destination, are they being given extended or shortened vectors,
holding, speed control, windshear or micro-burst alerts, are they getting in or going around? Look all around
you.
Lenses also come in different sizes and the lens you choose to view your situation through will determine
whether you get a broad FOV or a telephoto FOV.
You can choose to let the F/O fly the aircraft with the A/P engaged and take a figurative step back to put on
your fisheye ultra wide-
wide-angle lens to get a quick snapshot of the really, really “Big Picture”. You won’t get too
much detail but you’ll get a coarse, broad view of what’s going on. This may be the best option when you
encounter a confusing, complex and unfamiliar situation (so you can assess the Clarify part of the CLEAR
Model), or realise that you’ve lost your SA and use the Quick and Dirty method to get your degraded SA back.
You can also get out your kick-arse, huge, telephoto zoom lens to home in and examine in microscopic detail a
situation or problem that you have detected with your wide-angle lens. Just remember that you won’t take in
much of what is happening outside of your really small FOV. This is “tunnel vision” in the extreme.
Just remember there are advantages and disadvantages with each type of lens, and you’ll have to “pump” your
lens to get a satisfactory level of SA and detail in your changing FOVs.
While this discussion has focussed on vision, you can use the same principle for your other senses; hearing
(radio calls, noise and sounds), smell (odours, smoke and fumes) and touch (tactile "seat of the pants" feelings,
vibration etc.)
So alternate and “pump” between your wide-angle lens to your telephoto lens to keep your global “Big Picture”
SA as accurate, detailed and up to date as possible.
Satisficing – Decision Making
I had no idea that the word satisficing existed, much less what it meant until I started to look into decision
making – and you’re probably the same. But the odd thing is that you’ve been satisficing all your aviation
career; you just didn’t know that this decision making aspect had a name.

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The word satisfice is a combination of

the words “satisfy” and “suffice”. When you satisfice you choose a decision that is good enough for the current
situation, but not necessarily perfect or optimal. Most of the time you won’t have the luxury of time or spare
brain power to derive the perfect solution.
To be good enough for the real world although not perfect. But then, it's not a perfect world.
Or, if you subscribe to the slack-arse approach to life;
Near enough is good enough.

As the Captain when you are required to make a decision you will often have to operate in an environment of
uncertainty (VUCA) as you will not have all the required information. You will be acting under stress (if it is a
critical decision) and you will be acting with a time constraint. You will never have enough time to sit down
calmly to assess all the relevant information, consider all the available options and eventually arrive at the best,
most optimal solution. Real life just doesn’t work like that.
What researchers have found is that in real life the decision maker will generally come up with several solutions
to the problem and will arrive at a “good enough” decision by either recognising that a particular solution will
work or by eliminating the other solutions as inadequate (usually by doing a risk assessment). You don’t arrive
at an optimal solution, but you do arrive at a solution that is good enough for the current situation based on the
information that you do have and the time available.
Let’s look at some examples to give you some idea of how satisficing works.
The Cabin Crew call you and say “I smell smoke”. They cannot identify the smoke source, only that they can
smell it in the cabin. Not too much information to go on, however you might rapidly recall incidents and/or
accidents in which smoke was involved and conclude that you don’t want to risk an inflight fire, so you decide
to divert and land at the nearest suitable airfield. Now if it was a minor electrical component that was producing
the smoke, diverting might not be the most optimal solution. But you don’t know that at the time and you can’t
afford to stuff around. So you decide that it’s better to be safe than sorry and get your backside on the ground.
From the forecast and METARs, the weather at your destination is rapidly getting worse and approaching the
landing limits. You know that your alternate has only limited parking spaces that will fill quickly if the weather
gets much worse and everyone decides to divert. You don’t know if the weather will actually get worse and force
diversions. You may not know the traffic situation at your destination (lots of arrivals at your destination may
mean lots of diversions to the alternate). So you might decide to divert early and not even attempt a landing at
the destination, to avoid the mad scramble (and declaring an emergency to get a priority landing due to low
fuel) to get the limited parking bays if the weather does get worse.
To help you to make a better satisficing decision ensure that you are prepared. Preparation is a big part of your
Command Course and of being the Captain. Knowledge is power. By being prepared you can have some pre-
planned solutions ready to go if you are required to make a decision or you will be able to rapidly fill in
“knowledge gaps” in your current situation. This is one of the main differences between an expert and a novice
(maybe even between a Captain and an F/O).
The dynamic interchange between human, machine, and environment makes the “perfect” decision almost
indefinable. In fact, the chase for an elusive decision that will maximise safety, effectiveness, efficiency, and
save gas at the same time is likely to lead to distraction that can worsen the original problem beyond the scope

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of solving it at all. Many accidents have occurred while aviators were too busy chasing mice to see the
elephants bearing down on them. (Redefining Airmanship – Tony Kern)
You’ve been satisficing your entire aviation career when you’ve been making decisions – you just didn’t know it!

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Self Directed Learning (SDL)
In most Airlines or aviation Companies you, as an individual, are primarily responsible for your own continuing
self-education. You have to refresh your procedural and systems knowledge, cope with amendments, changes
and new policies and procedures, study for regulatory simulator sessions or flights and, as an F/O, you have to
prepare for your Command upgrade.
Nobody else but YOU will ensure that you study and prepare for this most important phase of your aviation
career.
YOU are ultimately responsible for your Command Training – not your Company, not your Training Captain, not
anyone else, but YOU.
For you to be responsible for your Command Training requires that you learn and prepare for the Command
upgrade. This entails self-study, self-education – Self Directed Learning (SDL).
(SDL)
Of necessity you have probably been conducting SDL throughout your entire aviation career from student pilot
to F/O. Now you will have to ramp up the SDL considerably in preparation for the important change in your role
to be the Captain. There are many additional skills, techniques and knowledge that are required as the Captain
that you will not normally formally get taught (e.g. Leadership, decision making, inter-personal skills, team
building, the mental aspects of being in Command) and you will need to re-educate yourself on other common
aviation skills that need to be much more refined and of a higher quality (e.g. CRM, TEM, aircraft handling,
airfield and route knowledge).
I congratulate you for reading this article. By just reading articles on this blog you are conducting SDL, and SDL
is definitely required for a Command upgrade.
Most adults spend a considerable time acquiring information and learning new skills. The rapidity of change,
the continuous creation of new knowledge, and an ever-widening access to information make such
acquisitions necessary. Much of this learning takes place at the learner's initiative,
initiative even if available through
formal settings. A common label given to such activity is self-directed learning. In essence, self-directed
learning is seen as any study form in which individuals have primary responsibility for planning, implementing,

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and even evaluating the effort. Most people, when asked, will proclaim a preference for assuming such
responsibility whenever possible.
In terms of learning, it is the ability or willingness of individuals to take control that determines any potential for
self-
self-direction.
direction This means that learners have choices about the directions they pursue. Along with this goes
responsibility for accepting any consequences of one's thoughts and actions as a learner.
In many respects, future learners will need to become very self-directed throughout their lives just to cope with
the enormity of information available to them.
Hiemstra, R. (1994). Self-directed learning. In T. Husen & T. N. Postlethwaite (Eds.), The International
Encyclopedia of Education (second edition), Oxford: Pergamon Press.
Before you read any further, go back and re-read the quote in the previous paragraphs (no don’t skip ahead –
go back and re-read it!)
Note how you as an individual are the one responsible for you own self-education. In SDL you acknowledge,
accept and take primary responsibility for your own education. Get used to it. It will become an ever present
fact of life as the Captain. You might as well start now and make SDL an integral part of your learning,
education and preparation for your Command Course.
Not everyone has the highly developed internal personality characteristics, motivation and drive to internally
accept responsibility and effectively undertake SDL. Nobody will require, supervise or force you to do it. If you
are one of these people who find it difficult to self-study you will quickly find yourself at a severe disadvantage
compared to those who do. If you are such a person then you really need to examine your internal mental
attitude towards Command. You need to change yourself mentally to embrace SDL so that it becomes part of
your preparation.
Only you as an individual can determine how much SDL you are willing to accomplish. Only you can determine
how much time and effort you will put into your Command SDL.
Ask yourself “How much does this Command/Captaincy thing mean to me?” If it doesn’t mean much, then
spend your time and effort some other way – but don’t be surprised if you fail in the Command upgrade
process. If it means a hell of a lot to you, then that’s probably all the motivation you require and you’ll conduct
some form of planned, effective SDL towards your Command.
Successful people ensure that the hard, necessary things are done before the fun, easy things. SDL is often
one of those hard, necessary things that you will have to discipline yourself to do. Don’t put off your SDL. You
need to conduct some effective, pre-planned, long-term study, education and preparation for your Command
Course.
YOU SDL and preparation are the "Price Of Admission" to your Command Course. So get off
your butt and do some SDL.

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The Leader Of The Band
As the Captain and Leader of your aircraft and crew, you are ultimately responsible for the safety of the aircraft
and all its occupants.
You will have a number of “team” members to assist you in this endeavour. Some will be your direct
subordinates (F/O, F/E, S/O or Cabin Crew) and you will normally have direct authority over these people. Some
of your “team” members will come from outside of your direct sphere of influence (Ground Engineers, Traffic
Staff, Cargo Loaders, Dispatchers, Operational Staff etc.) and of these people you will normally not have any
direct AUTHORITY, but you, as the Captain, do have some direct INFLUENCE over these “team” players.
They may not realise it, but these ancillary and external members are also a vital part of your overall “team”.
They may also not realise that you will be Leading them.
Being the Captain of this diverse group of individuals is a bit like being the Leader of the Band (or the
Conductor of the Orchestra).
You’ve got to guide and direct your individual musicians to play together as a team, while keeping the tempo
and getting them to play in rhythm and harmony to produce sweet sounding music. It only takes one band
member or one musical instrument to be off-key, or not tuned, or out of synch, for the whole musical
experience to be ruined. It’s your job as the Leader of the Band to ensure this discordance doesn’t occur and if
it does to “direct” and guide the offending musician(s) back into musical harmony with the rest of the band or
orchestra.
An Example
This form of being the “Leader of the Band” type of Leadership occurred to one of my Command Trainees
recently. We arrived at the aircraft to find a Ground Engineer in the cockpit trying to sort out some sort of defect
– we didn’t know what, but he looked pretty busy. To complicate matters he was “hogging” the Aircraft
Maintenance Logbook (AML) so my Trainee Captain couldn’t review it and so ascertain what defect(s) he was
trying to fix or to find out in what serviceability state the aircraft was in.

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Simultaneously the Traffic guy came into the cockpit and requested that he start boarding the pax, to which the
Command Trainee said “Yes”.
It was a hot day (33 degrees C) and as we subsequently found out, the APU was inoperative and so we couldn’t
use the Packs on the ground to cool the cabin air. The LP ground air conditioning was not doing a very job of
cooling the cabin and the internal cabin temperature was already at an uncomfortable level. We also
determined at a later stage that the right side Windshield Heat Computer (WHC) was inoperative and this was
the defect that the Ground Engineer was trying to resolve.
Can you see where this is going? Are you using your Command skills to anticipate potential problems and form
solutions to mitigate them?
Both of these two main ancillary team players (Ground Engineer and Traffic Staff) were operating in complete
isolation and only focussing on their own particular problem. To some extent they were ignorant of what extra
complicating factors were involved as they were only concentrating on doing their separate individual jobs.
This is where you, as the Captain, will be required to intervene and start being the Leader of the Band. You
need to get your individual players to start operating as a team to produce great sounding music.
But even before you can do this you need quality, current information to enable you to make quality decisions.
Staying with band analogy – What music are we going to play today? In our real life case – What’s wrong with
the aircraft? What is the Ground Engineer doing?
Once the Command Trainee had all these pieces of the puzzle assembled he was then in a position to start
Leading the Band.
The aircraft cabin is hot. The ground air conditioning is barely coping. We can’t use the APU Bleed to run the
Packs to cool the cabin. The Ground Engineer has no idea how long testing/replacing the WHC will take. He has
requested a spare WHC from the Central Store.
Tell one of your team players, the Traffic guy, “Don’t board the pax yet. The cabin is hot and we can’t cool it.
We’ve got another aircraft defect and we don’t know how long it will take. Keep the pax inside the terminal
where they can be comfortable.” Now, the Traffic guy might not be too happy with this decision as it has
increased his individual workload. He just wants to get the pax on board – that’s his goal. (In our case, because
the pax were boarded for real it didn’t take long for them to start complaining to the Cabin Crew about the cabin
temperature and this increased their workload.)
Try to determine an anticipated time to get the WHC defect rectified from your other team player, the Ground
Engineer. This information directly impacts on the Traffic guy and will determine what he tells the pax in the
terminal about the anticipated delay and when they can expect to board.
Now you’ve got everyone operating as an integrated team, “playing music together”, rather than as a bunch of
separated and isolated individuals. Your pax will be more comfortable, your Cabin Crew will not be under
increased pressure and by your direct intervention on your team members, you now have control of the
situation.
As the Leader of the Band you’ve got to look at the overall picture to achieve your goal of a safe, legal and
efficient flight. That might mean that you’ll be required to make some unpopular and hard decisions for the
good of the whole team. The Traffic guy might not have liked your decision, but in the overall best interests of
your entire team, this is the best option. Get used to making hard, unpopular decisions – it goes with the
territory of being the Captain.
You’ll need to recognise when you have to step in and start being the Leader of the Band. When you do, you’ll

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need to get everyone acting together as a functioning team and not as a group of separate individuals to
achieve your Command goals and aims. Let the music begin!

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The Lumberjacks & The Wrong Forest
A team of lumberjacks hopped in their truck and drove for miles to get to the forest to start their work.
On arrival they got out and began busily cutting down trees in the lush forest. They were good workers and
knew what their job was, which resulted in them efficiently cutting down many trees in a short time.
One of the veteran loggers decided to climb a tree to get a view from the top.
Upon viewing the landscape from this higher level, he immediately realised something was wrong and shouted
down to the others, “Wrong forest! Wrong forest!”
No one stopped cutting, but one lumberjack paused long enough to groan and yell back, “Stop bothering us.
Can’t you see we’re busy?!”
The moral of the story:
Not only must you be able to see the forest through the trees, but also to ensure that you are in the right forest!
You as a Professional Aviator
This is particularly important for us as professional aviators. Take the time to mentally step back and survey the
“Big Picture” to accurately determine what the problem actually is. Correctly clarify the problem – that’s the first
part of the CLEAR Model.
Model
It’s no good completing the shutdown drill for the No. 1 engine flawlessly, if in fact the No. 2 engine is the one
with the problem.
This story also illustrates a couple of other CRM team aspects.

Once you start a course of action that you “think” is correct, it is sometimes hard to alter your point of view and
your original decision, when and if, new or contradictory information is received. The R part of the CLEAR Model
is for REVIEW.
REVIEW This Review is a feedback loop to check that the actions you have taken have indeed correctly
solved your original problem. If not, then you have to recognise that you will have to begin again at CLARIFY and
LOOK for other information and solutions.
One individual may have the solution to your problem, but is reluctant to present it to the group if the group
have already made a consensus decision, so as to either not appear “foolish”, go against the prevailing
thought(s) or to “rock the boat” and upset the harmony of the group (Groupthink) or the Group may reject the
“odd one out” (“all of us can’t all be wrong, so therefore you must be wrong!”)
So when things get hectic and start to become unclear – take a mental step back and review the “Big Picture”.
Remember the Lumberjacks and the wrong forest!

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Lookout
This is just so basic a part of aviation, such a fundamental part of Airmanship, that I’m surprised I even have to
mention LOOKOUT.
LOOKOUT
By the time you get to the Command

upgrade stage of your aviation career, you’ll have been around for a fair number of years as a professional
aviator. Hopefully you haven’t forgotten all those really basic student pilot things that were drummed into you
by your long suffering Instructor – you know – stuff like Airmanship and Lookout.
Both are just as relevant today in your modern, automated, glass cockpit aircraft types as they were in the
Wright Brothers day. Especially so in today's high density RVSM airspace.
Two things guaranteed to kill you instantly in this aviation game are:
Hitting the ground (CFIT), or
Hitting another aircraft (Midair).
While technology has advanced and given us neat things like (E)GPWS and TCAS, and these things undoubtedly
increase safety, they don’t totally replace the Mark 1 Eyeball. Don’t fall into the trap of Automation
Complacency and Dependency.
If the visibility allows look outside and visually locate high terrain and obstacles. You’re going to have to do so
on a visual or circling approach.
I always clear in the direction of the turn when flying (I just can’t help it, it’s such a strong habit from my initial
training), especially on departure and arrival and I always attempt to visually sight other traffic, usually using
the TCAS target on the ND to assist in locating the traffic.
Mr. Airbus and Mr. Boeing and Mr. Whoever Manufactured Your Particular Aircraft Type, went to a great deal of
trouble and expense to put a dirty great window in front of your face – use it and Lookout!
It’s also a great way to regain in a quick and dirty way your basic “survival” component of SA if you’ve lost it.

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Two other aspects of Lookout concern me also with some

of today’s technophobe Airline Pilots.
One. Why do pilots conduct the entire take off rotation manoeuvre on the PFD?
The horizon line on the PFD attitude indicator on the Airbus A330/A340 is 7 centimetres wide (I measured it).
Why would anyone want to complete the rotation by using 7 cms of artificial electronic horizon when you can
look out the window and use the world’s biggest (actually, it is the world!) horizon as a huge natural attitude
indicator? That’s what your puny PFD horizon is really actually displaying and representing. Pitch and roll
attitude is easier to judge, as is pitch rate of rotation. You get extra visual information from your peripheral
vision which assists you to judge vertical speed after the intial liftoff.
I see so many pilots acting as PF that immediately look straight inside at the PFD as soon as I say “Rotate” and
never look out again! And the sad thing is that when I point this out them they are either unaware that this is
where they look or they are adamant that they look outside!
Sure you may eventually have to look inside to select the pitch attitude on some aircraft types, as with the big
twins especially, the body angle can get so high that you visually can’t see the horizon. But, geez, look out for
the
the initial part of the rotation!
Two. Why do pilots fly almost the entire landing approach by looking at the PFD and only look outside just
before the flare (less than 100-200 feet)?
These pilots are fixated on their Nintento/Flight Simulator computer game. Whatever happened to Aimpoint,
Aspect, Airspeed? I suspect that they are “riding the rails” and closely flying the electronic Glideslope to the
exclusion of all the other glidepath cues such as runway aspect, PAPI or VASIS.
These pilots will be next to useless if they ever have to fly a visual or circling approach or the visual segment
after MDA on a Non Precision Approach.

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The flare is primarily a visual manoeuvre and the vertical speed rate of change is mainly perceived by your
peripheral vision and “ground rush”, with the world appearing to “go up around your ears”. You can’t pick that
from looking at the PFD.
Enough ranting from me. This is one of my pet peeves.
Do you Lookout? If not then start disciplining yourself to do so. And when you’re the Captain teach your F/O to
do so as well.
Keep A “Command” Journal
I recommend that you keep a Journal for your Command preparation and during your Command Course.
What Is A Journal?
It is simply a note book, notepad, loose sheaf paper in a ring binder – anything that you can jot notes down
about anything that you determine is important or interesting about your Command preparation or Command
Course
Your thoughts, feelings, emotions, debrief points (both good and bad), questions to ask your Trainer,
observations (especially of other Captains, both good and bad), reflections on how you can improve, your
Command strengths and weaknesses, notes to yourself or to-do lists.
What’s Its Purpose?
It has the potential to become a powerful learning tool if you are disciplined and diligent enough to regularly
complete it and review it
You may be amazed at how much you have improved or learned when you read past entries. You can refresh
yourself about difficult or weak areas of your Command or Leadership skills, so that you work on these weak
areas. You can remind yourself about the good things that you have done – and increasing your self-confidence
and self-esteem is incredibly important when undertaking a Command Course. You may be able to identify
situations that you handle well or not so well and as a result target skills that are good or need improving.
Don’t just use it as a diary or a de facto logbook and just enter dry, boring daily details. Use it to not only enter
the daily details but also to examine why, how and when you do things and reflections on the situations and
environments that you encountered.
Keep a journal as an F/O prior to commencing your Command Course. Note the good and bad skills and traits
that other Captains display so that you can either incorporate the good into your Command style or eliminate
the bad. Discuss with other Command Trainees the aspects of their upgrade Course that they found easy and
that they found difficult (and why, and what they did to improve themselves).
You will get a much better understanding of yourself and of how you will act as the future Commander. You will
get a pretty good idea of the skills, traits, values and beliefs that you will bring into the Command Course and
know what type of Command style you will likely employ.
Keep a journal while actually on Course and note your reactions to events and situations, your thoughts,
feelings and emotions. It is useful to put debrief notes in your journal so that you can reflect on the good and

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bad things that happened to you and what you’ll do about them. Your memory may not be so reliable, especially
if you are doing many sectors in a short period of time. Reviewing your journal regularly can refresh your
memory about subjects or be used as a guide for study.
You are responsible for your learning and using a journal is one way to increase the value of lessons presented
and learnt as an airline Commander – so that you become the best Captain that you can be.
Your Comfort, Learning & Anxiety Zones
You will be challenged, put under stress, be “forced” to study and as a result, learn, throughout your Command
Training.
In this article we’ll look at some different ”Zones” for learning that you can either remain in or shift between as
the situation dictates. To get the most out of your training you should be moving between two of these Zones all
through your training.
The focus of this discussion will be the “learning” environment. You may escalate into the high stress Zone as a
result of “operational” pressures that you have to cope with. If so, you will have to use your Command and
Leadership skills to successfully resolve the situation.
Ideally your Trainer will facilitate this moving between Zones to ensure that you get the absolute maximum
value out of the training he provides you. Unfortunately not all Trainers are created equal and some will be
completely unaware of these different Zones. Hence this article. If you have a bit of an idea of what these
Zones represent and what their purpose and advantages and disadvantages are, then you can try and
manoeuvre yourself in and out of the Zones to increase the training value you gain.
The 3 “Zones”
There are three possible “Zones” that you can be operating in. These are (in increasing order of difficulty and
stress): your COMFORT Zone, your LEARNING Zone or your ANXIETY Zone.
The characteristics of these different Zones are listed in the following table;
COMFORT ZONE LEARNING ZONE
Normal Unknown
Old New
Constant Transitional
Solid foundation Building
Safe Entails risk and mistakes
Low Stress Moderate stress
Security Temporary loss of security
“Constricting” habits Requires change
Conformist Non conformist
“Past” successes “Future” successes
May be below your potential Unused or un-utilised potential
Familiar Transformational
Stagnation and mediocrity New skills
Comfortable Fear
Complacency Challenge

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ANXIETY ZONE
No Learning
High Stress
Renders you “immobile”
Blocked Mind
You can move intentionally between the Zones or be

placed in situations and environments where you are forced to move between the Zones. A good Trainer will
intentionally be moving you back and forth between the Comfort and Learning Zones and avoiding the Anxiety
Zone.
The Zones are fluid and flexible and can expand and contract depending on your mood, emotions, stress, the
learning environment and the current situation. They depend very much on the individual person – one
person’s Zone may be small and inflexible and another’s may be large and pliable.
You can progress from one Zone to another and back again depending on the situation and whether or not you
are prepared to step outside of your Comfort Zone. Your attitude towards learning influences heavily your
movement between the Comfort and Learning Zones.
Are you prepared to take a chance, risk possible failure and ultimately learn?
Anxiety Zone
We’ll get this one out of the way first as it has no place in the learning environment (although you may
experience it in the operational environment).
If you progress into the Anxiety Zone you will not be learning anything much at all. It is a high stress, “freaked
out”, very uncomfortable place for you to be in and you will attempt to do whatever is required to get back into
the Learning Zone, or more likely the Comfort Zone, to escape the anxiety and stress associated with it.
Humans have pretty good defence mechanisms and you will naturally seek to get out of this Zone as soon as
possible.
If you determine that you have ventured into the Anxiety Zone try to move down to one of the other less
stressful Zones so that you can begin to start learning again by removing yourself from the situation or

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environment if possible.
If your Trainer is not aware that you have moved into your Anxiety Zone, then tell him – remember you’re
learning very little in this Zone!
Comfort Zone
This is the easy one, which most people like to wallow and live in. It is a result of the sum of all that you have
learned and experienced previously. It is what you have previously learned and determined that you are
comfortable living with and have settled for.
The space for what you want is being occupied by what you are settling for now.
There are positives and negatives with residing in the Comfort Zone.
The negatives consist of possible stagnation, complacency and mediocrity. You tend to conform to expectations
so that you fit in with the crowd. You are unwilling to take a chance or risk as these things entail possible
failure, loss of self esteem or adverse peer pressure. You are likely to have very strong “constricting” habits as
a result of “past successes” (if it worked before, why bother changing?) You may be operating at a low
potential, as you don’t really know what you are capable of and may not be prepared to find out. You tend to
think well and truly “within the box”.
The positives consist of this Zone being a foundation, a safe and secure “home base” that you are comfortable
with. It is a low stress place and very conducive to taking on board new ideas and thoughts (or in other words
incorporating lessons learned). It is a place that you can return effortlessly to, so that you can “rest”, recover
and recuperate.
Learning Zone
To learn, you need to expand your horizons outside of your Comfort Zone and into the Learning Zone. Deciding
to take the first step can be the hardest part and this depends very much on your own attitude towards
learning, risk and failure.
You’re a professional aviator who is on a steep learning curve towards Command. Don’t become the lowest
common denominator. And don’t become constrained by conservatism.
I do not know anyone who has succeeded who has not been able to assess and take a risk and then live with
the consequence – success or failure. Risk avoidance is a sure way to remain mediocre; being safe does not
promote personal growth. Failure or making a mistake is not a bad thing; it's proof you were exploring new
ways to do something, and that's better than safe success. We learn from our mistakes, not our successes.
(David H. Lyman)
You need to stretch far enough that you achieve worthy goals. If you don’t stretch far enough you will only reach
goals of limited and merely slightly increased value.
However, you must ensure that you don’t stretch so far that you end up in the Anxiety Zone. If you project
yourself into this Zone you’ll end up learning very little (maybe “I’ll never do that again!”) and almost certain
failure will result.
Moving Between The Comfort & Learning Zones
To learn, you need to move (or be “forced” by your Trainer) into the Learning Zone and take in new things, skills,
concepts and ideas and then relax and return to your Comfort Zone. In this safe “home base” of your Comfort
Zone you can contemplate the new stuff and experiences and decide if you will incorporate it/them into your
way of doing your style and business of Command. If you do decide to integrate the new stuff you will have
effectively expanded your flexible Comfort Zone.
Congratulations - you've learnt something! And that is what Command Training is all about.

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Learning is an almost continual process of moving between your Comfort Zone to your Learning Zone and back
again. You need to strike a balance between moving into your Learning and Comfort Zones for effective
learning to take place. Being in the Learning Zone can be stressful and you will need to relax back into the
Comfort Zone to rest and recover regularly (a bit like physical exercise).
Hopefully your Trainer will facilitate this, but if not you’ll have to do it yourself. If you don’t do it, chances are
that no one else will. YOU need to take responsibility for your Self Directed Learning.
Moving into the Learning Zone entails taking risk and the chance of failure. Like everything you do with
Command, it needs to be a “balanced” risk, or more correctly a “controlled” risk. What you get out of it if you
succeed has to be worth more than what you are prepared to lose if you fail.
This is where a really good Trainer earns his money. He can pose scenarios, get you to accomplish new or
different flying or Command skills or train you to think differently – all in a controlled manner to maximise your
chances of success, and to definitely ensure that you learn something from the exercise.
Preparation plays a big part in this move into the Learning Zone. The more prepared you are the greater the
chance of success. Never under-estimate the power of P7.
Some Final Thoughts
How you choose to function in the learning environment of Command Training is entirely up to you and you
alone. A lot of it has to do with the skill of your Trainer, but most of it has to do with your personal attitude
towards your Command Training. You will continually be stretched outside of your Comfort Zone – get used to it;
grasp the learning experience with both hands and hang on tight!
If you want to feel secure
Do what you already know how to do.
But if you want to grow...
Go to the cutting edge of your competence,
which means a temporary loss of security.
So, whenever you don't quite know
What you are doing
Know that you are growing... (David Viscott)
To laugh is to risk appearing a fool.

To weep is to risk appearing sentimental.
To reach out for another is to risk involvement.
To expose feelings is to risk exposing your true self.
To place your ideas, your dreams, before the crowd is to risk their loss.
To love is to risk not being loved in return.
To live is to risk dying.
To hope is to risk despair.
To try is to risk failure.
But risks must be taken because the greatest hazard in life is to risk nothing.
The person who risks nothing...does nothing...has nothing...is nothing.
You may avoid suffering and sorrow, but you simply cannot learn, feel, change, grow, love...live.
Chained by your certitudes, you are a slave; you have forfeited freedom.
Only a person who risks is free. (Ralph Waldo Emerson)

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Don’t Waste Your Apprenticeship
If you’re reading this you most likely fall in one of two camps – (A) you’re either just about to start or have just
begun a Command Course or (B) you’re a current F/O learning your craft and preparing for your turn at some
later date. If you’re in Camp A, there’s not too much point in reading any further (just spend your time more
productively and learn an aircraft system or a new Command skill). If, however, you are a Camp B type, then pay
attention.
Your Company might give you the rank of F/O, but in reality you are an Apprentice Captain.
Captain
DO NOT waste your apprenticeship.
You should be preparing for your Command Course and learning and refining your individual Command skills. If
you’ve got any sense you will have started to do this soon after you became an F/O. If not then start right now.
An easy way to do this is to learn from your current Captains on your current flights. Take control of your own
Self Directed Learning – if YOU don’t do it, it’s unlikely anybody else will.
If you fly with 10 different Captains in a month and invest 15 minutes asking them questions and getting them
to teach you something, then you’ve invested 150 minutes of valuable, hard to get, practical, experiential
learning. And this is usually stuff that you will never find written in a book. If you learn just one new item,
technique, method or piece of knowledge from each of them, then you are 10 items richer in your knowledge
"bank" than a month before.
Imagine how much you could learn if you did this on every sector you fly for a year; two years; three years.
It’s like compound interest and you will reap the dividends when you actually commence your Command
Course. You will be more knowledgeable, more confident, more decisive and a better Captain.
Don’t fall into the trap of just turning up for work and just only doing your job – and no more. Don’t waste your
apprenticeship.
Now some Captains might be complete tossers and tell you point blank that they’re not Training Captains, so
don’t bother them with this learning stuff! Well, you can learn something from these negative Captains
(probably how NOT to be a good Captain!)
Your learning doesn’t have to be active,

active that is the Captain “formally” teaching you, discussing techniques or
transferring knowledge. It can also be passive (learning by osmosis) by observing what your Captains do, how
they handle people or deal with abnormalities or emergencies. You can then incorporate the good and reject
the bad into your own individual Command “toolbox”. Watch, observe and learn from your current Captains.
Keeping a “Command Journal” can be handy and helpful for you to note how various Captains express their
Command “Style”. You might notice common themes or methods that the majority of Captains use to cope with
the various situations that are presented to them. List new items, techniques or knowledge so that you can
discuss new, novel or contentious issues with other, different Captains.
Don’t waste your apprenticeship – learn from your current Captains.

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YOU Run The Show YOUR Way
When you are undergoing Command training you are actually role-playing as the “Captain” and your Training
Captain is role-playing as the “F/O”. Make sure you always remember this allocation of “duties”.
Too often Command Trainees in the LHS sit there thinking “What does he want me to do?”, or “What does he
mean by that question? Does he want me to do it differently (i.e. HIS way)?” What usually happens then is that
you alter the way you accomplish or intended to accomplish your Command from YOUR way to HIS way.
You should run the show YOUR way.
Act as the Captain and make decisions and treat your Training Captain as you would a real F/O, using
appropriate CRM, Leadership and Command skills. Don’t waste time trying to second guess “What does he
really want me to do?” It uses up valuable brain power that is then not available for you to utilise to make
decisions, exercise sound judgement, estimate risks, and do all those other Command and Leadership Skills.
Your Training Captain may inject a training element into any scenario or decision that you find yourself in or
make. He may have a better way of doing it, or he may say “Consider doing it this way…” You then get to choose
whether to incorporate the technique or method into your own personal Command and Leadership “box of
tools” and techniques.
Of course if you are doing it completely wrong (as laid down by SOPs or NPs) then you really do need to change
your way of operating to accurately comply with the SOPs or NPs. But many times HIS way is his personal
preference – it doesn’t mean that your way is incorrect, just that he prefers to do it in a particular way that is
familiar and comfortable for him. There are usually several right ways to do something, some more correct than
others.
I dislike it when a Command Trainee tries to defer to me and to use my experience and expertise to solve his
problem because that is easier for him. The Command Trainee is now regressing back to his F/O role and
seeking input/opinion or a decision from the Training Captain which is not what Command Training is all about.
Far better for the guy in the LHS to act as the Commander and Leader and solve or attempt to solve the
problem/issue. The Training Captain can then either let the situation run in real time or can intervene with
suggestions or methods to handle the issue more optimally. Either way you, in the LHS, learn more. After all
that’s why the Training Captain is sitting there.
When you sit in the LHS during Command Training you are expected to act as the Captain. So be the Captain
and run the show YOUR way.

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Take A Mental Step Back
As the Captain you have a problem solving, decision making and managing role that needs to much more highly
refined and developed than when you were an F/O.
You have to apply good judgement taking into account all the things happening around you (Situational
Awareness; or, the “Big Picture”). Only by noticing and recognising all these myriad Big Picture details that are
continually occurring about you will you have an up to date, accurate and correct view of your situation. And you
need accurate, correct and up to date information to enable you (and your team) to assess current and future
situations and make high quality, accurate and correct plans and decisions and then to manage your resources
and people to achieve your desired outcome.
As professional aviators we can tend to be very focussed and goal oriented and sometimes when presented
with a problem we can also develop “tunnel vision” and focus almost solely on solving that problem.
This is NOT good!
If the flight is going smoothly and as you desire and planned, then you can be in a “maintenance” state of mind.
You are just mentally monitoring the flight and its’ progress.
But, if you get some unforecast poor weather, an unusual MEL item, an ECAM/EICAS caution, a PAX or crew
personnel problem; in fact any time you get something unusual or out of the ordinary; you’ll need to snap out of
your “maintenance” mode to your “I’m the Captain and I have to run the show” state of mind pretty quickly.
Don’t get sucked into the problem solving, task oriented mind set immediately. Remember that there is always
lots of stuff going on around you in your Big Picture – sometimes more important and urgent than your latest
problem.
Take A Mental Step Back
ANY time ANYthing unusual happens try to make yourself Stop & Think.
When you Stop & Think, also take “A Mental Step Back” and look at the “Big Picture”.
Ask yourself mentally – what’s changed, what has just happened, how does this affect me, the current flight,
the next flight, today’s duty or tomorrow’s, what systems have been lost/affected and how does this affect my
flight, where is the terrain, other aircraft, weather, where are we headed (and is it suitable in these changed
circumstances), is the configuration suitable, do I have fuel/time to sort this out, do I need to divert, hold, go
around, delay the take off, return to the bay (where, how far, fuel required, ATC etc.), does my team know what
is going on, who’s flying and are we still Aviating, Navigating, Communicating, Managing, who should be PF/PM,
is someone “Heads Up”.
You know - all that Big Picture SA stuff.
By taking a mental step back you can possibly utilise some of your “massive” mental brain power, gather in all
the changing things that are occurring about you and fulfil your Captain and Leader, problem solver, decision
maker and manager roles more effectively.
You need to expand your area of attention to encompass a strategic, broad, global, long term, wide angle Field
Of View (FOV). Don’t go immediately into your problem solving, task oriented mind set otherwise your attention
will have contracted your area of attention to a tactical, narrow, focussed, short term, telephoto zoom FOV.

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If you haven’t read the Photographic Situational Awareness (SA) article then get on over there and check it out.
It goes more into to changing your FOV from wide angle to telephoto zoom.
You will often find that by taking a mental step back you suddenly see relevant and pertinent things that you
might have easily missed if you remained locked onto the problem. Don’t forget that you are now required to
run the entire show now, which may include aircraft utilisation (present and future), aircraft serviceability (can it
be fixed at your destination or can it be deferred?), Flight Time Limitations, cockpit and cabin crew (and their
possible rostering).
If it seems like you have to do everything – well sometimes that’s the way it is! If you want an easy day out then
remain as an F/O.
Taking a mental step back is a valuable Command skill. It requires continual practise. So start to incorporate
this new skill into your Command toolbox now.
So whenever anything unusual happens to you spend a few valuable seconds/minutes to Take A Mental Step
Back,
Back view the Big Picture and update your SA. You’ll find that your judgement, problem solving, decision
making and managing will be of a higher and more correct quality. And that’s what we want from Captains.
Command Rules (Part 1)
These are the essential “Rules” to successfully complete any Command Course, anywhere, in any airline. Click
on the picture for a larger view.
They’re pretty self explanatory, but I’ve

included some brief expanded information for each Rule.
Rule 1 – Be Confident
Confidence is an essential quality for any Course. If you’re confident you act with authority and project an image
of competence. People are far more likely to follow you (i.e. you’re the Leader) if you are confident. Don’t just
THINK you are confident, prepare, learn, study, absorb knowledge, until you KNOW you are confident.

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Preparation and exposure are confidence multipliers.
Rule 2 – Fly The Aircraft
This goes without saying. And don’t just fly the aircraft – fly it to a high standard. Usually you won’t get
anywhere near to a Command Course unless you can prove that you can fly the jet well. This is a prerequisite
for any Command and is not usually touched on much during Command upgrades as it assumed that you can
already do it well.
Rule 3 – Be The Captain
From your first flight as a Trainee Captain, assume the role and mantle of the Commander and Leader. If you
look at your reflection while sitting in the Left Seat and see a First Officer staring back at you, you’re not ready
for Command. During Command training you role play as the Captain and your Training Captain role plays the
F/O. At all times act, behave and BE the Captain.
Rule 4 – Have The Correct Attitude
Your attitude dictates how you will perceive, react and act during your Command Course. A positive attitude is
definitely required and a negative attitude is a recipe for disaster. Enter the Command upgrade with a positive
attitude and keep it for the entire Course. Like the Attitude on your PFD/ADI always keep your personal attitude
“the blue side up”.
Command Rules (Part 2)
Command “Rules” Part 1 is here.
This is Part 2 and is definitely the lighter side of Command Rules. They speak for themselves. Click on the
picture for a larger version.
Excuse the “French” but it loses its’ impact when you water the language down.

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Basic Communication Model

To be an effective Captain you need to be able to communicate effectively. You have to be able to transfer your
thoughts, ideas, plans, decisions and requirements to the other members of your team. You will also have to
absorb and understand thoughts, ideas, plans, decisions and requirements from other people. Communication
is a two way thing.
To help understand how to effectively communicate we’ll look at a basic model of the communication process.
Message Preparation takes place. This message contains the idea, knowledge, goal, decision, information,
intention or opinion. If the message sender is unable to formulate a sensible, coherent and understandable
message the remainder of the communication process is useless (GIGO – Garbage In, Garbage Out).
A Transmitter sends the message. This transmitter may be you or another person, a document or publication,
an ATC radio message, electronic (ACARS or FMS via a keyboard or MCP/FCU) or a visual marshalling signal.
The transmitter Encodes the message and then sends it. The encoding may take the form of the English
language (verbal), it might be an accepted visual signal, PFD word or symbol, correct radio phraseology or
written words, usually in a very specific technical aviation jargon in our particular Command case.
The Message Transmission occurs via some sort of Medium. This may be via sound if you are talking face to
face with someone, electrical and sound if receiving a radio call via a headset or speaker, purely electrical if
using the FMS or visual if looking at a PFD, person or book.
A Receiver intercepts the message. This receiver, like the transmitter, can be another person (the usual case)
or may be electronic (e.g. ACARS, a computer or the FMS).
The receiver then Decodes the message. The decoding is the opposite of encoding. Effective decoding relies on
the transmitter and receiver using the same encode/decode methodology, language and conventions.
After decoding the receiver carries out Message Interpretation. This is NOT the same as understanding the
Transmitter’s intended message; Interpretation is the individual receiver’s perception of the received message
(which may or may not be correct).
Effective communication only takes place if after decoding and interpreting, the receiver actually Understands

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the transmitter’s message. Ineffective communication can take place from the transmitter’s message
preparation, through any other part of the Basic Communication Model to the receiver’s message
interpretation.
(Click on the images for a larger view).
This is the very basic Communication Model that all forms of communication follow. But, as we have seen
communication is a dialogue, a two way process.
Both the transmitter and the receiver are actually combined Transmitter/Receivers and messages are being
sent simultaneously in both directions providing Feedback to both the primary transmitter and the primary
receiver. This feedback is very important as it one way for the transmitter to ensure that the message has been
received, decoded correctly, interpreted correctly and so understood effectively. The intention of the message
has been properly conveyed from the transmitter to the receiver.
If you cannot get your message understood effectively you have failed at the communication process. That
failure can occur at any stage from the message preparation, transmit, encode, message transmission via the
medium, reception, decode and message understanding. The feedback mechanism provides one method for
the transmitter to ensure that the message is received and correctly understood.
The communication process is further complicated by Noise. Noise is anything that distorts the message. It can
distort or interfere with the transfer of information at any stage from Message Preparation to Message
Interpretation and during Feedback. Noise is usually thought of when considering sound, but for the purposes
of our discussion it is the interference with any of the different Mediums of communication. For instance, you
may not be able to adequately read the PFD or a document if it is bathed in bright sunlight or the display or
words are printed incorrectly or illegibly.
By understanding the Basic Communication Model you will be more aware of where the act of communication
can potentially breakdown or be degraded. Communication is an essential skill that you require as the Captain.
So practice being the best communicator you can be.

Good Captains and good Leaders are good communicators.
Command “Experience”
Wouldn’t it be great if you could just transfer all your First Officer experience straight into the Left Seat and then
you wouldn’t need any Command Training?
Nice thought, but it doesn’t happen that way!

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Command requires a different skill set from those that you are currently employing as a First Officer. Some
skills are directly transferable (e.g. flying the aircraft) and others will have to be learnt or refined to suit the new
requirements of Command (e.g. Leadership).
So how can you build up your Command “Experience” while you are serving your apprenticeship in the Right
Seat?
It’s pretty easy(?). You’ve got to learn to teach yourself or, in other words, conduct Self Directed Learning. You
can gain a lot of experience through learning from others, and more specifically the Captains you are currently
flying with. If you are really lucky you can get yourself a mentor to guide you as you learn the ropes.
It has been said that "experience is the best teacher". Sometimes, the price of experience is too dear. It is
seldom sufficient and it always takes too long to accumulate. Experience can be gained much faster and more
efficiently if it is gleaned deliberately through training. Experience is a very valuable and important asset that
can form a vital component of a thorough knowledge base. Whether acquired personally or vicariously from
others, it can be a powerful weapon in the arsenal of wisdom. (Richard S. Jensen - Pilot Judgement and Crew
Resource Management)
To add to that quote:
Learn from the mistakes of others - you won't live long enough to make them all yourself.
Experience is something you get just after you actually need it.
Start building your Command “Experience” early in your career as an F/O. Then when you come to do your
Command Course for real it will seem “easy”.

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Situational Awareness (SA) Part 1
SA is a pilot’s (or aircrew’s) continuous perception of self and aircraft in relation to the dynamic environment of
flight, threats, and mission, and the ability to forecast, then execute tasks based on that perception.
It is problem solving in a three-dimensional spatial relationship complicated by the fourth dimension of time
compression, where there are too few givens and too many variables. It encompasses the individual’s
experience and capabilities, which affect the ability to forecast, decide and then execute. SA represents the
cumulative effects of everything an individual is and does as applied to mission accomplishment. (Carol, L. A.
1992)
Command SA
Situational Awareness (SA) is vital in our aviation domain as the information flow can be very high, variable in
quantity and quality and the effects of poor decisions can result in safety being compromised and serious
consequences. If you can accurately perceive the environment you are operating in, your level of risk will be
low.
It requires a high degree of spatial (where you are in the three dimensions) and temporal (how much, or little,
time is available) awareness and knowledge.
You no doubt have been using and applying SA throughout your aviation career. Now that you are taking on a
Command role, SA assumes a far more important role. Good SA is what will ensure that you and your team
conduct a safe and efficient flight.
SA is intimately interwoven with Leadership, Monitoring, Workload Management, Communication, Risk

Management and ultimately affects Judgement & Decision making. Each segment influences the others and
directly affects the operation as a whole.
Situational Awareness is when perception matches reality and you are able to act upon it in a timely and
rational manner. (Refining Airmanship).
Good SA allows you to maximise opportunities and to avoid undesirable situations.
It’s Not Just About You
In your new Command role, you not only have to manage yourself, but now you will be required to Lead and
manage your team and more specifically your Crew.
You will have to include and monitor what the rest of your team is doing. This includes being situationally aware
of what your F/O is doing, his workload, capabilities and skill, in addition to his strengths and weaknesses. This
crew and team awareness applies also to your Cabin Crew, ground and operational staff you may come into
contact with and your interaction with ATC.
At times you will have to intentionally slow the tempo of operations so that the other team members can keep
pace with the situation and not overload them.
Good individual SA is achieved by having an accurate mental model.
Good shared crew SA is achieved by having an accurate shared mental model.
3 Levels of SA (NUTA)
SA is “the perception of elements in the environment within a volume of time and space, the comprehension of
their meaning, and the projection of their status in the near future.” (Endsley 1988)
From this SA definition, three Levels of SA can be inferred;

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Level 1 SA. Perception – you Notice.

Level 2 SA. Comprehension – you Understand.
Level 3 SA. Projection – you Think Ahead.
These three SA Levels can be distilled into NUTA (Notice, Understand, Think Ahead).
Level 1 – Perception (Notice)
In this first Level of SA you are required to Perceive or Notice and then recognise a relevant cue, status or
attribute (e.g. a caution light or flight parameter). This is enhanced by being aware of the various procedures,
policy, technical and operational factors affecting the operation.
Well developed Monitoring skills and an effective scanning technique are required at this Notice stage. This
occurs in the Present time – it is what you need to do right now.
Low experienced and overloaded crew members often only operate in this SA Level. They have either not learnt
the required skills and techniques or are so overwhelmed or task saturated that they cannot progress to the
higher SA Levels.
This initial starting point of SA is commonly where the most numerous number of missed threats, mistakes and
errors occurs. Generally if you notice something you will respond correctly to it. Ignorance is NOT bliss. You need
to be actively and continually scanning all aspects of the current operation.
Working at Level 1 SA means you are probably behind the aircraft.
Level 2 – Comprehension (Understand)
The next step in SA formation is where the various separate disjointed pieces of Level 1 SA information that you
notice are linked together so that patterns are recognised to form a Comprehension and Understanding of what
is happening. It requires a holistic view of events – nothing ever operates in isolation.
In this Understanding stage you will need to interpret and Evaluate what is happening around you. This stage
occurs also in the Present time.
A large number of crew will often stop at this Level of SA due to high workload, poor CRM or a lack of
communication skills.
If you just operate in this area of Level 2 SA you are being reactive.
reactive
To be able to operate at this SA Level requires that you have the necessary airmanship, technical and
operational knowledge to understand the inter-relationship and implications of such factors.
Functioning at Level 2 SA means you are probably just keeping up with the aircraft.
Level 3 – Projection (Think Ahead)
In this highest Level of SA you should Project the elements and dynamics of Level 1 & 2 SA information into the
Future – Think Ahead of the aircraft.
You need to Anticipate and Consider events likely to affect the operation and convey your assessment and
thoughts to your crew and team.
Once you reach Level 3 SA you are being proactive.

proactive
Never let an airplane take you somewhere you brain didn't get to five minutes earlier.
Usually in this Level of SA you will have anticipated or considered multiple paths to achieve your goal, so that if
one option becomes unavailable you change flexibly to another suitable option. This contingency planning is a
highlight of good Captains and good crews which starts at the pre-flight phase and continues throughout the
entire flight.

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Operating at Level 3 SA should be your goal and results in you being ahead of the aircraft.
Shared or Crew SA
These three levels of SA occur at an individual level, but you really want a shared team or crew SA. An SA aware
Captain and an SA aware F/O don’t necessarily add up to an SA aware crew. Your crew needs to have an
accurate shared mental model of what is occurring.
This aspect of sharing information within the crew requires good communication skills. You need to ask
yourself:
What do they know that I need to know?
What do I know that they need to know?
What do none of us know that we need to know?
The SA of your team as a whole depends on both;
A high level of individual SA for the aspects of the situation necessary for their own tasks, and
A high level of shared crew SA between members of your team that are common to the needs of the team.
An SA aware crew has a much greater chance of not losing their individual or crew SA in the first place, or if it is
lost, rapidly recognising that loss and then swiftly recovering their SA. That’s good teamwork and something
that you need to promote as the Leader and Captain.
An Example Of Shared Crew SA
You are the Captain (PM/PNF) coming around the base leg under ATC vectors for an ILS approach with ATC
speed control.

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This simple example can be applied to any situation that you find yourself in. Good communication skills and
effective CRM is crucial to optimising not only your own SA but also your crew’s.
Good SA is one of the hallmarks of good Captains. Work on improving your Command SA and use the three
Levels of SA to provide a framework for your development.
SA Part 2 is here.

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Situational Awareness (SA) Part 2
In SA Part 1 we looked at what SA is and the three Levels of SA. Now we’ll look at degraded SA, how to
recognise it and prevent poor SA and what constitutes good SA. So read on...
Degraded SA
It is important that you are able to recognise when you or your team are losing or have lost SA. This SA
degradation highlights three points;
It can be eroded or degraded gradually (poor SA) or all at once (lost SA),
Seriously degrades the ability to achieve efficiency and flight safety (it is often a prime factor in aircraft
accidents).
There are nearly always sufficient cues for individual crew members to recognise and recover from lost SA.
(from Redefining Airmanship)
Don’t paint yourself into a corner and then have to do everything exactly right to recover. Maintain a healthy
level of scepticism and be slightly conservative to maintain the flexibility of multiple options.
Recognising Poor Or Lost SA
“Red Flags” or indicators that indicate possible degrading, poor or lost SA in yourself or within your team are;
Ambiguity or confusion (unresolved discrepancies and what you expect to happen doesn’t).
Loss of spatial (where you are in three dimensions) and temporal (time) awareness.
“Gut” feeling (if something doesn’t look or “feel” right, then it probably isn’t).
Both pilots “heads down” (remember Aviate is the first priority).
Fixation, “tunnel vision” or a narrowing of attention (this may be caused by an unusual, novel or stressful
situation).
Running out of time to execute or complete tasks.
Expectation, assumption and bias – reality doesn’t always happen as you think it should.
Distractions – a major loss of SA cause.
Malfunctions (especially ECAM/EICAS) or novel, abnormal or unusual occurrences.
Overload (busy) or underload (bored).
Fatigue or stress.
Over reliance on automation (Automation Dependency, Automation Complacency and Automation Bias).
Poor communication (vague or incomplete statements) or reduced frequency of communication (hesitancy or
withdrawal from the situation).
Failure to meet targets (e.g. altitude constraints, stabilised approach criteria).
Getting behind the aircraft (no Level 3 SA or thinking ahead of the aircraft).
Use of an undocumented procedure, non NP or violation of a minimum (usually unintentionally, which creates
confusion in your team).
Attempting to operate the aircraft outside of know limitations (e.g. lowering flaps above their limit speed).
Recovering SA
You must recognise that you have lost SA before you can begin to recover it. You also need to admit and accept
that your SA may have been lost or degraded – only then can you go about recovering it. Do this by;
Getting away from dirt, rocks, trees and metal – avoid terrain, traffic and weather.
Stabilising the aircraft – minimise changes until you regain your spatial awareness.
Buying time – slow the tempo, hold, reduce speed, request extra track miles.
Seeking information – listen and update your team’s shared mental model.
Learning from experience – if you have experienced a similar situation before, you are more likely to recognise
and resolve that situation before poor SA develops.
Also check out SA Enhancement - Quick & Dirty.

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Prevention
Two of the main enemies of good SA are distractions and a high workload.
workload
Both have the effect of reducing the monitoring and scanning of the operation. You need to minimise
distractions and control the tempo and pace of operations such that your team’s workload is kept to an
appropriate and manageable level.
To develop an understanding of effective SA you need to know about the following factors that enable you to
prevent a loss of SA;
Manage distractions.
Reduce workload
workload and avoid overload.
Prioritise.
Define roles, follow NPs and delegate duties.
Preparation and planning (you don’t get caught out).
Avoid complacency.
Test assumptions, confirm expectations and suspend bias.
Intervene.
Actively monitor.
Actively direct attention and scan.
Use all available sources to obtain information. You also need to communicate and share your mental model.
Ensure you don’t end up with too much information and not enough SA.
Be aware of your own and your crew’s limitations.
Good SA
Good Crew SA
Four major actions that are important for enhancing team or crew SA;
Identifying problems or potential problems (Threats).
Demonstrating knowledge of the actions of others.
Keeping up with flight details, and
Verbalizing actions and intentions. (Prince and Salas 1998)
If you and your team can do these things you will be able to solve problems quicker and be able to recognise
problem areas developing sooner.
Good SA Elements
Good SA requires you to engender and promote the following elements within your team:
Building a composite image of the entire situation in three dimensions (the Big Picture).
Assimilation of information from multiple sources (communication and prioritising is critical).
Knowing spatial position and geometric relationships (where am I, where is the other traffic, where is my
nearest suitable airfield?).
Periodically updating the current dynamic situation (update your shared mental model).
Prioritizing information and actions (do the important stuff first and defer the others).
Making quality and timely decisions (a major quality required for Command).
Projecting the current situation into the future (be proactive, not reactive).
See also
“Managing Situation Awareness On The Flight Deck or The Next Best Thing To A Crystal Ball”
"Situational Awareness, Key Component of Safe Flight for a good pilot’s view of SA".
Both are excellent SA articles, I highly recommend them, and are written from your point of view - as a pilot.

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What Is Monitoring?
The people who read this blog (i.e. you, the intended audience) and the guys I fly with in my day-to-day
operation as an airline pilot, I suspect, have a really loose and slippery grip on what actually constitutes
MONITORING (a previous monitoring article is here).
I’ve asked the First Officers that I’ve been flying with recently the following questions;
What is monitoring (your definition)?
Who taught you to monitor?
And most important of all;
How do you monitor?
Self-Awareness
Before we go any further, I want you to close your eyes and answer those three important questions in your own
words. Even better get a pen and paper and write down your answers.
Don’t skip this section – formulating your own answers is very important to be self-aware of how you
accomplish this essential, fundamental piloting skill. If you don’t know what you’re doing wrong, how can you
possibly improve that skill of monitoring?
Monitoring is poorly understood by pilots (in my opinion) and most pilots have great difficulty in explaining how
they actually monitor. Monitoring, like decision making, for most pilots “just happens”.
A common reply to the question “How do you monitor?”, is the Nike answer, “I don’t know, I just do it”.
What Is Monitoring?
Perhaps the best place to start this monitoring discussion is the answer to the question “What Is Monitoring?”
(you can compare your answer with mine). Be aware that like Airmanship, 100 different pilots will likely have
100 different answers.
Monitoring is;
The skill where you notice changes in:

flight parameters
your team, or
the operational situation
ANCM or P4
Let’s look at each of these three sub-categories and briefly examine them so that you can cement what
monitoring is all about.
To do that we’ll be going back to basics and using Aviate, Navigate, Communicate, Manage as a framework to
study these monitoring aspects. Aviate, Navigate, Communicate, Manage (hereafter abbreviated to ANCM) can
also be expressed as Plane, Path, People, Parts (abbreviated to P4).

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Flight Parameters
This is the area that most pilots will immediately and exclusively focus on. They are very important aspects, but
as we'll see there are also some other not so obvious aspects that we need to devote to monitoring.
Areas of your aircraft operation that you have to deal with in this area of Flight Parameters are;
Trajectory Management,
Configuration Management, and
Energy Management (which is a subset of Trajectory and Configuration Management.
Aviate
Flight Parameters are the “raw data” of flying, things like Speed (IAS, TAS, Mach No., Groundspeed), Altitude,
V/S, Attitude, Power, Heading, Track, FPA and Sideslip.
They are also where the flaps, slats, landing gear, speedbrakes and other things you can dangle in the breeze
are actually positioned.
These are the Aviate (Plane) components that you have to monitor.
Navigate
In conjunction with these Aviate components you have to point the aircraft in the right direction (both vertically
and horizontally).
Where am I? Where am I going? What am I pointed at? How am I going to get there?
Heading, Track, the TO waypoint, the FMS Flight Plan, NAV or HDG, drift, head or tailwind, “raw data” from DME,
VOR, ADF, LOC, G/S or INS, GPS or FM positional information.
These are the Navigate (Path) components that you have to monitor.
Team (Crew)
An often over-looked area of monitoring is the monitoring of your team members. As the Captain the monitoring
of your team (crew) is an important Leadership and management requirement.
Communicate
Your team consists not only of your immediate team (yourself and your other crew members – including the
cabin crew), but also your “extended team” (passengers, ATC, Operations, Engineering, Traffic, Cargo, Security
etc.). As the Captain you have to monitor all these different team players.

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What am I doing? What are they doing? Are they coping? Is the workload OK? Can I delegate? Can I help them?
Are they (in)experienced? Can I trust them? Can they trust me? What is my (their) mental model? Am I
communicating my intent?
Much of this monitoring aspect of your team is just basic CRM (but it’s a bit of a bummer if you’ve got poor
CRM!) Good Leadership skills are required to monitor adequately your team members.
These are the Communicate (People) components that you have to monitor.
Operational Situation
The actual task sometimes also gets over-looked – for us in the airline industry this is usually a commercial
task (i.e. get the punters from A to B safely, legally, efficiently and commercially, so that our company makes
money and the customers are satisfied).
Manage
You need to monitor things like the aircraft systems, fuel, flight time limitations, airport/route requirements
(e.g. curfews, RVSM, RNP), ATC restrictions/requirements, NOTAMs, MEL/aircraft serviceability, weather, traffic,
terrain, suitable Enroute alternate/diversion airfields, commercial considerations (e.g. schedule keeping, early
or late, passenger handling).
These are the Manage (Parts) components that you have to monitor.
Summary (So Far...)
So, you have to monitor the flight parameters (aviate, navigate), your team (communicate) and the operational
situation (manage).
Stay tuned for Why Bother With Monitoring and arguably the most important aspect; HOW to monitor.

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Why Bother With Monitoring?

Why should we even bother with monitoring?
What’s the big deal?
I monitor...I monitor OK...I think(?)...I hope(?)...Jeez – I dunno!
In this article we'll examine why YOU should devote a lot of time to refine, develop and improve your monitoring
skills; why monitoring is so important - both as a pilot and as a Captain.
Monitoring Is A PRIMARY TASK
There’s no getting around it – monitoring is a PRIMARY TASK for every pilot...for ALL crew.
Monitoring is “Piloting 101”.
Monitoring is a basic, essential, fundamental aviation skill.
You cannot fly without monitoring (well...you can, but only for a short time before you fall out of the sky).

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Monitoring provides feedback on the flight parameters; it tells us how the trajectory, configuration and energy
management of the aircraft is going (how fast, how high, what heading, what attitude, what power etc.).
Monitoring provides feedback on how your team/crew is going; whether they are functioning correctly or not.
Monitoring provides feedback on your operational situation; how much fuel do you have and is it enough,
what’s the weather like, how are the aircraft systems doing, how’s the schedule going.
Let’s reiterate what monitoring provides – FEEDBACK (and through that feedback information, facts, data,
numbers and parameters).
Remember Rule 1 of aviation? ALWAYS, ALWAYS fly the aircraft!! To fly the aircraft requires monitoring.
Monitoring Is Where It ALL Starts
When you monitor you gather information, data and parameters through your eyes, ears, fingers/bum, nose

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and tongue (your senses). You then mentally process that “raw data” so that you RECOGNISE or notice that
information. You then understand what that information means and you then REACT (hopefully thinking ahead
to be proactive).
Does this seem familiar? Notice, Understand, Think Ahead (NUTA). It’s the three levels of SA.
Monitoring is where your SA starts. And SA drives decision making.
Monitoring provides data for you to formulate TEM and CRM strategies, communicate with your team and crew,
manage your workload, provide Leadership, utilise airmanship, drive the commercial task etc.
So you can see that if you monitor poorly, you will fly poorly and you will Command poorly.
This is NOT your goal. Your goal is to aviate and Command to high standard. Therefore you will need to practise
and discipline yourself to develop highly refined and efficient monitoring.
Monitoring Is An ACTIVE SKILL
Monitoring doesn’t just happen.
Monitoring is an ACTIVE SKILL that you have to diligently and consciously apply. It’s not easy and you’ve got to
be constantly working at it.

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Perhaps the best analogy for the ACTIVE SKILL of monitoring is learning to instrument fly for the first time.
When your instructor took away that big, real horizon by putting you “under the hood” or “under the bag” you
had to essentially learn how to fly again. It didn’t come easily (if it did you’re a freak!) and you had to practise,
practise, practise to develop the skill and expertise of instrument flying.
Monitoring is the same. It requires conscious, dedicated, practise to develop the skill and expertise of
monitoring.
The more you practise, the better you will get. The better your monitoring the better your piloting and the better
your Command.
Summary
Monitoring is a PRIMARY TASK for all crew.
Monitoring is an ACTIVE SKILL.
Monitoring is where it ALL starts.
That’s why we bother with monitoring and why monitoring is such a big deal.
Other Monitoring articles can be found here:
What Is Monitoring?
How To Monitor.
Monitoring – It May Save Your Life
Workload Vs Monitoring

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Aviate, Navigate, Communicate & Manage
ANC – Aviate, Navigate, Communicate
Like the concept of Airmanship, at a very early stage of your aviation training you were probably taught to
Aviate, Navigate, Communicate.
Communicate Another way to consider these three aspects is Plane, Path, People.
People
The Aviate part was to make certain that someone was always flying the aircraft, controlling the Power +
Attitude to ensure the Performance was correct. Control the Plane.
The Navigate part was to point the aircraft in the correct way to enable you to get successfully from A to B (both
vertically and horizontally). Control the Path.
The Communicate part was to share your Mental Model with your crew and ATC to give and receive information.
Control the People.
Pretty routine so far – although a lot of pilots would do well to revisit and incorporate these basics back into
their day-to-day flying operations.
M – Manage
However, in the Airlines and current Corporate environment (and increasingly the GA world) there is another
element that needs to be addressed, especially in Glass cockpits. That is the Management aspects of the flight.
And if you are the Captain, this Management role will become extremely important.
To round off our “P” discussion, this Manage function can be thought of as the Parts – you have to Manage the
various Parts of the aviation system that you are in charge of. Control the Parts.
The introduction of the glass cockpit redistributed, rather than reduced flight crews’ workloads. Pilots now
spend more resources managing the various systems in the cockpit.
...some of the burden for handling of safety and efficiency has been passed to the automation, but the pilots
instead have to spend extra time and effort on learning how to manage these systems. Indeed, the introduction
of technology has changed the nature of training such that pilots are now taught to aviate, navigate,
communicate and manage systems.
systems (Baxter and Besnard 2004)
Sometimes, after you have satisfied yourself that the Aviate, Navigate, Communicate areas are satisfactory, you
will have to Manage your systems, both automatic and biological (the carbon based life forms). Often the best

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way to Manage the situation is, if you can, give control of the aircraft to your F/O and take a “Mental” step back
and take on an overseeing, supervisory role.
This Management function has always been there, but it is becoming more and more important in today’s
modern aviation environment.
So whenever you think of Aviate, Navigate, Communicate – add on Manage.
Workload Management (Part 1)
Observations during a Line Operational Safety Audit (LOSA) at several major airlines revealed over one-third of
the monitoring errors occurred due to poor workload management. A significant number of pilots simply
weren't planning ahead to accomplish as many tasks during low workload periods as possible. (Patrick R.
Veillette)
Command Workload Management
One of your “new” roles as Captain will be to ensure that your team’s workload is managed to ensure things get
done safely, SA and monitoring remains at a high level, tasks are distributed fairly and equally (usually within
the framework of SOPs/NPs) and to ensure that YOU never get so overloaded that your Command SA, decision
making, risk assessment and management and overall Leadership are not compromised.
Workload Management is the process of evenly distributing activities by planning, prioritizing and assigning
tasks to individual crewmembers within your team (and this may also include “outside agencies” such as
Operations, Engineering, ATC etc.). It is avoiding Underload and Overload and striving to operate in an Optimum
workload environment to maximize your team’s performance.
Workload Management is concerned with;

The proper allocation or delegation of tasks and duties to individuals to distribute the workload,
Avoidance of work overload (and to a lesser extent, work underload) in yourself and in members of your team,
Prioritization of tasks, especially during periods of high workload,
Preventing nonessential factors from distracting attention from adherence to effective monitoring, SA and NPs,
particularly those relating to critical tasks, and
Ensuring that you have enough spare mental capacity to cope with and manage unexpected events.
At the very core of workload management are the essential concepts of prioritisation and delegation, which in
turn results in you having spare mental capacity.
Prioritise
As the Captain you must be able to prioritise tasks – for both your team and yourself.
To prioritize is to identify those tasks that are most important and need to be done first and those that are less
important and can be deferred to a later time. In addition to determining the relative importance of tasks you
need to be able to sequence the accomplishment of those tasks and allocate the workload between team
members effectively.
During periods of high workload, prioritization is extremely important to ensure that the essential fundamental
tasks are accomplished first.

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How you choose to allocate priority to the various required tasks in any situation will be up to you and is heavily
influenced by your perception of the situation, the current phase of flight, previous experience, preparation and
planning. Aviate, Navigate, Communicate, Manage (or Plane, Path, People, Parts) is a sound framework to begin
prioritisation of tasks.
Prioritisation is useless unless your team is aware of what your perceived priorities are. Sound SA is required to
plan ahead, as is good communication skills to share your mental model and communicate your intent to the
others in your team.
Delegate
To effectively accomplish your prioritised tasks, you must assign duties and responsibilities within your team.
You must delegate tasks where appropriate to allocate or share the workload and to reduce individual crew
member’s workloads when they start to get behind; especially your own Command workload.
Delegation is also an essential element of Leadership. You do not have to do everything yourself; something
that often escapes new Commanders. By delegating tasks within the team you manage the individual’s and
also the team’s overall workload. As an additional bonus, if your team’s workload is equitably distributed, you,
in your Command role, will function better.
Often when you are faced with new, novel, ambiguous, difficult or complex situations (e.g. an emergency or a
tricky MEL item), it can sometimes be best to delegate some of your duties or tasks to others within your team
so that you can free up extra mental capacity and take a step back to look at the “Big Picture” and focus on
your Command management and Leadership functions. This allows you to effectively regulate and achieve your
desired outcome. Delegate so that you can regulate.
Be sure those you delegate tasks to are capable to perform the task. You must monitor their progress and
subsequent workload as well as the progress of the assigned task.
Work Smarter, Not Harder
Command is not normally about physical handling skill (although it is important) – it’s about Leadership and a
component of that is workload management. Use your time and energy wisely and reduce your team’s workload
whenever possible.
Use your available resources effectively to get the job efficiently done. Strive for the most output for least input.
Whenever possible;
Avoid unnecessary work and shift the work you have to do from busy periods to less busy periods. This requires
good SA and results from future projection, anticipation and planning. This is an important element of workload
management.
Do not unnecessarily over-complicate issues. Use the KISS principle and aim to simplify whenever possible. You
will not impress anyone by making the job harder than it actually needs to be.
Do not micro-manage your team. Assign or delegate tasks and then let them get on with doing it. You will still
need to monitor them, but don’t interfere if the task is being accomplished – you can be doing something else
of a high priority simultaneously.
Consider using appropriate automation to reduce your physical and mental workload and to increase your
spare mental capacity so that you can utilise and maximise your Leadership and Command management skills.
Good Captains are relaxed, appear to being doing little work and have spare mental capacity, yet they still have
everything under control. You should focus on working smarter, not harder.
Spare Mental Capacity
To fulfil the required Command duties of adequate SA, CRM, TEM, Leadership, risk assessment, decision
making and safe operation of the flight you need to ensure that you have sufficient Spare Mental Capacity. You
cannot allow yourself to be working so hard that all you are able to achieve is mediocre SA (and only functioning

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in the Present).
During periods of high workload you will tend to become fixated and develop “tunnel vision” to cope with the
increased workload. Monitoring and SA will decrease and you will likely have zero spare mental capacity to plan
ahead.
You As PF or PM?
Studies have shown that your F/O when acting as PM typically is able to cope with technical knowledge or skill
problems, but may be unable to accurately assess a situation's risk and time available, and have limited ability
to manage workload effectively.
In addition, NTSB analysis of accidents has noted that the error type observed most often for Captains while
acting as PF was the tactical decision error. Tactical decision errors include improper decision making, failure to
change course of action in response to signals to do so, and failing to heed warnings or alerts that suggest a
change in course of action. The NTSB attributed these errors in part to the additional cognitive and
manipulative skill workload of aircraft control.
Depending on the situation, consider letting your F/O act as PF, in conjunction with appropriate use of
automation, while you review the Big Picture, update SA, monitor and fulfil your management and supervisory
roles while acting as PM. You may find that this lets you think more and as a result arrive at higher quality
decisions and outcomes. However, you still need to monitor the aircraft, what your F/O is doing and his
workload as well.
Keep Spare Mental Capacity
Ensure you guard against losing this valuable Command asset and if you recognise that you are losing it,
reduce your workload and slow the tempo of the flight to increase it.
Methods to ease your workload and increase your spare mental capacity are;
Appropriate use of automation (AP, A/THR, FMS etc.).
Preparation. By properly preparing (either through suitable study before flight or while inflight) you can identify
potential problem areas and implement solutions to mitigate their effect before you encounter them.
Delegate and allocate tasks or duties to your team members.
“Buy” time. Slow the tempo and pace of the flight by requesting extra track miles, entering a holding pattern,
reducing to minimum manoeuvring speed, going around or delaying take off.
Prioritise. Do the important tasks first and defer the less urgent or non-essential tasks.
Be flexible. Don’t rigidly pursue one course of action and totally disregard alternatives. Your way may not be the
best way.
Communicate. Share ideas and tell your crew when you are becoming bogged down or that you simply don’t
know the answer or solution. Often your team members may have a ready-made solution (they may have
experienced something similar before) or can assist you.
You will require spare mental capacity to cope with the unexpected, unusual or novel events that will eventually
happen to you and your team.

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Workload Management (Part 2) is here.
Workload Management (Part 2)

Workload Management (Part 1) is here.
High Workload
Every flight has periods of high workload. You need to be aware of when these high workload periods will occur
and you need to plan ahead and organize tasks around the low workload periods.
A major element of workload management is shifting the workload from busy times to quiet times.
Mismanagement of workload will degrade your team’s performance. Plan for the future and identify when high
workload periods will occur during low workload periods; when you have time and are not overloaded. Then you
can formulate plans and brief your team to mitigate the perceived threats, pace their activities, prioritise and
effectively manage their workload to ensure that everything gets done correctly and nobody gets bogged down
and left behind when things get busy.
Plan during low workload periods for the high workload periods.
Effective CRM pays dividends any time the workload increases to intensive levels such as during an emergency
or when activities conspire in a manner that are typically beyond one pilot’s abilities. You need to ensure that
your team acts cohesively together.
High workload situations are sometimes unavoidable. During these situations you need to;
Give clear, concise commands (provide Leadership and direction for your team).
Monitor each individual’s workload to identify times of overload. If you recognise overload in yourself or others,
you will need to prioritise, delegate, defer or redistribute the workload.
Communicate task saturation to other crewmembers. This individual overload recognition is difficult to see in
yourself, easier to spot in others and requires crew to monitor each other.
How To Cope

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Why do some Captains cope efficiently with difficult and high workload situations and yet for others nothing
seems to go right?
A 2004 conference sponsored by Boeing looked at what qualities successful crews used as countermeasures
in TEM. There were four particular groupings of CRM skills:
Team building and climate. Of particular importance were good communications and effective Leadership.
Planning. Crews that excelled performed good briefings, anticipated threats, stated plans, assigned workload,
and developed contingency plans for known threats (plan during low workload for high workload).
Execution. These crews had solid monitoring and cross-checking, workload management, and vigilance skills.
They also showed a mastery of automation management.
Review/Modify. High performing crews reviewed plans frequently against the stated goals, modified plans when
necessary, asked questions, and stated critical information with persistence.
As you can see, workload management is important in ensuring that the flight is completed efficiently and
safely and is intimately tied to SA, monitoring and communication.
Effects Of Increasing Workload
Increasing workload results in decreasing SA and poor monitoring. All too often flight crews tend to do too many
concurrent things and not adequately monitor the aircraft.
The common key periods in which you are most likely to commit the most errors due to poor workload
management on routine flights are;
Preflight preparation with an “unusual” situation (e.g. passenger handling issues, difficult MEL item or
equipment malfunction possibly requiring engineering assistance),
During taxi for departure and after arrival,
Within 1,000 feet of level-off (“One to go”), and
During descent and making an approach or landing. Avoid briefing during descent – complete your arrival brief
early and omit PAs if pushed for time.
You will need to pay more attention to workload management so that at least one pilot is always monitoring
during low workload periods and both pilots are monitoring as much as possible when things get busy.
Distractions
Distractions are really just misallocated priorities – you focus on the wrong thing rather than the most important
task at the time. You will be required to avoid distractions during critical flight phases.
Distraction can led to workload management failures and no one flying the aircraft. Common distractions are;
The traffic staff, ISM or ATC interrupting you during a preflight briefing.
PAs after commencing descent.
FMS/ECAM/EICAS. Sometimes the automation can cause you to focus on it rather than the higher priority
Aviate, Navigate, Communicate, Manage functions.
Unusual, novel, complex or ambiguous events. See the FMS/ECAM/EICAS discussion above.
Robust Work Routines
To cope with these distractions and interruptions you will need to formulate and continually practise robust
work routines – especially during the preflight phase or during novel, complex and unusual situations, both of
which have the potential to be high workload periods.
Work routines are just easy to use ways that you do your normal business, within the framework of SOPs/NPs.
They may take the form of pneumonics, brief personal checklists that you cross off (either physically or
mentally) when you complete actions or methods that link one task with the next if tasks are required to be
done sequentially.
Whatever method you chose, it needs to be strong and robust. It needs to be able to be effective and usable
when the pressure starts to increase and it needs to be well practised and ingrained.

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On most “normal” flights the preflight phase will be a higher workload environment with the additional pressure
of keeping the scheduled departure time. You need to have a sound understanding of the time-line associated
with the pre-departure phase and you will need to manage the tasks in this busy period effectively. This is
where a well practised robust work routine can assist you.
Automation
The introduction of the glass cockpit redistributed, rather than reduced flight crews’ workloads. Pilots now
spend more resources managing the various systems in the cockpit. (Baxter and Besnard 2004)
LOSA audit data indicates that about 30 percent of crew errors occurred when the flight crew was
programming the FMS.
The FMS and ECAM/EICAS have been likened to a vacuum cleaner; it sucks heads, eyes, fingers and attention
straight into it.
Management of Automation
Automation is both a curse and a blessing. It depends very much on how you utilise the various automation
systems and the particular situation that you find yourself in. Automation requires sound management and
monitoring techniques.
Do not place a blind faith in automation; have a healthy level of scepticism. But do not disregard or overlook the
automation features as they can reduce your workload immensely when used correctly.
Consider the automation to be another member of your team – tasks can be delegated to it, but you also need
to monitor it and if it does not do what you desire be prepared to take manual control, reverting to Basic Modes
if required.
Ensure that you and your team avoid the automation “Vacuum Cleaner”.
Automation is another aspect of your Command operation that you will be required to utilise correctly to
effectively manage your team’s workload.
So, start to practise effective workload management – it definitely makes your future job as the Captain much,
much easier.
TEM (Part 1 - Overview)
What is Threat and Error Management (TEM)? Is it just another of those TLAs (Three Letter Acronyms), fancy
pants CRM thingies? Do you actually use TEM during your day-to-day operations – and more importantly, if you
use it, how do you use it?
These are very, very common questions that most professional aviators have extreme difficulty in answering. I
will admit I used to be one of them.
Stop reading right now and take a moment and see if you can satisfactorily answer these questions before
reading on. Go on, I dare you!
I was always a little fuzzy about what TEM was and how to apply it. To remedy my TEM deficiency I sought out
the answers and by doing so increased my aviation knowledge. Through researching TEM I came to realise how

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easy and effective it was to practically use. And this practical application of TEM is something you want to
develop and use as a Command Trainee and Captain.
This explanation of TEM is in my words (so any mistakes are mine) and has been written in pilot-speak for Line
pilots. Don’t blindly take my word for this explanation of the TEM Model as gospel. YOU still need to take
individual responsibility for how you eventually use TEM. You can read some further TEM articles here (a Word
Document) and here (PDF) (good background stuff).
If you find this explanation helpful or confusing or would like something clarified then leave a Comment at the
end of this post and I’ll do my best to further educate you (and all the others).
TEM Model Overview
Don’t worry about the definitions of things that may be unfamiliar to you as they will come later when we look
more closely at the various individual aspects of the TEM Model.
To explain what TEM is we will use a diagram – the TEM Model. (Click on any of the images for a larger view.)
In that diagram are a series of two different types of “layers” depicted in the shape of an inverted triangle. The
different Layers form a kind of overlapping defensive shield.
“STATE” Layers

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One of the basic types of layers of the TEM Model are what I call “STATE” Layers – they are the three different
“States” or modes that can exist in TEM.
The three ”State” Layers are: THREATS, ERRORS and UAS (Undesirable Aircraft States).
“MANAGE” Layers
The other basic type of layer is what I call “MANAGE” Layers – for each “State”
Layer there is a corresponding “Manage” Layer.
The three “Manage Layers” are: AVOID, TRAP and MITIGATE.
The “Manage” Layers are the heart of the TEM Model. They are the most important part of the Model as it is
here that you get to influence the eventual result of the whole process. In other words, the TE part of TEM leads
to the most important M part – the effective Management of the Treats and Errors.
The “Manage” Layers and the implementation of actions within them is what separates good Captains from bad
ones.
The ”Manage” Layers are the areas that you should focus the vast majority of your attention.
Layer Thickness
Each independent and individual layer can be either thick or thin.
A thin “State” Layer would represent few threats, errors or UASs – an easy day at the office. A thick “State”
Layer would represent numerous, multiple threats, errors or UAS’s – where you really need to be on top of your

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game.
A thin “Manage” Layer would characterize little planning or limited strategies to counter the threats, errors or
UAS that are affecting you – usually resulting in decreased safety and increased risk. A thick “Manage” Layer
would signify that you have adequately catered for the various threats, errors and UAS’s – safety is increased
and risk minimised.
Creating thick and robust “Manage” Layers should be your Command goal.
TEM & Situational Awareness (SA)
TEM and Situational Awareness (SA) are intimately and inexorably linked. You cannot have any semblance of
TEM without a reasonable level of SA. The three different TEM “States” are very closely related to the three SA
Levels. (If you’re not familiar with these SA Levels, then read about it here.)
“OUTCOME”
If you allow yourself to get so deep into the TEM Model triangle that you
bypass all the “State” and “Manage” Layers then an “OUTCOME” will result.
This “Outcome” is usually in the form of an Accident or Incident and is normally very visible to everyone both
within the cockpit and without. “Outcomes” usually result in formal investigations and you could see your name
on the front page of tomorrow’s newspaper. Not a good look for someone undergoing a Command Course!
The Inverted Triangle Shape
The inverted triangle shape of the TEM Model is most appropriate, as the
deeper into the triangle you get, the less time, resources and options are available for you to use – and if you
eventually reach an “Outcome” it’s too late. The deeper into the TEM Model you allow yourself to get will result
in safety decreasing and risk increasing. In addition your workload will be increasing and your monitoring
decreasing.

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Getting really deep into the TEM triangle is not a good thing!
The Entry Point
The most usual point of entry into the TEM Model is via the Threat Layer and then depending on how you
manage (or mismanage) those threats will dictate how deep into the TEM triangle you get.
However you can also enter the TEM Model directly via the Error Layer – here you make a mistake or error in
the absence of any threats. These are “Spontaneous Errors”. Some days you just screw up.
Summary
The following TEM Table summarises the main points of the TEM Model. I recommend that you print a copy of
both the main TEM Model (the first diagram) and also this TEM Table for easy reference in the other TEM
articles that follow.
So that’s the overview, now let’s look at each individual layer in greater depth in TEM Part 2.

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TEM (Part 2 - The Layers)
In Part 1 of TEM we looked at an overview of the TEM Model. TEM (Part 1) is here.
The TEM Model looks like this;
Now we'll look more closely at each individual layer of the TEM Model. So read on.
THREAT Layer

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The upper-most “State” Layer of the TEM Model is the THREAT layer.
layer
A threat is defined as;
An event or another’s error that;

Occurs outside the influence of the flight crew (i.e. not caused by the crew),
Increases the operational complexity of a flight, and
Requires crew attention and management if safety margins are to be maintained.
A threat can be high terrain, icing conditions, an aircraft malfunction (e.g. a thrust reverser inoperative or an
ECAM/EICAS), an incorrectly coded navigation database, a late runway change, other people’s errors (e.g. an
inaccurate recording of a fuel load by the refueller or an incorrect altitude assignment by ATC), an unfamiliar
airfield, crew fatigue or congested airspace with high traffic loads.
Threats occur independently of the flight crew.
This means that threats come “at” the crew from external sources, which add to the crew’s workload and need
to be managed. Threats have the potential to or may actually increase risk and decrease safety.
Threats may be;
Expected. Known or expected threats can be anticipated and projected to influence the operation (e.g. you hear
on the ATIS during pre-flight preparation that the runway in use has changed or a thrust reverser is deactivated
and the aircraft is dispatched within the MEL).
You want to be operating in this Expected Threat area as much as possible.
Unexpected. No forewarning is available (e.g. an ECAM/EICAS with no prior indications). Once the threat has
been recognised you must apply skills and knowledge acquired through training and operational experience to
counter that threat (e.g. it may be more prudent to “Standby” on an ECAM/EICAS until above MSA and your
workload decreases).
Latent. Not directly obvious to or observable by you or your crew (e.g. equipment design faults, optical illusion,
Database errors or software anomalies). Deal with Latent Threats in the same manner as Unexpected Threats.
Regardless of whether threats are Expected, Unexpected or Latent, one measure of the effectiveness of your
ability to manage those threats is whether the threats are recognised and detected with the necessary
anticipation to enable your crew to respond to and avoid them through the use of an effective counter-measure
– i.e. do you effectively manage those threats.
Managing Threats – AVOID Layer

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The corresponding “Manage” Layer to the Threat “State” is the AVOID Layer.
Layer
Here you must identify potential threats in advance (if an Expected Threat) or react to the potential
consequences of a threat when it occurs (if an Unexpected or Latent Threat).
Threats are things that can possibly happen to you; things that may happen in the future. This requires you to
be projecting and planning for the future – Thinking Ahead, i.e. have adequate Level 3 SA.
Once threats have been identified, Strategies need to be formulated to avoid those threats. Identifying a threat
and having no strategy to avoid it is useless. You will need to work together as a team to develop threat
management strategies to build a thick AVOID layer.
Threat management is being proactive by looking ahead into the future to anticipate problems that you may
encounter. Operating in the AVOID Layer normally results in you having Level 3 SA (Think Ahead) and low
workload/high monitoring.
Some of the common tools and techniques used in the AVOID Layer are preparation, thorough pre-flight
planning, making reference to your Company’s Airfield information, briefings (which allow you to share your
mental model and communicate your intent), knowledge of NPs/SOPs, regulations, policy and procedures and
contingency scenarios (What if...?).
One effective method to counter Expected Threats is to divide a page into two columns. On the left side list all
the threats that you can think of and on the corresponding right side list all the strategies to counter (avoid)
those threats. Do the same for any potential Unexpected or Latent threats that you have either actually
experienced in the past, are common in your operation or you think may affect you. This is essentially
Preparation – you have a pre-thought out plan to deal with unusual events such as ECAM/EICAS etc.
Threats are effectively managed by crews who;

Anticipate and consider the threats.
Are vigilant for threats (a healthy scepticism and suspicion) coupled with good monitoring and cross-checking.
When uncomfortable acknowledge and respond to their own internal “Master Caution” and identify the cause of
their concern.
Work together as a team to develop threat management strategies to avoid those threats.
You may not be able to identify all possible threats, but by using preparation, vigilance, monitoring, briefings,
communication, workload management, SA and Leadership you will minimise the possible effects of an
unanticipated threat.
Strategies to deal with identified THREATS that potentially will come “at” you (in the future) can be thought of
as a proactive AVOID layer
layer of defence.
Unrecognised, unmanaged or mismanaged threats significantly increase the potential for error(s).
Errors

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The middle “State” Layer of the TEM Model is the ERROR layer.
layer
An error is defined as;
Flight crew actions or inactions that;

Lead to a deviation from crew or organisational intentions or expectations,
Reduces safety margins, and
Increases the probability of adverse operational events on the ground or during flight.
An error can be the result of a momentary slip or lapse, or induced by an anticipated or unexpected threat that
is poorly managed (e.g. a late runway change might induce a procedural shortcut that results in a crew error).
Unrecognised, unmanaged or mismanaged threats often directly result in an error(s). However errors can also
occur "Spontaneously" (i.e. without direct linkage to specific, obvious threats and this is an error type that
causes you to enter the TEM Model directly at the Error Layer, bypassing the Threat and Avoid Layers) or as part
of an error chain (one error leads to another).
Errors occur as a direct result of the flight crew’s actions or inactions.
Errors can be seen as coming internally “from” the crew. Errors actually increase risk and decrease safety.
In addition, Errors are categorised as;
Procedural. These include slips, lapses or mistakes in the execution of regulations or procedures. The intention
is correct but the execution flawed.
Communication. These occur when information is incorrectly transmitted or interpreted within the cockpit or
between the cockpit crew and external sources such as cabin crew or ATC or when there is no communication
of intent or sharing of the mental model within the crew.
Aircraft Handling. Indicates a lack of technical knowledge or “stick and rudder” skills. Examples include poor or
incorrect flare technique, incorrect configuration management, inappropriate use of automation or an incorrect
mode selection.

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Managing Errors – TRAP Layer
The corresponding “Manage” Layer to the Error “State” is the TRAP Layer.
Layer
Here you must recognise errors and if required complete error recovery to a safe situation.
Once errors are recognised they can be managed in the TRAP Layer by using two interactive sub-layers of
defence between the error and the potential UAS.
Resist. These are the “hard” safeguards – from system defences provided by hardware and formal procedures
(e.g. TCAS, Reactive or Predictive Windshear, EGPWS, NPs or checklists). Even with the best designed
equipment these “hard” safeguards may not be enough to ensure that all errors are trapped, so then it will be
necessary for...
Resolve. These are the “soft” safeguards – through crew technical and non-technical skills, airmanship,
common sense, knowledge, preparation, core Command competencies (SA, Decision Making, Communication,
Workload Management and Leadership), CRM and training.
This TRAP layer is often the final layer between a “safe” flight and the consequences of an “unsafe” UAS. Again
you and your crew will need to work together as a team to create a thick TRAP layer.
Error management is always recovering from things that have already happened – in the past and as such you
are being reactive. Operating in the TRAP Layer normally results in you having Level 2 SA (Understand) and
medium workload/medium monitoring. Therefore you need to initially act in the present to minimise or mitigate
the past error effects by monitoring and evaluating crew actions or inactions. Once you’ve trapped the error you
then need to plan and think ahead (Level 3 SA) to minimise or mitigate the error (error recovery).
With the hard and soft TRAP safeguards in place, the last line of defence against threats and errors is still
ultimately, the flight crew.
YOU are often the final layer of defence.
For all this to work the crew has to use their “core CRM” skills. The TEM philosophy stresses three basic
concepts: anticipation, recognition and recovery.
recovery Anticipation builds vigilance and vigilance with SA and
effective monitoring is the key to recognising adverse events and errors. Logically, recognition leads to recovery.
Recover first; analyse the causes later.
later All these things can only occur with sound and effective CRM.
Resist and Resolve functions for the recognised errors that have come "from" you (in the past) can be thought
of as a reactive TRAP layer of defence.
If you fail to recognise the error or mismanage that error then an UAS may arise.

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UAS (Undesired Aircraft State)
The final “State” Layer of the TEM Model is the UAS (Undesired Aircraft State) Layer.
Layer
An Undesired Aircraft State (UAS) is defined as;
An error induced aircraft deviation or incorrect configuration associated with a clear reduction in safety
margins.
Examples of UASs are unstable approaches, lateral or vertical deviations, overspeeds, incorrect configuration
(flaps/slats etc.) management, altitude busts, long or short landings and taxiway or runway incursions.
UAS are an extension of Errors. As can be seen from the UAS definition, an UAS results directly from the crew’s
error(s).
As with errors, UAS’s can be seen as coming internally “from” the crew and significantly increase risk and
decrease safety.
Managing UAS – MITIGATE Layer
The corresponding “Manage” Layer to the UAS “State” is the MITIGATE Layer.
Layer

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When you get this deep into the TEM Model you must recognise errors and the resultant UAS and will often
have to mitigate the effects of the UAS and complete error recovery to a safe situation.
UAS management is an essential component of the TEM Model, as important as the threat and error
management part.
UAS management largely represents the last opportunity to avoid an unsafe “Outcome” and thus maintain
safety margins in flight operations.
UASs are normally (but not always) the end consequence of failing to avoid threats and trap errors. They are
also the result of poor SA. When managing UASs you are being totally reactionary and probably operating at
Level 1 SA (Notice). Your crew will have high workload/low monitoring.
You obviously want to circumvent UASs. To do this generate thick AVOID (identify threats) and TRAP (recognise
– resist and resolve errors) layers of defence by the proper use of equipment, skills and knowledge.
In most cases UASs can be effectively managed through mitigating the UAS effects and the aircraft recovered to
safe flight.
Recovery from an UAS that has resulted from your previous error(s) (in the past) can be thought of a reactive
MITIGATE layer of defence.
However, there may be occasions when they lead to additional errors which may then precipitate an “Outcome”
of an Incident or an Accident.
Outcomes
An Outcome is what occurs when an event, which has its’ final conclusion as an UAS, is not adequately
managed and defeats all the protective layers in the TEM Model. It is analogous to all the holes lining up in the
“Swiss Cheese” Error Model.
An Outcome usually manifests itself as an Accident or Incident (probably a certain way of failing your Command
Course!). For example an unstable approach (hot and high) on a short, slippery runway may result in a runway
over-run; or, landing downwind of the centreline in a raging crosswind, using the incorrect crosswind landing
technique may end with the aircraft bogged off the side of the runway; or, you land on the wrong parallel
runway.
If you get all the way through the TEM Model and end up with an Outcome – well there’s not too much you can
do except start composing either your Board of Inquiry statement or your letter of resignation.
While UASs are undesirable (pardon the pun), they are better than an Outcome – at least with an UAS you get a
chance to “manage” the situation. If you are hot and high in an unstable approach, you can Mitigate the UAS by
going around and completing the next approach satisfactorily and safely.
TEM (Part 3) is here.

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TEM (Part 3 - Putting It All Together)

In Part 2 of TEM we looked at the different "Layers" of the TEM Model.
TEM – Putting It All Together
In the TEM philosophy, threat or error situations fall into three recognised outcomes;
A threat or error that is detected and effectively managed has no adverse impact on the flight. This should be
your goal.
A threat or error that is not detected cannot be managed (this may or may not adversely affect the flight or
reduce safety margins).
A mismanaged threat or error reduces safety margins by linking to or inducing additional errors or an UAS
(Undesired Aircraft State).
We cannot avoid or trap everything (even though this should be your ultimate TEM goal), but what you can do is
to try and construct thick AVOID and TRAP layers and if it is required carry out good error recovery in the
MITIGATE Layer. Work on these “Manage” Layers as a Captain, in conjunction with your crew, to make them
thick and robust.
This effective management of Threats, Errors and UASs is the primary difference between good Captains and
bad Captains.
While “hard” (Resist) and “soft” (Resolve) safeguards help support pilots to best anticipate, recognise and
recover from threats, errors and UASs, there is arguably no better way to manage these events in multi-crew
cockpits than through effective crew coordination and CRM.
Many of the best practises advocated by CRM can be considered as operational TEM counter-measures.

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Initial research in the LOSA Archive has supported links between TEM and CRM. For example, crews that
develop contingency management plans, such as proactively discussing strategies for anticipated threats, tend
to have fewer mismanaged threats; crews that exhibit good monitoring and cross-checking usually commit
fewer errors and have fewer mismanaged errors; and finally crews that display strong Leadership, inquiry and
workload management are typically observed to have fewer mismanaged errors and UASs than other crews.
Time “Compression”
A further constraint that is affecting the identification of threats and the

recognition of errors in the TEM Model is Time “Compression”.
Time is a vital factor and as the TEM diagram indicates, the further down or deeper into the TEM triangle that
you get, the thinner the time window to detect and deal with the threat or error also gets.
You will need to manage not only your time but also your team’s time and except for those rare emergency time
critical situations, you should have control over the time available and dictate the pace and tempo of you crew’s
workload.
The TEM diagram recognises that the deeper into the triangle that you get, the less time is available to you and
the decreasing time available is taking you closer to the bottom apex of the triangle, reducing your available
resources and options and increasing your chances of defeating all layers of protection and resulting in an
Outcome.
By expanding or “buying time”, you can either thicken the current Layer you are in or move back up the triangle
away from an Outcome or UAS and therefore towards a safer flight.
Monitoring & Cross-Checking
One of the best tools available to crews to help identify any threats or errors is MONITORING and CROSS-
CHECKING.
Many airline’s safety events are directly related to poor monitoring and cross-checking skills. Examples are
altitude deviations, incidents of stick shaker and approach path deviations (all are UASs).
What do we need for effective monitoring to take place?
Prioritising Workload. It is very easy to overload the PM during a critical phase of flight. This may involve
delaying certain tasks to a more appropriate time, (Aviate, Navigate, Communicate, Manage) but by prioritising
your team’s workload around the busy phases of flight, more effective monitoring takes place. The PM must
mentally fly the aircraft (Actively Monitor) to be able to anticipate the needs of the PF. There is no need for the
PM to communicate with ATC that they are busy with a MAP when the priority is to monitor the MAP itself.
Communication. In its’ simplest form, communication of intent is achieved through conducting adequate

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departure and arrival briefings. It is essential that you not only identify the threats, but that you also discuss the
strategies that you will employ to manage those threats (build your AVOID Layer).
If you do not share your mental model or communicate your intent, how can you expect the other crew
members to be able to monitor you? For example, letting the crew know your intentions and limits when making
an approach to an airfield that is renowned for runway changes. Let the crew know at what altitude a runway
change is acceptable, and if you do change runways, what actions are needed to be carried out.
Appropriate Cockpit Gradient. As the Captain you need to use your Leadership skills to foster an environment
where the most junior crew member can speak up when they see a threat or an error appears to have gone
unnoticed. An appropriate (not too steep, not too shallow) cockpit gradient allows this to occur. This is a team
game and your followers may “save the day” – but only if you let them.
Adherence to NPs/SOPs. NPs/SOPs have been developed to provide a standardised technique for dealing with
certain specific threats. NPs/SOPs are often amended or modified after an UAS or Outcome (sometimes written
with the blood of unfortunate crews). By following NPs/SOPs everyone knows what to expect and is sharing the
same mental model.
Effective monitoring and cross-checking can literally be the last line of defence in your TRAP layer.
Good CRM is what ties everything in TEM together.
TEM & LOSA
It is educational to review the overall LOSA results that some airlines have conducted to date. The mistakes of
others and their subsequent lessons can provide you with areas to focus your Command preparation so that
you can avoid threats, trap errors, mitigate UASs and therefore minimise risk to increase safety.
Monitoring and cross-checking was Poor or Marginal in 23% of flights.

Monitoring is a primary responsibility of all pilots.
To increase Monitoring, decrease Workload.
An average of 4-6 threats per flight will be encountered.

You will operate in a high threat environment and you will encounter threats on almost every flight.
Be prepared and formulate strategies to manage those threats – create a thick AVOID Layer.
About 50% of errors went undetected or were not responded to by the crew.
A threat that is not identified or an error that is not recognised cannot be managed.
30% of UASs were linked to mismanaged threats or mismanaged crew error.

Develop thick AVOID and TRAP layers.
Error Recovery is an essential Command skill.
Crews that brief late or during descent are 5 times more likely to commit a significant error than crews that
briefed early.
Brief and discuss TEM strategies at times of low workload, when you have high capacity.
Use times of low workload to plan ahead.
LOSA results also highlighted what outstanding crews do;

Briefings that include explicit contingency management as part of threat anticipation in pre-departure, descent,
approach and landing phases (they identified threats and used strategies to form a thick AVOID layer).
Monitoring and cross-checking as part of workload management during the busiest phases of flight (allows you
to recognise and TRAP errors).
An Example

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After a long multi-sector day your crew is fatigued (Threat). The destination airfield has two parallel runways
(Threat).
Your crew notes on the ATIS and is informed by ATC that 07L is the runway in use for arrivals. The PF intends to
enter an approach to runway 07L into the FMS; however he mistakenly enters the data for 07R (Error).
Furthermore, the error is not detected by the flight crew on a SOP/NP required cross-verification (Error).
The flight crew executes the incorrect FMS entry to 07R and the aircraft starts flying on a profile to the wrong
parallel runway (UAS).
At this point, if the crew recognise the error/UAS, they can either analyse what’s wrong with the automation
and fix the problem or save valuable time by simply disconnecting the autopilot and hand-flying the approach
to the correct runway (or going around if not enough time or spare brain power is available and doing the
approach again – safely).
The latter option is more effective from the TEM perspective because it focuses effort on recovering from the
UAS rather than analysing it’s causes.
If the various Errors and the resultant UAS is not picked up by either the crew or ATC the aircraft will land on the
wrong runway (Outcome).
TEM Summary
TEM is defensive flying for pilots.
TEM can be seen as a set of counter-measures with multiple “layers of defence”.
Many of the best practises advocated by CRM can be considered as operational TEM counter-measures.
Work as a crew on creating thick and robust “Manage” Layers (AVOID, TRAP and MITIGATE). This is the most
important part of the whole TEM Model and you will need to develop this skill.
The deeper into the TEM triangle you get;

The less time, resources and options are available to you.
Safety decreases and risk increases.
Workload increases and monitoring decreases.
SA decreases.
I'm interested in your thoughts on TEM and this series of articles. Was it worthwhile, did you understand it or
was it all "black magic" and a load of cr@p?
Just hit the Comments link below and add your input - you never know, we all might learn something!

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Have A Think About Leadership
I think Leadership is such an important aspect of being a Captain or Commander of an aircraft that I use a
capital "L
L" when I write either Leader or Leadership and it now has its' own Index and Links Category heading in
this blog.
I can envision now, even at this early stage, that this topic will grow and expand (a little like the Airmanship
articles that just kept getting bigger as I discovered more information) as there is just so much Leadership stuff
to absorb and mould into your operation as the Captain. So keep an eye out for Leadership articles to keep
appearing over the coming months!
If it is so important how come your Airline or Company doesn't implicitly teach Leadership? How do you "learn"
Leadership – in fact can Leadership be learnt or do you just have it or not? Is Leadership really all that
important for today's automated, CRM Airline Captains? Are the Leadership skills required by your Airline's CEO
the same as the Leadership skills that you will be required to display and perform as an aircraft Captain?
Pretty deep and meaningful questions eh?!
I'm not going to answer these questions straight away, instead I encourage you to exercise the grey matter
between your ears and really have a think about what you know about Leadership and how you apply (or will
apply) Leadership in your role as the Captain.
Leadership "style" (how you perform, display and project your Leadership) is a very individual thing and will
mean different things to different people. It will appear in different forms, in different people. There is just no
way that Leadership can be reduced to a "cookie cutter" simplistic, "do it this way" type of approach.
I'm just going to give you some Leadership things to think about and how you incorporate those "things" into
your Leadership style is entirely up to you. There is no right or wrong way. But more importantly, YOU will have to
"discover" what works for you and how you will adopt these Leadership characteristics and traits into YOUR way
of doing things as the Captain. It's all about learning and educating yourSELF
SELF.
SELF
So mull over those Leadership questions that were outlined a few paragraphs ago – the answers will be
gradually revealed in other Leadership articles.
You never know, you might learn something important or useful by looking inward.

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Can I Be A Leader?
A common misconception is that Leaders are born, not made.
What utter crap! The opposite is true – anyone can be a Leader; Leaders are made, not born.
born
As far as I'm aware, genome scientists have yet to isolate a "Leadership" gene that gets passed on to
succeeding generations. Also (despite what some people may think), nobody is born a Captain; every Captain
that I know of has had to start at the bottom and learn his craft through years of training.
You just have to know yourself (be self-aware), know and apply suitable individual Leadership style(s) and skills
and be prepared to embark upon a life-long learning and improvement experience. Leadership should never be
static, you should always be striving to improve and be the best possible Leader (and Captain) that you can be.
Leadership characteristics, traits and skills can be learnt and therefore Leadership characteristics, traits and
skills can be taught. Otherwise why would major Companies, Corporations and the Military bother to spend vast
sums of money and educate and instruct their personnel in Leadership?
It's true that some people are poor Leaders while others are great Leaders and most of the rest of us are in
between these two extremes. I think the main difference is that the great Leaders have invested time and effort
in learning, developing, researching and practising their Leadership skills while the poor Leaders just bumble
unknowingly along.
As an aircraft Captain you will absolutely be required to perform and display Leadership skills on every single
flight that you operate. You will be the "ultimate" authority for each flight that you undertake as Captain and the
one responsible for the safe, legal and effective conduct of the flight from pre-dispatch to after chocks on.
So you'd better firmly believe that you are a Leader and begin to develop and refine your Leadership skills –
otherwise your time in the Left Seat will be very, very brief.
Like everything with Command all that is required to improve your Leadership skills is some time and effort.

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Learning Leadership
Acquisition of Command Leadership skills in the vast majority of Airlines has for the most part been
unstructured and not implicitly or formally taught to prospective Command Trainees. How many "Leadership"
lectures has your Airline had you sit through?
I personally find this a bit perplexing. Leadership is so essential and fundamentally integral to being a Captain,
that I would have assumed that an Airline giving you a Command Course and Upgrade would teach you this
Leadership stuff.
I suspect that it all comes down to two things. The almighty dollar – the bean-counters are not willing to invest
money in this important concept and that the "Learning By Osmosis" Leadership Training Technique has
worked reasonably well in the past. But imagine how much better you would actually be as a Leader if you were
formally taught the "Art of Leadership"!
Usually the first exposure to formal Leadership requirements and skills occurs during actual Command Training
and is quite often as a result of your short-comings in this vital area. If you display less than acceptable
Leadership skills you can be sure that your Trainers will definitely debrief you on this.
For the most part Leadership skills have been attained by most aviators through "learning by osmosis". You
absorb all the incidents, methods, styles and techniques that your past Captains (Leaders) have displayed.
These occur during day to day line operations, whether they be normal or abnormal events, good or bad
techniques. In some way all of your previous Captains have affected you. Some may have impressed you and
you attempt to emulate their technique or style, while others have caused you concern so you endeavour not to
imitate their perceived faults. You have effectively "Modelled" yourself on those Captains that you have
determined have good Leadership skills.
Like everything that Command entails, your style of Leadership and the techniques that you use will be very
individual. What works for one Captain may not be very effective for another. It will depend a great deal on your
personality and your previous exposure to Leaders and Leadership skills. This is one of the main reasons that
you must have a fair amount of self-awareness (and why you should have a good understanding of all the
subjects in The Individual As Aircraft Commander). The more you are aware of how and why you do certain
actions, reach certain decisions or display certain behaviours, the more you can pick and chose those
Leadership styles, techniques and skills that will result in you becoming a good Leader.
Hopefully you have been learning by osmosis and developing your own individual Leadership style. Ensure you
invest some time and effort to learn about Leadership (check out the Links section, especially the series of
articles on The Art & Science of Leadership) and do some personal extra-curricular Leadership development.
Whether you like it or not, ultimately YOU are the only one (and possibly your Trainer) who will educate you on
the "Art of Leadership".

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Authority and Leadership
An Aircraft Command is appointed to a Captain by his Company after achieving the minimum requirements of
the Regulatory Aviation Authority. As a result of this appointment he has a certain amount of authority and
power to accomplish the mission, task or objective.
This appointment of authority does not automatically make you a Leader. Being a Leader doesn't just happen –
you have to work at it and it will be a constant evolution throughout your life.
As a Leader you will require the respect of your followers. That respect has to be earned; no amount of authority
automatically confers respect to you from your followers.
Simply having authority is something that makes you a Boss. The Boss through that authority orders his
subordinates what to do and then expects them to accomplish that task (usually with supervision), whether
they want to or not.
However, a respected Leader can tell his followers what to do and can confidently expect the task to be willingly
accomplished (usually unsupervised).
Try and be clear in your own mind about the subtle differences between a Boss and a Leader. If you're not
clear, re-read the last two paragraphs and note the slight differences in the meaning of words such as
subordinate/follower, order/tell, supervised/unsupervised and willingly or not.
True leadership should not be confused with authority. Authority is normally assigned while leadership is
acquired and suggests a voluntary following.
In whatever situation a person assumes a leadership role, and whether he emerges or is appointed, he must
acquire the respect of his group by his own behaviour.
Hawkins, F. H. and Orlady, H. W. (1993) Human Factors In Flight (2nd ed.)

So make sure you know the difference and inter-relationship between authority and Leadership.

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Be a Leader, Not a Manager
I'm not an expert on this Leadership thing and I'm sure that a lot of academics who study Leadership (often as a
career) would probably disagree with some of my views – but do you know what? I don't really care.
These views are the result of over thirty years of actually doing the real aviation thing, not conducting surveys
and lab experiments. As with everything on this blog, I leave it up to you as to how you incorporate these
thoughts into your Command "toolbox".
Leaders
All Leaders are managers. Management is a subset of Leadership. I firmly believe that to be an effective Leader
you also have to employ effective management skills.
A Leader – Innovates and inspires. Develops, focuses on people, engenders trust, asks what and why, has a
long-term view and an eye for the horizon (or in our aviation context "the Big Picture" and good Situational
Awareness).
A Leader makes people want to accomplish that task, mission or objective.
A Leader is more "people centred".
Managers
Not all managers are Leaders. Sure they might be good at management skills, but that does not necessarily
mean that they are good Leaders.
A Manager – Administers, maintains, focuses on systems and controls and the short term view, asks how and
when, keeps an eye on the bottom line.
A manager is more "resource centred".
What's The Difference?
The following quotes illustrate the difference between a Leader and a manager far better than I ever could.
Managers are people who do things right, while leaders are people who do the right thing. (Warren Bennis).
Check out this link for more Warren Bennis quotations on Leadership.
You manage things; you lead people. (Grace Hopper)
Managers have subordinates – leaders have followers. (Murray Johannsen)
Don't over-Manage and under-Lead.

Spend a bit of time and think about the differences between being a manager and being a Leader. Think about
how you, as the Captain, project your Leadership (your style or method of delivery).
Be a LEADER, not a manager.

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Aviation Leadership
Articles and books on Leadership are very common, particularly throughout the business world. However, these
sources of Leadership information are usually directed towards CEOs of large Companies or people appointed
to Senior Management positions within these Companies. The articles are very business orientated.
These types of Leaders and their followers are usually static and stable (their offices certainly are!) and are
together sometimes for years.
It is a vastly different case for an Aircraft Commander. Do not expect all the business worlds' Leadership tips
that these books and articles propose to be useful or relevant to you as a Captain. By all means read and digest
these valuable articles and resources, but you will have to decide if what they propose is suitable, effective or
relevant to you as an Aircraft Commander. Your world is sometimes very different to theirs.
An Aircraft Commander has to be able to mould a team from a disparate group of individuals (most of whom he
may never have met before) in a few minutes, so that they can transport up to several hundred paying
passengers in an unstable, fragile and very dynamic, high speed "office" (sometimes costing tens of millions of
dollars), across time zones, countries and continents, in a hostile environment, utilising a multitude of other
people and teams over which he has little or no control and will never meet, all the while continually making
decisions with little or no recourse to validate if it is correct or not (and these decisions are sometimes split-
second decisions that involve significant risk to all the lives on board the mobile, million dollar "office"), at all
times conducting the entire flight in an efficient, safe and legal way.
At times the Aircraft Commander is the ultimate authority of what occurs on his flight. He has powerful legal
powers and is in a similar position to a ship's Captain.
For these reasons the type of Leadership model suited for Aircraft Commanders is at times more akin to that
used by the Military; a strict vertically integrated, hierarchical, chain-of-command. However, the Military
Leadership model must be blended with the Corporate Leadership model to be effective. Ordering paying
passengers or your cockpit or cabin crew about (and naively expecting them to obey or comply) is probably not
the best way to get them to accomplish your aim. It is also very poor CRM.
Ultimately it is up to you. Educate yourself about Leadership; read books, articles and web pages. But ensure
that that information is practical and relevant to you as an Aircraft Captain. Your "office" is very different from
most other company or business offices.

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http://nwlink.com/~donclark/leader/leader.html

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Earning Respect
Earning respect is simple – but not easy.
You have to earn respect – it is never given away or automatically conferred with authority.
Respect is earned by personal example.
It’s a simple as that. But to project and display high personal example is far from easy.
Your team is a reflection of your personal image and you as the Captain and Leader of your team get to mould
your team. Learn how to do this – it is an important Command skill. Watch how your current or recall how your
previous Captains have accomplished this. Learn from them.
Maintaining a high personal example is not easy. You will have to continually work at it, catch yourself when you
start to slacken off and raise yourself back up to your high predetermined, personal standard.
Resolve to;
Always strive for and project this high personal standard (nobody else will make you).
Always expect this type of high standard from your subordinates.
If it is not apparent in your subordinates, “guide” or counsel them, or in more extreme cases direct or order
them, on what you expect from them.
You’ve probably heard of these following phrases:
”Talk the Talk” (but make sure you also “Walk the Walk.”)
”Actions speak louder than words.”
”Lead by example.”
You do these things with personal integrity, professional discipline and decent human humility. If you manage
to achieve this high personal standard, people will follow you through the “Gates of Hell”. You have become a
LEADER!
Your good reputation will precede you. The good word will spread and F/Os will want to go flying with you (and
enjoy the experience).
Respect and reputations are earned – not given.

Discipline yourself and others won’t need to. (John Wooden)
A tall order? Empathically YES! But this what you should aspire to.

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Assertiveness
There are two aspects of assertiveness that we’ll touch on here – between the members of the crew (a CRM
aspect) and when fulfilling your role as the final authority and decision maker in your role as the Captain of your
flight (a Command aspect).
Crew Assertiveness (CRM)
From your point of view as the Captain in the realm of Crew Assertiveness there are two sides; your assertion of
the authority invested in you as the Captain of the flight and Leader of your team, and the assertion of your
crew members and followers, which may result from your (usually unintentional) deficiencies. It flows both ways
and is an integral part of effective of CRM.
As the Captain you WILL make mistakes, errors of judgement, poor decisions or take inappropriate courses of
action throughout your career in the Left Hand Seat. A good Captain will openly admit their mistake, but more
importantly, generate an open team atmosphere to enable their followers to point out the error or mistake
using advocacy, enquiry, questioning and where required assertion.
If you ever hear your First Officer say “Captain, you MUST listen to me!” (a common CRM last resort phrase) you
must immediately recognise that you’ve allowed the situation to deteriorate such that your First Officer has
perceived (rightly or wrongly) that you have backed them into a corner and this is a last resort to forcefully get
your attention to resolve the situation. CRM and/or Error Recovery is required – immediately!
Pilots generally know when to speak up and to back up and support the Captain in decision making. A very
authoritative Captain may tend to stifle crew assertiveness and a very passive Captain may cause excessively
assertive behaviour on the part of the crew. A good balance is ideally attained by the Captain being
authoritative enough to command the flight effectively, yet seeking inputs from the other crew members. (F/O
Lucy Young, USAir)
Command Assertiveness
Captains have quite powerful authority to ensure that their flights are completed safely, legally and efficiently
while completing the commercial task.
The secret is to use that authority judiciously and wisely to achieve your desired outcome safely and legally.
Sometimes your followers; cockpit or cabin crew, ATC, engineers, traffic staff or even dispatch or operational
staff, will want you to undertake a course of action that you determine is unsafe or inappropriate. In these
cases you may have to just say “NO!” and outline your alternative desired plan of action (communicate your
intent using the necessary level of CRM).
Do not ever allow anyone to “force” you into a situation that you are uncomfortable or unsure about. The other
party may be unhappy about your decision, but Command is not a popularity contest and you will be required to
make tough decisions that you determine to be best for your particular situation.
You will never really be a Captain until you can say “NO!” (Sal Fallucco)
It might be a simple as requesting that the engineer explain again the ramifications of a complicated MEL item
or requesting from ATC extra track miles or a holding pattern to gain extra time to complete emergency actions.
During confusing, complex, ambiguous or novel situations you may have to exercise your power of Command by
being decisive and assertive when required. This is absolutely essential in time critical situations – you cannot
afford to waffle and be indecisive, uncertain or hesitant.
In these situations you need to be proactive rather than reactive. Being reactive reduces your available options

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and often places you into unavoidable, undesirable outcomes, not of your choosing. Being proactive allows you
to decide, plan, have options and dictate the outcome.
Control events rather than be driven by them.
You, the Captain, are ultimately responsible for the safe and legal operation of your crew and the flight and you
get to run the operation your way if required.
Assertion is not usually required in a well structured CRM team environment, but it is an essential Command
skill for you to use when you require decisiveness to achieve your plan and outcome.
Use assertion wisely when required and if time permits explain your reasons, justification and rationale to your
followers.

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Leadership Styles
Leadership style is the manner and approach of providing direction, implementing plans, and motivating
people. Leadership style is very individual and how you incorporate those characteristics into your own
individual Leadership style is entirely up to you. There is just no way that Leadership can be reduced to a
"cookie cutter", simplistic, "do it this way" type of approach.
There are a number of different Leadership styles. Head on over to Don Clark's "The Art & Science Of
Leadership" for a more comprehensive discussion on Leadership. For our Command purposes we will look at
the following three:
Authoritarian or Autocratic
This is a direct and dominant style of Leadership characterised by strong and individualistic people. This type of
Leader does not involve subordinates, likes to maintain as much control as possible, make decisions
independently and is very task orientated. Exercises authority rather than Leadership. Most followers resent
this type of Leadership in normal circumstances. The focus is firmly on the Leader.
Participative or Democratic
This is a shared Leadership style with the Leader including and involving their followers to make the most of the
team’s strengths and minimise their weaknesses. However the Leader maintains the final decision making
authority. The focus is on the team.
Delegative or Free Reign
In this style the Leader allows his followers to get on with their tasks relatively unsupervised and make their
own decisions. This may be because the followers have the required skills or information or because the Leader
delegates to competent and suitably skilled followers (good) or because the Leader abrogates his responsibility
due to laziness or incompetence or defers to others (bad). The focus is on the followers.
There is no right or wrong way. But more importantly, YOU will have to "discover" what works for you and how
you will adopt and adapt these Leadership characteristics and traits into YOUR way of doing things as the
Captain (see Situational Leadership).
It's all about learning and educating yourself about Leadership.

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Situational Leadership
Although good leaders use all three Leadership styles (Authoritarian, Participative or Delegative), with one style
normally dominant, bad Leaders tend to stick with only one style.
There is no one right Leadership style that will suit all situations. Your Leadership style needs to subtlety
change and shift between the various different Leadship styles to suit the particular situation that you and your
team experience.
The style of Leadership that you use with a very senior and experienced First Officer (likely Participative or
Delegative) will be inappropriate for use with an inexperienced Junior First Officer (Authoritarian may be
appropriate, gradually merging into Participative when trust and competence has been gained).
In time critical situations where safety is involved an extremely Autocratic style may be required. You do not
have the time to discuss the situation as the risk is too great.
In other situations you may be so involved with the other responsibilities of Command that you have little choice
but to be extremely Delegative to manage your workload.
The Delegative style is also effective when your followers know more about the situation than you do (e.g. you
have never operated into a new Port, but your First Officer has operated into there numerous times or a
member of your crew has experienced an unusual situation or emergency before).
All three styles can be used for complex and unusual situations. For example, you may determine that the
present course of action is not working and so direct a new plan (Authoritarian). In implementing this new plan
you may ask for your team’s information, input and ideas to refine your plan (Participative). Finally you may
delegate tasks to implement action to effect the plan (Delegative).
Remember that you are always ultimately responsible for the conduct of the flight and are accountable for not
only your decisions and actions but also for your followers decisions and actions (right or wrong).
As a general rule, the members of your team are all adequately trained and skilled, with the requisite level of
knowledge and will normally prefer a Participative style of Leadership – they desire and want to be involved.
This style is the best to promote CRM.
So be prepared to alter your Leadership style to best suit the particular situation you and your team find
yourself facing.

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Cockpit Gradient
Make sure that you read the Leadership Styles article before you go any further as that will explain the types or
styles of Leadership discussed later in this article.
At all times you should maintain a positive cockpit gradient, that is to say, YOU as the Captain should be the
one running the show. Normally you will the one with the most experience and knowledge, otherwise you would
not be in a position of Command.
A positive cockpit gradient is essential to maintain an effective Leadership role. If you end up with a negative
cockpit gradient your First Officer is running the show and you have given up your Leadership role and adopted
or allowed yourself to transform into a follower. The cockpit gradient can be either steep or shallow, but should
always remain positive.
Experience
The relative cockpit “levels” of the LHS and RHS vary depending on the experience levels of the Captain and
First Officer and the situation encountered.
For most of the time you will encounter normal experience levels between you and your First Officer and you will
face routine situations.
This results in a moderate and “normal” cockpit gradient which facilitates the usual use of the Participative
style of Leadership.
An experienced Captain (a high cockpit level) and an inexperienced First Officer (a low cockpit level) will have a
steep cockpit gradient.
An inexperienced Captain and an experienced First Officer will have a shallow cockpit gradient, but it still should
be positive.
Situation

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A time critical situation will require the Captain to “increase” his cockpit level as you take on more of the
decision making, risk assessment and more actively Lead your team. This has the effect of steepening the
overall cockpit gradient.
A routine flight will not place any great demands on either cockpit crew and so the cockpit levels will be low and
the cockpit gradient may be normal to quite flat.
Changing Leadership Styles
If a routine flight is coupled with a new and inexperienced Captain (a low cockpit level) and an experienced First
Officer (a high cockpit level), a very shallow cockpit gradient would result.
A shallow cockpit gradient lends itself to a Delegative style of Leadership. Ensure that the cockpit gradient
remains positive. You must still retain the overall Leadership role.
In a complex, difficult, time critical situation the Captain will be required to rapidly elevate his cockpit level. If
this occurs with a new and inexperienced Junior First Officer, the cockpit gradient will steepen quickly.

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A steep cockpit gradient lends itself to an Authoritarian style of Leadership.
Between these two extremes lie many different angles of cockpit gradient, from steep to shallow. The often
varying cockpit gradient will influence to some extent what Leadership style you employ to react to the given
crew composition, crew experience and the conditions and situation that you find your team in. Remember that
good Leaders vary their Leadership style to suit the situation.
Which Leadership style you eventually choose to use will result from the experience levels within the cockpit,
the situation and how demanding it is and, of course, your knowledge of Leadership, coupled with common
sense and effective CRM.

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Good Leadership
Good leadership consists of motivating people to their highest levels by offering them opportunities, not
obligations. (Lao Tzu)
Leadership is in the eye of the follower. (Simon Caulkin)

You should strive for excellence in Leadership – this will make you an excellent Captain.
While it is difficult to continuously project all of the following good Leadership qualities you should endeavour to
display the majority of them at most times – otherwise you will lose the respect of your followers and team
members. Poor Leaders are poor Captains.
Outlined below is a comprehensive list of characteristics, traits and values that good Leaders, and therefore
good Captains, should possess and display:
Leads by example
Aviates, Navigates, Communicates and Manages – in that priority order
Is an influential, credible, consistent role model with integrity and is aware that their every move is examined,
judged, scrutinised and often copied by their followers
Delegates when appropriate, regulates the tempo and pace when possible, spreads the workload, prioritises
tasks and utilises available team members expertise so that spare mental capacity is available to allow
management, planning, risk assessment, decision making and implementation of action
Is highly driven, intrinsically motivated and innovative, but also fosters that same enthusiasm in their followers
Sets a high personal standard, is a disciplined and skilled performer who readily and openly admits own
mistakes
Well organised, well prepared and as a result, rarely caught off guard
Communicates well, but matches words with actions
Has a sense of humour and promotes fun with excellence, along with a passion and joy for the job and task at
hand
Is calm in a crisis, tolerates ambiguity, applies common sense, simplifies complex situations and operates
optimally, intelligently and flexibly when under pressure and is able to direct the team in difficult situations
Establishes and maintains an appropriate positive Command gradient, leaves no doubt as to who is the Leader
and is firm but fair
Is approachable and establishes and maintains an open, respectful, sincere and supportive team atmosphere,
being mindful of each team member’s welfare
Is confident, proactive and readily and promptly takes command if the situation dictates and uses the correct
and appropriate level of authority
Involves other team members in the planning and decision making process and explains the rationale behind
the final decision
Relates well with other people and has good Interpersonal and CRM skills
Able to modify and change Leadership styles to suit the particular situation
Takes into account each individual’s needs and abilities, builds their self esteem and self satisfaction and
provides opportunities for the individual to perform and gain experience
Is aware of their followers’ workload, tasks, duties and abilities
Builds, moulds, and engenders a sound team spirit and morale to maintain good team work, clearly states
performance standards and objectives and monitors and guides the team’s performance
Do you have what it takes to be a good Leader?

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Followers
Good Leadership enhances followers, just as good followership enhances Leaders. (Heller and Van Til)
Leadership is not possible without followers. You have just spent a number of years as a First Officer – a
follower. Don't forget what it was like to be a follower - that will make you a better Leader.
A superior and successful Leader will promote and foster good followership in the team by developing and
nurturing essential follower skills. An effective follower;
Works effectively as a team member

Treats the Captain with the respect that is earned and is mindful of a positive Command Gradient
Accepts all assigned tasks willingly and executes them to the best of their ability
Maintains a positive attitude, especially when the situation is confused and changing
Offers suggestions and uses assertion as appropriate, but without usurping the Captain’s authority
Supports the chain of command, especially under stress
Voices differences of opinion, but executes with vigour the eventual decision
Demonstrates loyalty to the Company and its Leaders
Places the task, team and Company interests above personal interests
Remember what it was like to be a First Officer and a follower. Recall the instances of good Captains letting you
function efficiently and do your job and resolve not to emulate the poor Captains who suppressed their
followers.

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One of the essential qualities of good Leaders is that they look after their followers. Never forget to include your
followers (First Officer, Cabin Crew etc.) in your sphere of Leadership.
It is your followers who determine if you are a good Leader, NOT you the Leader, or your superiors.
Leader/Follower Interacting Skills
Dr. Maureen Pettitt and Mr. Joseph Dunlap of Western Michigan University have identified several "interacting
skills" that both effective Leaders and followers applied as necessary to ensure task accomplishment.
A description of each skill and behaviour representative of the skill is described below:
Initiative – begins an action, without external direction, to overcome a perceived deficiency
Influence – obtains commitment from others to ideas or actions using effective interpersonal skills, styles and
methods
Adaptability – adjusts to changing environments, ambiguity, and abnormal situations
Receptiveness – encourages, pays attention to, and conveys understanding of another's ideas, comments or
questions
Modelling – exhibits behaviour consistent with the company's highest technical and ethical standards
Envisioning – creates and articulates a picture of the future or a desired state
If you, as the Captain, foster these “interacting skills” by displaying them yourself and encouraging and allowing
your First Officer and other followers in your team to utilise them, then you have displayed good Leadership. In
doing so you have reduced the risks involved and as a result, have increased safety and efficiency.
These interacting skills are especially critical in our airline operations because of the constantly changing
composition of Cockpit (and Cabin) crews and the shifting cockpit roles due to the rotation of PF/PM (and with
the addition of Releif First Officers and Second Officers on Long Haul flights).
So encourage and display these 6 Interacting skills.

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Decision Making - CRM
We all recognise that we work within a very regulated environment, each with very defined duties and
responsibilities. With such a high degree of standardisation, normal operations usually run like clockwork (NP's
or SOP's) and even most emergency and non-standard situations (ECAM/EICAS/QRH) have been anticipated to
make our operations very routine. In fact the life of Airline crew has been likened to "a lifetime of mundane,
routine boredom, punctuated by moments of shear terror!"
The modern flightdeck is already

capable of performing automatically all routine and normal functions with greater reliability than the human
manual operator (the day of one pilot and a dog is coming!)
However, the human element is essential for its problem solving and management ability; unexpected
problems which have not been anticipated or that are too abstract for the micro-processor (hold the bus - keep
the dog!)
It is on these increasingly rare occasions that human performance comes under scrutiny. It is these same
occasions that effective teamwork is really put to the test and where historically the human element has been
most deficient in aviation accidents; this may be because automation has denied us the opportunity to regularly
practise teamwork co-ordination. As Captain this is something that you must ensure does NOT occur - teamwork
is an essential requirement of today's crews and you will be required to foster teamwork through your
Command and Leadership skills.
The synergistic benefits of teamwork are very valid but they do take time and also need to be practised and
effectively managed.
There are a number of decision making tools available to you as the Captain. To make it easy for you several of
the decision making tools have been constructed by using acronyms. We'll look at some of the common
decision making acronyms available for you to incorporate into your Command skills.
Each article will look at an acronym and expand on the items in that acronym and focus on the CRM issues.
As you read through the various Models presented, notice that they all have the common attributes of;
recognising or noticing that a change has occurred (otherwise you wouldn't realise that you need to make a
decision),
Choosing from various available options (and some will be better than others),
Acting on your decision, and
Monitoring your action (a review or feedback to ensure you achieve your desired outcome).

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Like everything with Command you should find what works for you and then practise using it BEFORE you
commence your Command Course so that it is ingrained, effortless and natural when you will eventually be
called upon to use it for real (often under pressure).
Click on the links below to read the desired decision making article.
CLEAR Model l DECIDE Model l SOCS Model
CLEAR Model - CRM
This is one of a series of articles that will look at some of the decision making models that you can adopt (or
not) to aid in your judgement and role of decision maker as the Captain. Links to the other articles are at the
end of this one.
The CRM CLEAR model is a logical and structured team approach to any problem situation. It provides the
stimulus and focus to deal with any non-routine events that may occur in a team environment. This is the one I
personally use as it is easy to remember, uses your team and remains problem rather than solution centred
until you make your decision and then act.
CLARIFY The Problem

A problem well defined frequently suggests its own solution.
It is important to stay focussed on the problem rather than rush to the solution. It is only by properly
understanding the nature of the problem that you will be equipped to offer an informed solution. Traditionally
aviation decision making has leapt from the problem straight to Action; to fix the problem. This is rarely required
(e.g. an urgent, time critical problem). In the vast majority of cases a considered and well developed plan is
much better.
Frequently there will be more than just the one most immediate problem and these all need to be fully
appreciated and then dealt with in order of priority.
Clarifying the problem can be done either mentally (more of a time critical issue) or verbalised to the entire
crew - summarising what you perceive the problem to be - so that everyone is informed and aware of what the
problem is. If you've got enough time, speed and altitude you can even write it down.
It is important that all your team is aware of what the problem is, as different people will perceive that same
situation differently and so arrive at different solutions and actions. This is about team work, so you want

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everyboby striving to solve the same problem in a co-ordinated way.
LOOK For And Share Information
Teamwork benefits from having different members each with a different perspective toward the same problem
that was clarified in the first step. By clarifying the problem you focus your teams attention to look for and share
information to fix your problem. Each person should be encouraged to contribute toward this step. A member of
your team may have experienced this problem before and so provide a ready made solution with appropriate
actions.
Don't just limit yourself to the F/O or other crew members in the cockpit. Cast your net wide. There is a wealth
of resources available to today's crew. These include individual Crew expertise, local knowledge, Manuals,
Company Operations and Engineering (ACARS, Satcom etc.), Cabin Crew (and occasionally Passengers), DT
Company personnel, ATC requests etc.
The more information you obtain, the better will be the quality of your eventual decision.
EVALUATE Different Solutions
It is sometimes easy to look for one solution (often the first one that pops into your head) to any problem, where
in fact many solutions might exist, some of which will be better than others.
This is now the time to perhaps be critical and to consider the consequences of any possible solution. You are
in effect doing Risk Assessment and Management (Option A is better because of these reasons than Option B).
Involve your team in this aspect as well.
ACT On Your Decision
The step that many people instinctively leap to. The CLEAR model is designed to ensure that we stay problem
centred in establishing all the facts before being solution oriented and acting.
This is the stage that you actually make your decision, communicate your decision and then act on your
decision.
The most important element of this ACT step is to ensure that all crew members understand what has been
decided and what is expected of them. This places great importance on effective communications and may
include the cabin crew and other personnel who provide a resource input. This is where your Communication
and Leadership skills come to the fore.
REVIEW Performance
The Review step must be continually ongoing and provides the "safety valve". If things are not working out, you
may have to return to the beginning (re-Clarify the problem) or modify the actions required (re-Evaluate and
alter your Actions). This is a difficult thing to do, in that having decided on a course of action it is sometimes
easier to continue on with a false sense of confidence than to start again...or to admit that you were wrong .
The Review step is like a feedback loop to ensure that your desired outcome (the solution) is achieved
considering any new information that you receive.
The CLEAR model is one essential element of CRM. Incorporate it into your "armoury" of CRM "weapons" to
make high quality decisions in a team environment.
Decision making l DECIDE Model l SOCS Model

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DECIDE Model - CRM
end of this one.
The DECIDE model is probably pretty familiar to most pilots, especially if you hail from North America. It has
been around for over 15 years and was originally developed by the FAA. If you want to read more about it then
you can get the FAA circular (DECIDE is in Ch 5), or download a PDF document from AOPA or view it on a web
page at Ultra Flight. The DECIDE Model is included in all these documents (you might have to search for it)
along with lots of other good information - they are all worth the time to study.
You can either mentally review the DECIDE Model if time is critical or involve your crew/team (the best option).
While involving your team is not implicitly included in the DECIDE Model, it is just plain good common sense and
CRM to include them in the decision making process.
The DECIDE Model is comprised of a six step process and is intended to provide the pilot with a logical way of
approaching decision making. The six elements of the DECIDE Model represent a continuous loop decision
process which can be used to assist a pilot in the decision making process when he/she is faced with a change
in a situation that requires a judgment.
DETECT - that change has occurred
The decision maker detects or recognises the fact that a change that requires some sort of action or input has
occurred.
ESTIMATE - the need to counter or react to the change
The decision maker estimates the need to counter or react to the change. What do I need to do to alter or
change this situation so that I arrive at my desired outcome?
CHOOSE - a desirable outcome
The decision maker chooses a desirable outcome (in terms of success) for the flight. This is the stage where
risk assessment and management is used to help select the outcome from various different options.
IDENTIFY - actions
The decision maker identifies actions which could successfully control the change. At his stage you have
weighed up the different options and now make your decision. Now is also that the time that you communicate
your decision so that your crew/team can effect the change to produce the required outcome.
DO - take action
The decision maker takes the necessary action to impliment the changes decided in the previous step to arrive
at the desired outcome.
EVALUATE - actions
The decision maker evaluates the effect(s) of his action countering the change. This is the stage where
monitoring of the situation will detect if the desired outcome will be achieved or not. If it will, great. If not then
you may have to start the DECIDE Model again.

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This summary is taken straight from the DECIDE Circular. Notice how all steps begin with "The decision
maker...". I suspect that this Model was developed for all aircraft operations (single pilot and multi-crew) and so
maker..."
covers the entire aviation gamut. It is not appropriate to make isolated and singular judgements as the Captain
of a multi-crew aircraft. It also neglects to include other "team members" (Cockpit and Cabin Crew, Operations
and Engineering, ATC, Ground Staff etc.) as sources of information to help you arrive at your decision.
Ensure you also read the CLEAR Model (which is much more team oriented) before deciding which method you
eventually choose to adopt. As always, there is no right or wrong way - choose what works for you.
Decision making l CLEAR Model l SOCS Model
SOCS Model - CRM
end of this one.
The SOCS model is a relatively simple decision making model. It does not implicitly involve other crew
members, although you can if you so desire, so it may be more appropriate for individual mental assessment in
time compressed situations.
As such it may suffer from the serious disadvantage that your other crew members or other external agencies
that you can use, may not be involved in the process and you are operating in isolation. Information that others
have, may not be sought and so that information is lost to you.

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SITUATION - define what needs to be done
Assess and recognise the problem that you are faced with. There may be more than one problem in that
particular situation and each must be acted upon depending on your perceived priorities.
OPTIONS - examine different ones
Review the various options available and conduct your risk assessment and management to determine the
best option to provide your solution. There may be more than one solution and some will be better than others.
CONSEQUENCES - of the action(s)
What will be the consequences of your selected action(s)? After reviewing the consequences you may have to
go back to the beginning if you assess that the consequences are not worth the degree of risk involved.
SELECT - an action
Finally select a course of action and implement it.
This model is much simpler than the others but it suffers from the serious disadvantage of not fully utilising
your entire team members (Cockpit Crew, Cabin Crew, Operational and Engineering Staff, ATC etc.). To make
high quality decisions you require high quality information and most of the time "two heads are better than
one".
Decision making l CLEAR Model l DECIDE Model
Cockpit & Cabin Crew – Two Cultures
In the civil passenger aviation world the aircraft crew (cockpit and cabin crews) have steadily evolved since the
inception of commercial aviation into two very different groups – into two different and distinct cultures.
The two groups are separated not only physically (and this has become much more of an issue since 9/11 and
the "secure" cockpit requirements of locked cockpit doors and restricted cockpit access), but also
demographically, organisationally and sociologically.
The following descriptions of the two cultures are necessarily very broad and gross generalisations.
The "Front End" cockpit crew is generally male, 30-50 years old, operates in a sedentary environment, in an
enclosed, small workspace, has extensive technological training and skill, is very task and goal oriented and is
adept at operating machines/computers. There is a very clear vertical, hierarchical chain-of-command. They
focus on technology and safety. They have a bit of an idea of what goes on "behind the door".
The "Back End" cabin crew is generally female, 20-40 years old, operates in an open space, mobile, dynamic,
personal setting, has good social and interpersonal skills, is very group and team orientated and is adept at
interacting with people. There is a looser, lateral more independent form of command. They focus on service
delivery. They have a bit of an idea of what goes on "in front of the door".

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These are almost diametrically opposed descriptions of the cockpit and cabin crew – the two cultures. The
"Front End" and "Back End"; Us and Them. The two teams usually don't have much in-depth knowledge of what
the other does.
This is exacerbated by the barrier that the cockpit door presents (not only physically but also mentally) and is
usually perpetuated by your Airline or Company by having the "two teams" under two different organisational
groups. The cockpit crew are under the umbrella of the Flight Operations Department and the cabin crew under
the Inflight/Passenger Service Department (or whatever your relevant departments are called in your particular
Airline or Company).
As if this is not enough, the two cultures usually have different work practices, Flight Time Limitations and
rostering/scheduling and quite often the two Company Departments don't effectively communicate with each
other.
It is almost as if history and your Company builds walls between the two crews.
Most of the time you will be able to get away with the "two crews", cockpit and cabin crews, not operating
effectively together. "You do your job and I'll do mine."
But if you encounter a serious malfunction/problem inflight the margins of safety are seriously compromised if
you all don't work together – fatally in some cases. There's no stopping in mid-air and getting off; you're all in
this together, stuck in your pressurised aluminium tin can.
This lack of team work and communication has been identified in several fatal aircraft accidents as one of the
primary causes of the accident. Your cabin crew sometimes has the knowledge of a particular situation that
may influence your decision making and be the one thing that breaks the error chain and prevents a serious
incident or accident.
Not only will you have a safer flight, but it will be friendlier and more pleasant.
Your job as the Captain and Leader of these "two crews" is to break down the walls and mould the two cultures,
the "two crews", into one single, coherent, effective, safe, harmonious team/crew and to facilitate
communication, understanding, empathy and CRM.
Oh! And most of these individuals are complete strangers! And you've only got about five minutes to this!
To find out how to mould your team/crew see Cockpit & Cabin Crew – Breaking Down The Barriers.
I urge you to read the articles that you can freely download from the Cabin Factors web site by Rebecca D.
Chute.
Cockpit/Cabin Communication: I. A Tale of Two Cultures

Cockpit/Cabin Communication: II. Shall We Tell the Pilots?
Cockpit/Cabin Crew Performance: Recent Research
Synergy in an Emergency: The Interface Between Flight-Deck and Cabin Crews
Evaluation of Cabin Crew Technical Knowledge
They explain in much greater detail the differences between the two crews. If you are to be the Captain and
Leader of your crew you really need to know this stuff.

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Cockpit & Cabin Crew – Breaking Down The Barriers
In a previous article, Cockpit & Cabin Crew – Two Cultures, we discussed the concept that the cockpit and cabin
crews have evolved as separate, different and distinctive crews or teams, often not interacting effectively
together.
History and your Company or Airline seems to build walls between the "two crews". Your job as the Captain and
Leader of these "two teams" is break down the walls, open communication channels and create a single, safe,
harmonious, effective flight crew/team.
You usually are faced with a group of individuals who you have not met before and are required to mould these
individuals into a team in five minutes (or less!)
Most people will be reluctant to make the first move (especially to a bunch of strangers), so it is up to you as
the Captain and Leader to initiate this…Lead your team right from the start!
These strangers are people, and they respond to personalised inputs – interpersonal skills are definitely
required (you have been practising your interpersonal skills, haven't you?).
It's not rocket science. Be visible to everyone, smile at people, look them in the eye, shake hands, make a joke,
involve them, try and discuss something personal with them. You are setting the tone for the entire flight in
these first five minutes or so. You need to be perceived as friendly and approachable and you will thus open
communication channels. Effective communication is one area that needs to be established straight away
between the cockpit and cabin crews.
Generally your crew will want you to convey "The Three I's" (from Cockpit-Cabin Communication Results of
Recent Research):
INTRODUCE yourself,
Keep them INFORMED, and
Do not IGNORE them.
Tell everyone the flight time, what weather they can expect (cabin crew are particularly interested in turbulence
as it has a big effect on their cabin duties), any special security or operational information, how long the initial
taxy time to takeoff is (a short taxi time will require some extra planning by the cabin crew to accomplish all
required duties), whether you will be refuelling during passenger boarding, emergency procedures, cockpit
access, if any special maintenance will be performed – anything that you think will either affect the cabin crew's
duties or would be of professional interest.
This is so simple and easy and can pay huge dividends later.
This costs nothing, requires little training and involves no compromises with other duties. (Rebecca Chute)
Keep the cabin crew on YOUR side – do not alienate them. Cultivate them, take an interest in their welfare,
needs, problems and their duties. Mould and nurture your team. Empower them, make them feel wanted and
needed and an integral and essential part of your team.
You are the COMMANDER, so you are RESPONSIBLE for them – be a LEADER, not a MANAGER.
They aren't just the food and drink dispensers, they are YOUR representative and emissary in the cabin, and
YOUR resident safety expert in their respective locations.
A good cabin crew, especially the Head/Chief/ISM/CSM, you get on well with, will tend to keep all cabin
problems aft of the flight-deck door. That is a major plus when things get busy and makes your job as Captain
much easier.
A good cockpit/cabin crew team is a safety multiplier. A poor cockpit/cabin crew "team" is an accident waiting

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to happen.
Good team work and communication is all that is sometimes required to make the difference between a
disaster and the successful conclusion to a flight/incident/problem/situation. You, as the Captain and Leader
of your team, have to ensure that this occurs.
Help each other out, communicate and understand each other's duties – after all, you're all on the same team,
in the same fragile aluminium tube together!
When you're in a leaky boat, you either all row together and make shore or you all sink together.
To find out about the "two teams" see Cockpit & Cabin Crew – Two Cultures.
I urge you to read the articles that you can freely download from the Cabin Factors web site by Rebecca D.
Chute.
Cockpit/Cabin Communication: I. A Tale of Two Cultures

Cockpit/Cabin Communication: II. Shall We Tell the Pilots?
Cockpit/Cabin Crew Performance: Recent Research
Synergy in an Emergency: The Interface Between Flight-Deck and Cabin Crews
Evaluation of Cabin Crew Technical Knowledge
They explain in much greater detail the differences between the two crews. If you are to be the Captain and
Leader of your crew you really need to know this stuff.
Communication - Birdstrike & Engine Damage
All too often most of our “learning” is from negative experiences.
In aviation this is particularly so in relation to incidents/accidents. You can almost guarantee that lots of other
aviators will eventually be reading about your experience if you are involved in a major incident or any type of
accident. Incident and accident reports are one medium of learning for us, as aviators.
You don’t often get to hear or read about the professional aviators who through their skill, training, superior
airmanship and experience handle a serious incident very well. No one gets hurts, minimal damage is caused
and life goes on.
It’s just not very newsworthy. But we as aviators should be seeking out these positive experiences and learning
from them.
Check out this YouTube video clip of a Thomson B757 which suffers a bird strike and engine damage just after
rotation.
The really good thing about this video (apart from the great job everyone did!) is that it includes the Pilot, ATC
and Fire Services radio communications.
Watch and learn from this video as it contains elements of “coolness” under stress (both the pilots – I salute
you – and also the ATC Tower and Approach controllers), team work (between the cockpit crew, ATC, the Fire
Services and other ATC and ground agencies – you don’t actually get to hear this “other agencies” exchange on
the video, but it was obviously happening behind the scenes), clear and unambiguous communication of intent

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and exchange of information that one party had that they thought by sharing would assist the other.
This is a great example of how to COMMUNICATE – to get your ideas, thoughts or intentions to another person
clearly and unambiguously, with a minimum of time and fuss. And everybody was very proactive with
information flowing both ways.
I would love to have heard what the Cockpit and Cabin Crew communications were like and how the
communication between the Captain and Cabin Crew with the passengers went. I bet a few pax were quickly
reviewing the Safety Procedures that most of them completely ignore as they planned the impending change of
underwear.
As you watch the video try to “arm-chair fly” the sequence. What noises, vibrations, smells and visual
indications would the crew have got after hitting the bird? How would you have reacted? When would you
shutdown the engine - right away or at a later time? How would you “manage” this situation? What are your first
and most important priorities? What would you say to the Cabin Crew and the passengers (practise making a
PA to your “pax” about this situation) and when would you do this? Who else would you communicate to – your
Company, Ground Engineers – and how would you do it? Would you have diverted? Where, how, for how long
and at what altitude would you hold (if at all)? Who would fly the aircraft (you or your F/O)? How could you
reduce your workload to free up spare brain power to think through and plan the situation? Have you even
thought about a situation like this?
There are usually quite a number of “right” ways to handle incidents such as this, some possibly more “correct”
than others, so try to think of other ways this incident could have been handled. Bear in mind that the video has
been edited and goes for less than 10 minutes but in reality the aircraft was airborne for about 45 minutes, not
including the taxi time after landing.
Watch the video and if you’re as inspired as I was with this positive learning experience then share your
thoughts with the rest of us in the Airline Command Discussion Forum.
Your Team – Things You Should Know
In this article we’re going to concentrate more on the team that is the closest to you – primarily your F/O or F/E
(your Cockpit Crew) and to a lesser degree your Cabin Crew. These are the people in your team that you will
have personal contact with. However, some of these same ideas and principles can also be used for your other
“team” members such as, ATC, ground engineers, operational or other ground staff.
Why Bother With Teams?
In our profession of aviation, teams are a very important and integral part of our everyday operation. You and
the other members of your team (often complete strangers) will be required to interact and function effectively
from the very first time that you meet prior to commencing your preflight paperwork, until to well after you
complete all your post flight duties.
Airline and aviation SOPs or NPs have evolved into very team dependant operations. CRM focuses very heavily
on team co-operation and co-ordination. There is usually a minimum of two pilots on every modern airliner flight
deck and the SOPs or NPs are constructed and formulated on this team basis.
In today’s aviation if you cannot operate within a team framework, at best you will struggle and have great
difficulty in effectively completing your job and at worst you will just not survive in this aviation game.

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Why? Have you ever thought about why we operate in teams (in aviation, sports and life)?
It’s pretty basic really. Effective and competent teamwork improves performance. That’s all there is to it.
That’s the reason we as humans, form and live in families, tribes, associations and groups.
A champion team will always beat a team of champions. Or in other words; a group of average individuals
operating as a functional and effective team will always beat a group of above average individuals who do not
operate as a team.
A sporting example of this is the 1980 Olympic US Men’s Hockey team, who were considered rank outsiders of
amateur collegiate players, but forged themselves into a champion team to win the Gold Medal (“The Miracle
On Ice”) against their much-fancied opposition. An aviation example is the crew of United 232 who worked
together to “land” their crippled DC10 after suffering a total hydraulic failure and total loss of all flight controls.
An everyday example is whenever YOU turn up for work and go flying.
If you still don’t believe that teamwork is an essential part of modern aviation then consider this: over 70% of
all severe aircraft accidents between 1959 and 1989 were at least partially attributable to flight crew
behaviour. This alarming statistic has been one of the main drivers in the relatively recent CRM education by
Airlines and ICAO. It is your neck on the line here, so you may as well do your utmost to minimise your risk and
surround yourself with the best team possible.
The First Five Minutes
When your team meets for the first time, you as the Captain and Leader, in the first five minutes set the tone
for the rest of your team’s time together (one sector, multiple sectors or even days).
This first five minutes is an important time for you to display and promote your Interpersonal Skills, Command
Presence, Leadership and forge how your team will relate together, now and in the future. You’ve got to open
channels of communication, be friendly and accessible and briefly and succinctly outline how you want your
“show” to be run. This will determine your teams’ behaviour towards both you and to other team members –
how your group will operate as a team. First impressions really do count!
Endevour to warmly greet each member of your team, look him or her in the eye and shake his or her hand.
Spend a bit of time to get to know the person you will be sitting next to – examples might be to ask about his
roster, aviation background, landing recency, port and route knowledge for the areas you will be operating into
– anything to “break the ice”, put him at ease and get him onto your side. You’re effectively moulding your team
in this first five minutes.
Include them in the decision-making right from the beginning. Make them feel important, give them some
control over their destiny and make them feel as if they are a valued team member. Ultimately all the really
important decisions are yours, but you can “disguise” this by asking questions, providing additional information
and guiding your F/O to reach “your” desired answer (e.g. get your F/O to determine how much fuel is required
for this sector. If you agree with his amount, great, your F/O has made the decision, if you don't agree with it
you'll have to "guide" him to your pre-conceived amount.). However you do it, try to make it appear that your
team has arrived at this desired decision themselves. If you can’t accomplish this, or don’t have enough time to
do this, then you as Captain get to decide and then get on with the job.
To foster your new team environment use the first person plural when talking. Use words such as "we, us, our"
which indicate a team association. Avoid words such as "me, you, I" that tend to indicate an individualistic
connotation. Do the same thing with your Cabin Crew.
In this first five minutes you get to mould your team into a “good” team or a “bad” team. Numerous studies
have shown that good teams generally get better the longer they are together and bad teams generally get
worse the longer they are together. Your job as Captain will be so much easier if you generate a “good” team

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and to a certain extent you can control and influence this, primarily by your behaviour and attitude towards the
team.
Research has shown that effective Captains use Crew briefings as a time to delineate expectations of crew
members' performances and tasks, and to define the team's structure. Good Captains and Leaders established
Boundaries, Norms and Authority.
Ensure that you either allow your F/O to decide or nominate who will be PF for the sector. There’s nothing worse
as an F/O than wondering who will be PF for this sector when the Captain is vague and indecisive.
Forming and moulding a team that can function effectively over time to achieve a difficult task is not an
effortless process, and certainly not instantaneous. You will have to expend some effort and work at it.
Advantages Of Teams
Teamwork improves performance by;

Increasing knowledge and expertise available (two heads are better than one and obtaining different points of
view)
Increasing synthesis of ideas and skills to create new or better options and tend to more successful in
implementing complex plans and dealing with complex situations and developing more creative solutions to
difficult problems
Increases synergy (the whole is greater than the sum of the parts)
Facilitates the transfer of knowledge (provided you as the Leader foster and promote the sharing of
information)
This improved team performance can allow the team to be less cautious, but paradoxically not less safe (with
the increased knowledge and expertise available to you and the assistance of your team, as the Captain, you
may decide to take what you originally considered in isolation a “riskier” choice, but now assess as a better
choice, as a result of the extra information and assistance now available).
Being part of a successful and competent team can increase everyone’s morale and mood, which in turn can
improve performance and results. Team members also have the opportunity to learn from each other.
Disadvantages Of Teams
When you mention teamwork most people immediately think only of the advantages. There are several
disadvantages to teamwork that have the potential to decrease performance.
Poor inter-personal relationships within the team can result in individuals working separately and/or against
the team goals or not contributing at all. Conflict may develop between team members or other teams. You as
the Captain and Leader must not allow this to happen or minimise its effect. On some rare occasions you will
be required to “lay down the law” and be the Authority Figure to get your team to function more optimally. It can
be like disciplining naughty kids at times. Command is not a popularity contest; you are the Leader and the one
in charge.
"Free-riding" or “Social Loafing” within the team may occur. This is when some team members think they can
slack off when they perceive that the team can handle and cope with the situation or problem without their
input. “She’ll be right, they’ve got it under control”.
Teams can allow the phenomenon of “Groupthink” to occur. Groupthink prevails when the "need to conform" is
operating. Individuals can withhold valuable information that may in fact improve their situation in the belief
that the rest of the group has already decided on a particular course of action. They don’t want to “rock the
boat”, appear contrary to the majority or want to avoid conflicts and censure. Groupthink is characterized by a
pattern of members agreeing to ideas or other aspects of team interactions without questioning or disputing.
This trend may occur due to a need or desire to conform, to maintain harmony, to avoid conflict, or out of fear
of expressing different viewpoints. The results may include reduction in creativity and less sound group
decisions. Don’t assume that silence by other team members means that they internally consent and agree
with the team’s decisions – they just might be reluctant to go against the majority decision and elect to keep
their mouths shut.

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It’s Up To You
You are the Captain and Leader of your team, so the team formation and moulding process is largely in your
hands. Expect that your F/Os and Cabin Crew will take your lead. If you are open and indicate that you need
and want their input, ideas, assistance and suggestions, then you’ll get it. The opposite is also true.
You set the tone for your crew in the first five minutes of meeting. Make sure you get it right and start off with a
good team that improves the longer you are together.
A good team makes your job as Captain so much easier, less stressful, enjoyable and pleasant.

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Splitting The Cockpit & How To Join It Again
Modern airline aviation, CRM, SOPs/NPs, pilot training, automation design and cockpit design – the whole
airline flying philosophy – is based on the premise that at an absolute minimum two pilots (Captain and F/O)
are available and working together as an integrated and effective team.
Well that’s how it’s supposed to work, but we all know that theory is one thing and practice is quite another!
Occasionally the two of you will NOT be working together as a team, but as individuals, independently doing
your own thing, often not aware of what the other is doing, sometimes in complete ignorance of this fact. On
some very rare occasions (and we’ll look at them a little later) this may be required to accomplish your goals
and task, but as a general rule this lack of teamwork is poor CRM, results in decreased overall SA, decreased
crew interaction and performance and increases uncertainty, risk and the very real possibility of errors,
incidents or accidents.
Splitting The Cockpit
"Splitting the Cockpit" is a term that I use figuratively as it aptly describes the effect of the Cockpit Crew working
independently as individuals. It is as if someone has erected a wall down the centre of the cockpit so that you
are almost physically separated (you’re certainly mentally and operationally separated) or split from each other.
While this Split Cockpit situation is not desirable, be aware that it does occur in real life. One of your jobs or
responsibilities as Captain is to, ideally, ensure that it doesn’t happen to your crew or if it does result, that you
join the cockpit again ASAP with minimal risk.
Split Cockpit Causes
The most common cause of a split cockpit is a distraction. This might be an abnormal or unusual occurrence or
situation, which results in confusion, a poorly managed distraction and incorrect (and often different and
divergent) focus of attention.
This distraction can cause either or both Cockpit Crew members to focus their attention on inappropriate items
or get side-tracked from the most important items (remember aviate, navigate, communicate or if you prefer,
plane, path, people?). Poor or badly chosen prioritisation, workload management, planning and/or
communication of intent (sharing your plan or metal model) usually results from this mismanagement of the
distraction.
Common causes of these types of Split Cockpit distractions are;

EICAS/ECAM/QRH actions (and this can occur with both minor and major cautions or warnings – watch out for
Attention Suck. NOTE: This is a very real threat with the Airbus ECAM – so you Airbus drivers, be careful and
vigilant when you utter the words that start the ECAM juggernaut rolling; “I have control, ECAM actions”),
Aircraft defects or unserviceabilities (again both minor and major),
Getting buried in the books (use of on-board publications to clarify/rectify a situation or occurrence),
Non standard or modified SOPs/NPs (the other guy is not a mind reader – if you intend to do something non-
standard inform him and have a bloody good, valid, justifiable reason for doing so),
Not sharing your plan or mental model or poor communication of intent so that the other guy has no idea or is
confused about what you are doing or attempting to accomplish (how can someone monitor and back you up if
he’s got no idea of what you are doing, why you are doing it and how you are going to do it?),
Infrequently used procedures (non-precision, circling and visual approaches seem to crop up often in Airline
operations, along with unusual MEL Operational Procedures),
Other Split Cockpit causes may be;
Preconceived ideas, assumptions or mind-set that either of you don’t share as a team (you do one thing based
on your assumption which your F/O is not aware of or is not anticipating or expecting),

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Task saturation or overload, which usually results in one or both of you “load shedding” tasks, or developing
“tunnel vision”. You will need to be careful of overloading your F/O, especially if he is inexperienced, as it can
be easy to have too much occurring simultaneously and you will “lose” him. This can also occur to you if you get
overwhelmed managing an unusual situation or problem. In both cases the overloaded person can become
“detached” from reality and lose SA quickly. When this happens the affected person usually becomes very
quiet, detached and unresponsive,
Major malfunctions or emergencies that are time critical, unusual, novel or complex (which are sometimes not
even covered in emergency checklists). In these rare situations you may have no choice but to Split the Cockpit,
otherwise you just won’t have enough time to complete or partially execute your desired actions. This is one
case when a Split Cockpit may be a better option and you will be required to use your risk assessment,
airmanship, experience and judgement with the Command Skills of prioritisation, delegation and workload
management. An example may be an inflight fire with you as the Captain being PF, using the radios and setting
up and configuring for an immediate landing (you’re Heads Up flying the jet) and directing your F/O to handle
the complex EICAS/ECAM/QRH and aircraft systems (he’s Heads Down trying to extinguish the fire).
How To Join Your Split Cockpit
First of all, you have to recognise that you are in a Split Cockpit situation.
Being aware of the causes stated above is a good start and can provide a Red Flag for you to actively manage
the situation and prevent the split or rejoin it quickly. Other Red Flag recognition items are confusion,
uncertainty, indecision, ambiguity, doubt, vagueness, detachment or hesitation.
After you’ve recognised that you have this problem, communication is the simple, secret weapon to join your
Split Cockpit together and for you and your F/O to again act as a team.
Communicate what your plan is or prompt your F/O for his plan. Start working as a team again. Tell everyone
what your intentions are, what you want to achieve and how you intend to achieve it. Share your mental model
and communicate your intent.
Update your crew’s SA. Use the three quick and dirty SA Enhancement items (terrain, traffic, weather) to renew
your crew’s “big picture” SA. A quick SITREP of altitude, heading or active waypoint, speed, AP/FD and Auto
Thrust modes/engagement states and current ATC clearances can get everyone back into the current Aviate,
Navigate situation. Advise the crew of your progress and aircraft configuration/state if you’re reviewing
publications, completing ECAM/EICAS/QRH items.
If you are PM/PNF you may have to assist or direct your F/O. If you are the PM and your F/O is approaching
YOUR Skill Envelope and there is still uncertainty, then you may have to take control and become the PF until
you get it sorted out. If the Split Cockpit situation and SA breaks down to an unacceptable level then you, as the
Captain, need to display Command and Leadership skills very proactively to kill ambiguity and be Clear,
Decisive and Firm.
If you or your F/O have become split due to task overload or tunnel vision, then slow the operational tempo
down and pace the team so that you can operate together at the same speed as a team. Keep an eye out for
your F/O and slow things down if he starts to get bogged down. If you get bogged down alert your F/O so that he
can pace himself to allow you to catch up.
The aim in joining the Split Cockpit is to operate as a team again and to share the individual information that
you have acquired when operating independently.

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A Better Team
There is a lot of good, interesting, valid and free stuff on the internet, almost directly related to being an Airline
Captain. The catch is you have to find it and with the vast volume of information out there in cyberspace this
can be frustrating and time consuming. You have to spend considerable and time and effort to locate the valid
stuff amongst all the trivia and fluff. This is perhaps one of the reasons why you’re reading this blog!
I stumbled across this really good paper produced by the Gottlieb Daimler and Karl Benz Foundation titled The
Better the Team, the Safer the World – Golden Rules of Group Interaction in High Risk Environments: Evidence
based suggestions for improving performance (download the PDF version here).
As the introduction states:

The “Golden Rules” in this handbook on Group Interaction in High Risk Environments are the fruit of five years
of research in the fields of aviation, medicine and nuclear power. Whilst it is often difficult, or even impossible,
to transfer scientific findings direct to everyday situations, the recommendations set out here are immediately
relevant to employee safety training. They can be applied to virtually any scenario in which teams are required
to deal with challenging or dangerous situations.
Don’t get too put off by the fancy sounding title or high powered intro. The paper is very easy to read and except
for one or two of the “Golden Rules”, very applicable to your job as the Captain.
None of the “Golden Rules” should come as any surprise (unless you have extremely poorly developed CRM,
Leadership and/or team skills). Each of the Rules are mostly a one page outline with the Rule as the Title and
followed by paragraphs on the Reason, Consequences, Actors (who it applies to) and References supporting
the Rule.
While most of the Rules concern Team functioning, there are some Leadership lessons to be learnt as well. The
good thing about these Rules that they are simple and easy to gradually incorporate into your Command
“toolbox”. All good stuff as you proceed towards your Airline Command and Leadership goals.
The Golden Rules are:

Ask early for the task later (Inquire early – ask questions early in the life of the team)
Reduce the need to repeat with a daily goals sheet (Increase transparency in multi-disciplinary team
environments using daily goals)
Lead in a pinch, cede in a cinch (Encourage leadership behaviour in unstructured situations but not in
standardized / routine situations)
Effective leaders delegate so that they can regulate (During high workload, the leading team member should
manage the situation while others manage the technical task)
Just say “we / let’s” (Use language to foster team perspective)
Talk about problems (High performers devote more time to “problem-solving” communications)
For juniors, better to be blatant than to imply (Be explicit in communications if you are inexperienced)
Adjust coordination (implicit vs. explicit) as a function of workload and standardization
Make heedful interacting a routine practice
Understand the role of standardization in effective team functioning as it relates to policies and procedures
(rules)
Prepare for the worst: Use briefings to plan for contingencies
Maintain an environment of open communication and stay calm during high workload situations
Encourage the new person – Use positive feedback when an inexperienced team member has to carry out a
task
Give a verbal nod – While listening, it is important to provide verbal indication of comprehension and reaction
Speak simply – use small words, articulate simple thoughts, and ask simple questions
Generally speaking, verbalizing is good and more verbalizing is better
In multi-lingual settings, high workload communication is more effective in one’s native language

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When a non-speaking task must be carried out while verbalizing, keep that task as free from language as
possible
Use standardized phraseology – especially when speaker and listener are physically separated
RNs talk more like MDs (i.e., concisely) and MDs listen more like RNs (i.e., attentively)
Get better results by taking group interaction aspects of risk assessment into consideration
I recommend that you download this PDF paper and incorporate and use the Golden Rules in your role as the
Captain and Leader.

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Lead in a Pinch, Cede in a Cinch
The Better the Team, the Safer the World – Golden Rules of Group Interaction in High Risk Environments:
Evidence based suggestions for improving performance (download the PDF version here) by the Gottlieb
Daimler and Karl Benz Foundation contains 21 Golden Rules to improve team work.
This is one of a series of articles that will explore one of these general rules that is particularly relevant as an
Airline Commander and Leader in our specific aviation environment. See the end of this article for links to the
other “Specific Rules”.
Lead in a Pinch, Cede in a Cinch. This is a catchy phrase that succinctly encapsulates one aspect of Leadership
that you will often be required to exercise during your tenure as the Command Trainee.
In our aviation environment we operate with “temporary teams”, both Cockpit and Cabin Crew, that usually
consist of strangers for a limited time (often only one sector or one day only). To help this temporary team
function cohesively and effectively from preflight to blocks on, aviation has invested heavily in SOPs or NPs.
SOPs/NPs are the cornerstone of our daily operation and have been developed through the hard won
experiences of crews that have gone before you (often written with their blood).
Cede in a Cinch
These standardised procedures lay down the duties, tasks and procedures that each individual crew member is
expected to accomplish or how to operate the aircraft. You don’t need to tell the other guy what to do or what
you are doing because you expect him to do it or he expects you to operate the aircraft in a particular way
because it is laid down in the SOPs or NPs. This is what usually happens on the day-to-day routine operation.
Not too much Leadership is required in this standardised routine environment. You can afford to take a
“Leadership Step Back” and allow your F/O and Cabin Crew to do their duties, tasks or procedures – just let
them get on with their job.
There is nothing worse than being hounded and ridden and being told how to do your job by your “Captain”
when all you’re doing is your bog standard duties. (Can you remember back to Captains who did this to you as
an F/O? Don’t emulate their bad Leadership techniques).
You can afford to Cede or partially give up your Leadership role (you can’t totally give it up) when things are
“normal” and “easy” and the job is a Cinch.
Lead in a Pinch
However, when things are not routine, when novel, unusual, ambiguous or uncertain events are occurring, then
you need to provide Leadership and often direction to your team.
You’ll need to gather information from your Crew, make tough decisions, convey your thoughts / ideas /
directions / orders and ensure that they are being carried out.
You’ll need to display Leadership behaviour and Lead your team when the going gets tough, becomes uncertain
or unclear and you get into a Pinch.
Balance the Lead & Cede
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have to individually develop and refine with further experience during your Training. You will probably tend to do
too much Leading and not enough Cedeing in the beginning of your Training as you develop a "feel" for your
particular Leadership style.
Research has shown that the presence of Leadership behaviours that occur during routine or standardized
situations is sometimes associated with poor outcomes. Team performance may start to break down, become
less cohesive and less efficient.
Common responses from your F/O or Cabin Crew may be; “Don’t tell me how to do my job!”, or “Why doesn’t he
just butt out? I/We do this all the time, doesn’t he trust me/us to our jobs correctly? Can’t he see I’ve/we’ve got
this under control?”
This can be especially exasperating and frustrating for an experienced and competent F/O. Depending on his
maturity and CRM skills he may resent your "intrusion" and subtley withdraw his "assistance" and contribution
to the team. In extreme cases a "polite" F/O may think "If you're so good, then you can do everything yourself!"
and a "not so polite" F/O will subtley or bluntly tell you to "Get off my back!" If you find yourself in this type of
situation then apologise or let him know that you're aware that he's doing a good job and that you'll back off
and let him do what he's been trained to do. Welcome to the "Art of Leadership"! Nobody said it was going to be
easy!
Supervise and assess your teams strengths and weaknesses during routine situations, as this knowledge can
be critical during less routine situations when the ability to predict and understand the behaviours of others in
your team is essential.
Lead in a Pinch, Cede in a Cinch. Display and encourage Leadership behaviour in unstructured situations but
not in standardized or routine situations.
Links to other "Golden Rules"
Delegate so you can Regulate I Just Say "We", "Us", "Our" & "Let's"

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Delegate So You Can Regulate
Delegate So You Can Regulate. This nicely describes one aspect of Leadership that you will often be required to
exercise as the Captain and Leader of your team. It is closely related to Lead in a Pinch, Cede in a Cinch.
As the Captain you will be expected to Lead and manage the overall situation concerning any flight that you are
on.
This is easy when everything is normal and routine. But you really start to earn your pay when things become
abnormal, complex, ambiguous, stressful and constrained by time. This is when you will be expected to display
good Command and Leadership skills to Lead and manage your team to a satisfactory, safe and legal outcome.
This Golden Rule is illustrated in part by the following extract from the GIHRE Report:
In 1994, The National Transportation Safety Board found a disproportionately high percentage of aviation
accidents (over 80%) occur when the captain is the pilot flying. These captains are overloaded with
multitasking as they try to accomplish both the pilot
pilot flying and pilot in command duties simultaneously. GIHRE
Threat demonstrated that in complex/high workload situations, the best performing crews have the first officer
as pilot flying, which fosters an environment in which the captain can assess and manage the situation while
the first officer manages the aircraft handling duties. The data suggest that if a crew encounters a high
workload situation when the captain is pilot flying, it is best to cede control of the aircraft to the first officer.
I do not think it is appropriate to hand over control to the F/O on ALL occasions – he may be inexperienced
and/or you will spend all your time trying to verbally convey your flight path and aircraft control and
configuration intentions to him so that he can comply with them.
CONSIDER handing over control to your F/O or use the automation (AP/FD and A/THR) to reduce your cognitive
(mental) workload.
This can be an effective and quick method to rapidly increase your mental capacity. You can now direct your
F/O to fly the aircraft. You can also take a mental step back to review the “Big Picture” and update your SA.
You have less chance of becoming mentally overloaded. You can spend more time and devote more brain
power to analysing the problem/situation, formulating plans and contingencies, assessing risk and utilising
your other crew members knowledge and experience to arrive at a high quality decision and communicating
your metal model – and then to put that decision into action and monitor the desired effect(s).
This is a subtle form of prioritisation. You must determine what is the most important task to be accomplished.
Work on high priority tasks first and defer lower priority tasks for later. If you are with an inexperienced F/O or it
will take too long to share your plan it may be best for you to be the PF - your highest priority task being to fly
the aircraft. However, in most cases it will probably be better for your F/O to be the PF and for you to take on an
“overall” Leadership and management role as the PM/PNF (don't forget that you still have to monitor your F/O).
You are not expected to do everything yourself – use your team (effectively). It’s what all good Captains and
Leaders do.

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Delegate So You Can Regulate. Effective leaders delegate so that they can regulate. During high workload, the
Leader (Captain) should manage the overall situation (regulate) while others manage the technical task (by
delegating tasks and duties).
Lead in a Pinch, Cede in a Cinch I Just Say "We", "Us", "Our" & "Let's"

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Just Say “We”, “Us”, “Our” & “Let’s”
Just Say “We”, “Us”, “Our” & “Let’s”. As the Captain you want to increase the safety and effectiveness of your
team (cockpit, cabin and external team members). You want to mould them into a coherent team by using
personal, inclusive statements – get them personally involved; make “your” flight into “their” flight.
An easy way to do this is to include lots of “first person plural” words – We, Us, Our and Let’s.
This Golden Rule is illustrated in part by the following extract from the GIHRE Report:
The NTSB (1994) found that 73% of commercial aviation accidents occur on the first day of a crew pairing
(relative to the base rates of 7–30% of flights that are an initial crew pairing) and that 44% of accidents occur
on the first flight of a crew pairing (base rates 3–10%).
These results have been interpreted as an indication of crewmember familiarity with one another, such that
the more crewmembers fly together, the better they will be able to anticipate and respond to each others’
actions.
By using lots of first person plural words you convey your sense of “team spirit”, encourage the other members
of your team to start to become familiar with each other (we’re not strangers any more – let’s help each other
to do this flight) and as a result your team starts evolving into a safer and more effective outfit.
Just Say “We”, “Us”, “Our” & “Let’s”. Use first person plural language to foster team perspective and increase
crew familiarity so that your team is safer and more effective.
Lead in a Pinch, Cede in a Cinch I Delegate So You Can Regulate

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Judgement & Decision Making (Part 1 - Introduction)
This is the first of a series of articles which will look at Command Judgement and Decision Making.
Each part needs to be read in the sequential order presented as this is the way I believe you mentally go about
using your judgement to make a decision. There is no point in reading Part 2 before Part 1.
Introduction
One of your primary tasks as a Captain is to be a Decision Maker.
Pretty simple really, isn’t it?
Well no it’s not! There are a lot of things rattling around your brain during the Judgement process that results in
your eventual decision.
Bear in mind also that the eventual decision you make is the output result of a complex Judgement process
that you (usually unknowingly and sub-consciously) go through. The decision you make is normally the only
thing that others can “see” – they don’t get to “see” how you arrived at that final output decision.
Realise also that your decision is only the eventual outcome of that entire process. You usually have a number
of options that you can choose from, which will result in a number of different decisions that you can choose
from and it’s your job to choose the best one to suit the situation that you find yourself in.
So in the entire Judgement and Decision Making process there are essentially two parts to consider; the
“hidden”, often unconscious and unobservable Judgement component, which eventually leads into the
observable Decision Making element (that you will be judged by).
For that reason I prefer to use the term JUDGEMENT rather than Decision Making to describe the entire
process, as you have to use your good Judgement to choose the best option and then make your final decision
(and implement it, but more of that in later articles).
Decision Making is one area that some Command Trainees have great difficulty with (the correct decision –
anybody can make a crap decision). This may be because they have no idea of how they arrive at a decision
(the Judgement process) and Trainers have difficulty in teaching this extremely essential and valuable skill.
Most of your Judgement and Decision Making is hidden and not “visible” for others to “see” so it is very difficult
to analyse and even harder to debrief (good or bad Judgement).
Another reason may be that Command Trainees are thinking like an F/O.
As the Captain you WILL have to make numerous decisions. As an F/O you usually don’t get to make the final
decision. You have an opinion, but you don’t have to make a decision. There is a big difference between having
an opinion and making a decision. And some people just don’t get it.
Poor flight crew decisions (the output and observable part of the Judgement process) are estimated to be a
causal factor in 50%-70% of all aircraft accidents (it depends on who you read and believe). So it is in your best
interests to possess good Judgement and be a good Decision Maker.
So now that I’ve got your attention, read on and learn how to improve your Judgement and Decision Making
skills.

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Judgement and Decision Making (Part 2 - Senses).
This is only MY attempt at analysing Judgement and Decision Making – I’m just a professional aviator, not a
psychologist so my thoughts may not conform with academia, but it is based on a real pilot’s perspective. What
would you rather have; a psychologist explaining aviation or an aviator explaining psychology?
I welcome any feedback about this article. Please add YOUR pilot input (or if any psychologists read this, your
thoughts) by using the COMMENTS link below.

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Judgement & Decision Making (Part 2 - Senses)
This is the second of a series of articles which will look at Command Judgement and Decision Making. (Part 1 -
Introduction) is here.
Each part needs to be read in the sequential order presented as this is the way I believe you mentally go about
using your Judgement to make a decision. There is no point in reading Part 2 before Part 1.
Senses
Senses are the physiological methods of perception, or how our bodies receive the “raw data” information and
then transmit it to our brain.
Why is this important in a discussion on Judgement and Decision Making? Well, to use good Judgement and
arrive at a sound decision requires information. To react requires recognition. The senses provide the relatively
“unfiltered” raw data at the very beginning of the Judgement process.
We are literally bombarded with sensory inputs throughout our lives and these are detected by a number of
different types of human senses (the number varies depending on who you believe and how they define
“sense”). For our purposes we will briefly discuss the 5 “Far Senses” that most people are familiar with and 5
“Near Senses” that you may not be totally aware of.
(Click on the image for a larger view. This diagram will build with each additional Part).
Far Senses
The conventional or “classical” five senses are sight, hearing, touch, smell and taste. These are the senses that
most people are familiar with and provide most of our sensory information. They are called the “Far Senses” as
the information inputs are received from outside the body (external sources).
Sight (Vision)
Sight is the most important sensory input we have as humans and as pilots (it provides about 80% of our
sensory information input). Some scientists argue that vision is actually two different senses as we use
different receptors to detect colour (frequency) and brightness (amplitude). Also we have two eyeballs, slightly
separated, that provide us with stereopsis (the perception of depth). Vision gathers far more information in far
less time than any of our other senses (“a picture is worth a thousand words”). Each eye is capable of sending

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to the brain about 1,000,000,000 bits of information every second.
Hearing (Audition)
Hearing is probably the second most important sense for us. This is an extremely important sense for us to
communicate with (other crew members, ATC etc.) and communication is one of your required core skills as a
Captain.
Touch (Tactition)
Touch is used to manipulate switches, knobs or dials and to “feel” your control inputs (and their feedback) into
the flight control system. You will also be able to detect strange or unusual vibrations through the airframe. It is
useful to get your F/O’s attention (when you punch him in the arm, however, this is considered to be poor CRM.
Depending on the cockpit gradient you establish and your projection of authority and power you risk getting a
tactile response back from him!).
Smell (Olfaction)
Not utilised very much normally, but smell will rapidly get your attention if you detect the “brown smell” of
defective electrical equipment, raw Jet A1 or any burning smell. A nice smelling(?) crew meal may also jolt you
awake.
Taste (Gustation)
Probably the least important sense for us as pilots (depends on the importance you place on your crew meals
and/or what you choose to place in your mouth).
Near Senses
These senses may not be as familiar to you as the Far Senses. These senses are called the “Near Senses” as
the information inputs are received from within the body (internal sources).
Balance and Acceleration (Equilibrioception)
The Vestibular sense, is the perception of balance or acceleration (inner ear). It is easy to produce illusions
from this sense in our three dimensional and multi “G” aviation world.
Body Awareness (Proprioception)
The Kinaesthetic sense, is the perception of body awareness and is the "unconscious" awareness of the
relationship between positions of the body (e.g. you can close your eyes and touch your finger to your nose).
This sense also enables you to reach out “automatically” for a switch without looking for it and to pull back “just
this much” on the control column or side stick to produce the required change in attitude.
Temperature (Thermoception)
The sense of heat and the absence of heat (cold) by the skin.
Pain (Nociception)
This sense is physiological pain of near-damage or damage to tissue (see the Touch section about getting your
F/O’s attention).
Internal Organs (Interoception)

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The sensory system of your internal organs (e.g., heart rate, hunger, digestion, state of arousal, mood, etc.). You
know when you need to “visit the little boy’s room” or, if you’ve undertaken a hypobaric chamber hypoxia
simulation, what your individual hypoxia symptoms are.
Sense Limitations
Each of these senses has certain very specific limitations. The sensor or detector can only sense inputs of a
certain kind and usually within a narrow physical or physiological band.
For example you can only “see” with your eyes. You can’t see with your ears as your auditory system is not
designed to detect light. Visible light has to enter and be detected by the eye (you can’t see through the back of
your head). That “visible light” has to be of a very specific frequency. A typical human eye will respond to
electromagnetic frequencies in air from about 400-790 terahertz – red to violet colours. The light that does
eventually enter your eye has further limitations. Acute vision is only possible within a narrow cone of central
vision, the rest of the detected light is your peripheral vision.
So you do not receive visual information if you’ve got your eyes closed, if the light is coming from outside of your
visual field of view or if it is in the infra-red or ultra-violet frequency range (i.e. not in the visible spectrum of
light).
You will also not be able to receive certain visual information when the visual system reaches its physical
limitations. You can’t see an aircraft coming out of the sun as the sun’s brightness is too great for the human
eye to accommodate and the contrast between the aircraft and the sun is entirely swamped (also you can’t see
black cats in black coal cellars). You can only see objects of a certain finite size; your eye’s resolving power (I
bet you have a hard time seeing an aircraft during the day at 40 nm, but just because you can’t see it doesn’t
mean that it’s not there).
Your own personal sensor may also be defective in some way. You may require corrective glasses for your
defective vision (within certain aviation medicine limitations) or your higher frequency hearing may be damaged
(you should have worn those ear defenders/plugs on all those external preflights!).
Your personal sensor is also affected by your physical state. If you’re tired and fatigued you may not be able to
focus your eyes as quickly or be more light sensitive than when you are rested.
All of your other senses suffer from some form of different limitations and these restrictions affect the amount,
type and quality of the “raw data” that your physical senses actually detect and send to your brain.
And it is these eventual raw data sensory signals that get sent to your brain for you to use to execute your
Judgement and arrive at a decision. So if you have restrictions of raw data information going in you may not
have the entire Big Picture and so could quite possibly rely on that “degraded” or “incomplete” information to
use in your Judgement process and so reach a less than optimal decision.
Sensory Conclusion
Each of your human sensory systems has its’ own particular physical and/or physiological limitations. If you are
at least aware of these sense limitations and/or illusions and errors, then you can take this into account
throughout the Judgement process.
This sensory information input stuff all might seem completely unrelated to judgment and decision making, but
it is where it all begins. To react requires recognition. You have to detect or sense a change in your environment
or situation (recognise) before you can start to cognitively process that sensed information to eventually arrive
at an output decision (react).
Being aware of what information you receive (and what senses are involved and their possible limitations and
weaknesses) can help you in formulating a sound decision from the entire Judgement process.

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Judgement and Decision Making (Part 3 – Perception).

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Judgement & Decision Making (Part 3 - Sense Filters)
This is the third of a series of articles which will look at Command Judgement and Decision Making. (Part 2 -
Senses is here).
Each part needs to be read in the sequential order presented, as this is the way I believe you mentally go about
Sense Filters
Our senses (both the “Far Senses” and the “Near Senses”) continually bombard our brain with massive
quantities of sensory information.
Vision provides about 80% of our sensory input and our eyes are capable of sending to the brain about
1,000,000,000 messages every second. Add to this the auditory information that you receive from hearing and
taste, smells, tactile information, inputs from your vestibular system and the other senses. It all adds up to a
vast amount of information that you are capable of receiving. This is occurring all the time, every second of your
life.
(Click on the image for a larger view.)
So how do we as pilot’s (and humans) process this massive amount of sensory information? The short answer
is that we don’t. Your brain can only handle a finite amount of informational processing and it does this by
“filtering” out some of the sensory inputs.
What Do You Sense?
I’m guessing that you’re sitting at home reading this on a computer screen. Are you aware of how much
pressure is being sensed by your butt as you sit there reading, the position of your left elbow joint, the touch on
your skin of your clothes, the temperature and breeze from the air conditioner, your wife asking you to mow the
lawn (well, this one is probably best described as selective hearing), traffic noise from outside your study, the
rise and fall of your chest as you breathe, the beating of your heart? All of these things are being sensed but
you don’t notice them until you force yourself to pay attention to them. How many things in your room can you
“see” while you are focussed on reading this blog? You are most likely using your acute central vision to read
individual or groups of words in the text and disregarding or “filtering” out your peripheral vision as you
concentrate your attention on the reading and comprehension task of this particularly intellectually stimulating
diatribe.
The same thing happens whenever you strap your bum to an aircraft and go flying. How often do you

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consciously register the airflow noise going over the cockpit or smell the individual odour of your particular
aircraft’s cockpit? Do you consciously detect the changes in G whenever you do a turn or notice how much
pressure is being applied by your right foot? Do you hear the avionics fan(s) whirring in the background or the
air flow noise of the air conditioning system? All these things are occurring around you and you are sensing
them, but your brain is “filtering” much of these sensory inputs so that you don’t become over-stimulated and
overwhelmed.
How It Works
At this “pre-attentive”, filtering stage of sensory data gathering, the raw data is coarsely processed. It is
normally very rapid, automatic and occurs without conscious thought. The information is only retained for a
fraction of a second and is then lost if the information is not determined to be important – it gets rapidly
replaced by other raw data sensory inputs. The raw data is only very basically and coarsely analysed (your vision
sense might be unconsciously aware of a small, relatively stationary, white blob out of the corner of your eye, in
the periphery of vision – but the meaning of that white blob is unknown). The raw data sensory input has a very
large capacity, for example, it can process the entire visual field simultaneously. So if your vision sense
“detects” the white blob, but you determine unconsciously and automatically that it is not important (and this
occurs rapidly) and thus do not process the information further (and this occurs at a far slower rate and
requires conscious thought) you will in effect “forget” about the white blob. The raw data white blob sensory
information will be replaced by other raw data and be filtered out of your system.
Filter Effects
What you eventually filter out is to a certain extent learned or gained through experience. You are able to detect
your flight’s call sign in amongst the ATC radio chatter while simultaneously conducting a conversation with the
other pilot. This is relatively simple for an experienced aviator as you have learned to do this over many years,
but for someone else not familiar with aviation radio calls, all the chatter might just be total gibberish and they
would be unable to isolate the important stuff (your call sign and the associated message). When the airflow
noise over the cockpit is at a “normal” level you don’t even register the sound, but if it became louder
(increasing IAS) or quieter (decreasing IAS) you might then start paying attention to it – it has become
“unfiltered” and something that you should pay attention to.
What is eventually filtered out is also affected by your emotional (mental) and physical state. Obviously if you
are affected by drugs (and these may be normal over the counter drugs if you’re self medicating for a cold or a
headache for instance), this can affect your cognitive processing and alter how much sensory information is
detected and then subsequently “filtered”. Your emotional state can also influence this filtration. If you are
happy, angry, sad, bored or depressed, what gets filtered can be different from other emotional states. The
same can occur if you are physically fatigued or tired or are suffering from sleep loss (does this seem familiar to
those of you doing Long Haul flights?!).
This sensory “filtering” process is a very individual thing and varies between different pilots, even though they
may receive exactly the same “raw data”.
Summary
To exercise good judgement and arrive at a good decision requires good information. We get that information
from our senses (both Far and Near), but the raw data is heavily, automatically and unconsciously “filtered” so
that we do not suffer from sensory over-load. It is only retained for a fraction of a second and if not important is
rapidly replaced by other sensory raw data.
What you do with this sensory raw data is the subject of further articles – so stay tuned.

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Judgement & Decision Making (Part 4 - Perception)
This is the fourth of a series of articles which will look at Command Judgement and Decision Making. (Part 3 –
Sense Filters) is here.
using your Judgement to make a decision. There is no point in reading Part 5 before Part 4
Perception
We receive vast amounts of information via our senses and a large portion of this information is physiologically
filtered so that we can digest, process and make sense of that information and not be over-whelmed once it
gets to our brain.
(Click on the image for a bigger view).
That’s the physiological filtering process. Once that relatively “raw data” (reality) gets to our brain it goes
through another cognitive filtering process of perception.
perception This perception is very important in this discussion on
Judgement and Decision Making as in this step of the Judgement model the potential for errors is greatly
increased. This “perception filtered”, modified information is your unique, individual “perceived reality” and this
is what you use to make sense of the world and what is happening to you. This perceived reality is what you use
in your Judgement and Decision Making process.
Definitions
While there are many different definitions of Reality and Perception, for the purposes of this discussion we’ll
simplify both of them to suit our aviation environment.
Reality
Reality is what is really, actually happening.

happening
You determine reality by sensing the “raw data” that is detected by your human sense organs. We will consider
that the incoming raw data is identical for everyone (this is not strictly true as the raw data gets filtered slightly
by each individual’s physiological sense filters and so the data that eventually ends up being sensed is slightly
different for each person).
Perceived Reality
Reality

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Your individual perceived reality is what you “think” is happening.

happening
You determine your individual perceived reality by sensing the raw data and then “interpreting” this raw data.
This perceived reality may be correct or incorrect depending on your interpretation. This is your understanding
of “reality” and this is what is “real” and unique for you.
Most of the time one person’s perceived reality will be very similar (sometimes almost identical) to another
person’s who is receiving that same raw data – but not always.
Perceived Reality is your unique, individual understanding of what is happening to you in the world.
Filling In The “Blanks”
One of the reasons for the difference between reality and perceived reality is that a major function of your
human sensory system is to reduce and order the vast amount of data that your sense organs receive
(physiological filter) so that you can process this information, “understand” it and react accordingly.
Sometimes this raw data is not understood correctly or doesn’t make sense (in your own mind). There are often
“blank” areas in the information and you tend to try and “fill in the blanks”. The blanks are filled with what you
“think” (correctly or incorrectly) is required so that your perceived reality agrees with how you “think” the world
should be. There is often a discrepancy between what you perceive to be true (your perceived reality) and
actual reality.
This discrepancy and the filling in of the blanks is potentially (and usually) where a major number of errors can
be introduced into the Judgement and Decision Making system.
These blanks are filled in based on your previous experience, expectancy, assumption and bias. Your individual
perception is heavily influenced by mood, emotions, personality, mental state (e.g. rested or fatigued), beliefs,
values, culture (both organizational and national), knowledge, preparation, morals, social norms, “facts” (as you
understand them), attitude and motivation.
Most of your created perceived reality occurs unconsciously, without thought. However, if you recognize that
you are doing this, you can consciously alter your thought pattern and possibly introduce more “rational” and
“logical” thinking. This is probably the first step in the Judgement and Decision Making model that you can
pause and confirm if your expectations, assumptions and/or thought processes are “correct” and “agree” with
reality (as you understand it).
These individual influences are why two people who receive identical raw data each reach different
conclusions, act on that information differently or come up with dissimilar decisions. Their perceived reality is
different even though the received raw data was identical.
Sensory Illusions
Most of the senses we have looked at in previous chapters are also subject to certain illusions (or an erroneous
perception of reality).
reality Our human senses have evolved and adapted to an earth-based frame of reference and
they can be very dangerous if we rely exclusively upon then in our 3 dimensional, multi “G” aviation
environment.
You’re probably familiar with most of the common aviation sensory illusions. If not have a look at Sensory
Illusions In Aviation for a more comprehensive description.
If you rely upon these false illusions detected by your sensors then you will ultimately reach or formulate false
or incorrect decisions based on those false perceptions of reality (garbage in – garbage out).

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Individual “Reality”
This perception filter and trying to make the world fit in to your way of thinking (your perceived reality) is why
two pilots sitting side by side, receiving the exact same raw data from the PFD, ND, instruments, radios, inter-
personal interaction etc. can sometimes perceive two very different situations. The same raw data (reality) is
received but different perceived realities are individually experienced.
One pilot may perceive that you are high on descent profile and the other low. One safe and the other
dangerous, good/bad, Go/No Go, fast/slow, early/late, acceptable/unacceptable.
Your training in your particular Airline and your Airline’s SOPs or NPs go a long way to keep the crew’s perceived
reality as similar as possible. That’s one of the main functions of our very standardized professional lives – to
minimize misconceptions and misunderstandings and have very similar perceived realities between crew. The
same raw data means the same thing to each of us and so our perceived realities are usually extremely similar.
Summary
Judgement and Decision Making is driven entirely by your perceived reality NOT actual reality.
We tend to fill in the blanks to compensate for missing information after our sense organs relay the raw data to
our brain. This difference in perceived reality is why two different pilots will come up with two different answers
or a dissimilar decision when faced with exactly the same raw data. This perceptual filter is where potential
errors are often introduced.
As we shall see later Judgement is fuelled by perceived risk and NOT real risk. But more on risk after looking at
the next chapter – Recognition.

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Judgement & Decision Making (Part 5 - Recognition)
This is the fifth of a series of articles which will look at Command Judgement and Decision Making. (Part 4 –
Perception) is here.
Recognition
The story so far…
We sense a massive amount of a variety of inputs using both our near and far senses. These sensory inputs are
“filtered” by our brains, usually entirely unconsciously, to prevent sensory overload. This filtering process goes
through two stages. The first is our “physiological sensory filter” where the raw data is filtered by our sensory
system. The second (and possibly more important due to the potential to introduce errors into the Judgement
and Decision Making process) is our “perception filter” where we view the world as we think it is (perceived
reality) and not as it actually is (reality).
(Click on...you know what to do).
The next step in the Judgment chain is to RECOGNISE,

RECOGNISE have an awareness of, or a realisation, that this sensed
information is relevant, important and something that we should or need to take notice of. Sounds a bit like
Situational Awareness doesn’t it?
As we discussed in Recognise & React, without recognition there can be no reaction. If you do not recognise
that the incoming sensory information is relevant, then the Judgement and Decision Making process ends right
there, and you are usually quite oblivious that you have missed an important fact or significant sign.
Remember that you can only make accurate and correct decisions with accurate and correct information.
Garbage In – Garbage Out. This “perceived” information is what you use your Judgement on to arrive at a
decision.
Improving Recognition
That’s all well and good – but how do you improve your recognition skills?
Recognise & React has some pointers on how to increase and improve your situational recognition skills. So
have a read of that article.

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Experience is also a big factor in being able to recognise pointers that a particular situation is developing.
Experience is one of the biggest differences between Experts and Novices. Experts have a much larger and
more richly developed “knowledge bank” of past experiences and situations (both personal and through
discussing things with others) to draw upon and so are normally able to spot impending problems or situations
well before a Novice. Usually Experts are able to say to themselves “I’ve seen this before…and this is what I
need to do to deal with it”. If it is a problem situation they may even be able to think “I’ve seen these signs
developing before…before it gets any worse I’m going to do this…” The really good Experts are…well expert…at
recognising developing situations and being proactive to sort any problems out early before they increase in
scope to major hassles.
You are most likely in the category of “Novice Captain” and you may miss recognising things that your Training
Captain will easily spot while under training. To build up your individual “knowledge bank” and vicariously
increase your personal experience, talk now with your current Captains, discuss scenarios with your peers and
play out “what if…” scenarios to their logical conclusion. Try to focus on the first warning signs that you can
recognise that something is occurring.
Like they say “forewarned is forearmed”. The earlier that you are able to recognise a situation, the more likely
and more successfully you will react to and resolve it.
Recognition of signs or a situation is probably the second conscious step in the whole Judgement and Decision
Making process (after Perception). What you do after you have recognised a developing situation is the subject
of further riveting articles – so stay tuned (we’ll get there eventually!)

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Judgement & Decision Making (Part 6 - Define The Problem)
This is the sixth of a series of articles which will look at Command Judgement and Decision Making. Part 5 -
Recognition is here.
Define The Problem
Your senses will have gathered the “raw data” and that will get condensed by your sensory filters. It will then
penetrate your consciousness and you will recognise that information. This recognised data will then be further
filtered by your perception of the situation.
(Click on the image).
Now you must ensure that your perception of the problem is in fact correct. You need to Define The Problem.
A problem well defined frequently suggests its’ own solution.
If you don’t know where you are going, every road leads you to there. (Lewis Caroll)
A problem well stated is a problem half solved. (John Dewey)

You do this by gathering and seeking extra information or raw data to either confirm your initial diagnosis or for
you to realise that your initial perceived problem was incorrect. This extra information/data may come from your
internal senses or from external sources such as your F/O, other Crew members, Company publications or
policy, ATC, Engineers, Operational staff, other aircraft etc. (i.e. your “extended team” members).
Gathering further supporting information to assist in Defining The Problem is one of the very first steps in the
CLEAR, DODAR, GRADE, SOCS and DECIDE, decision making Models.
Selling & Ownership
Once you have Defined The Problem you have to “Sell” it to your crew (involve them, get them to agree that this
is in fact the problem) and engender a feeling of “Ownership” of the problem (they feel that they have been
concerned with the assessment of the problem and so have some control over their actions and destiny). If you
can “Sell” the problem and your crew has this feeling of “Ownership” they will willingly be active at solving the
problem and highly motivated. Contrast this with a crew who has had the problem and solution “imposed” upon
them by an Autocratic Captain. This crew will be less co-operative, less motivated and less willing and helpful –
a less effective team.

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A function of your Leadership is to involve your team members, build support and enable contribution from your
team members. It makes your overall job easier, more proficient and less stressful.
Symptom Vs Problem
What appears to be a problem may be just a symptom of a larger underlying problem. There is no point in
curing the “surface” symptom and then leaving the underlying “deeper” problem unresolved.
Since all problems have solutions, it’s critical that you define your problems correctly. If you don’t, you might
solve the wrong problem. (Jack Foster)
An example: If you are unlucky enough to get a Cargo Fire/Smoke warning indication inflight, is the real problem
the fire/smoke or is it getting on the ground ASAP? If you punch in the fire extinguisher and complete the
checklist actions have you actually solved your problem or just fixed the symptom?
Ask yourself “Is this “surface problem” masking a “deeper” more important problem?”
How You Define The Problem
How you Define The Problem will quite often influence how you arrive at the solution.
The solution to a problem changes the nature of the problem. (John Peers)
For example: If the weather at your destination is poor and deteriorating, is the problem “The weather is poor”
or is it “We may not have enough fuel to hold and do the approach”? How you define this problem will dictate
your solution. Solution 1 may be “We will do a Cat 2/3 approach and Autoland”. Solution 2 may be “We will
hold and attempt an approach until this time or this amount of fuel remaining, then we will divert.”
If you get stuck Defining The Problem you may have to start the Judgement and Decision Making process from
the start again. Your definition of the problem can either make it CLEAR to your team or will CONFUSE them.
If a problem has no solution, it may not be a problem, but a fact, not to be solved, but to be coped with over
time.
To solve the problem, you may have to redefine it. (Jeff Chase)
It isn't that they can't see the solution. It's that they can't see the problem. (G. K. Chesterton)
Be careful that you as the Captain don’t define the problem in such a way that the decision and solution is
implied.
For example: “The HYD system has failed.” This implies that the solution is to turn off the affected HYD system.
But, what if it is an indication problem and the HYD system is in fact operating normally? You have missed the
opportunity to correctly diagnose the problem by utilising the co-operation and expertise of your other crew
members. You will probably get it right most of the time – but is this good enough? Why not increase your
chances of getting it right by using your entire team.
Those Really Tricky Problems
If it is a novel, unusual, complex and ambiguous problem you might have extreme difficulty in Defining The
Problem. It may be beyond your team’s resources, time available, workload, stress and brain power.
You might be reduced to generalising and defining the problem as “I don’t know what is causing this (...insert
unusual problem indications here...), but we need to get on the ground ASAP”. While you don’t define the actual
problem, you do eventually formulate an acceptable solution to not solve it, but eliminate or mitigate it (“Let’s
land and run away!)
There will never be the ONE RIGHT, PERFECT solution. Don’t become paralysed by trying to Define The Problem
to such an extent that you do nothing. Often you will have to Satisfice – take the closest, best option. You may
not know the true problem and it may not be the optimal solution... but it’s good enough.

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Sometimes getting your arse on the ground AND then worrying about the Problem is a good option.
Remain Problem Centred
Focus initially on being Problem Centred and not being Solution Centred.
Gain extra information to accurately Define The Problem. If you are Solution Centred you will often entirely skip
this step and jump straight to the Decision and Action stage.
When the only tool you own is a hammer, every problem begins to resemble a nail. (Abraham Maslow)
Skipping this vital step of correctly Defining The Problem by remaining Problem Centred, often results in failing
to identify the real problem. As a result you will solve the wrong problem (or just solve a symptom of the real
problem) and leave the real problem festering waiting to catch you out.
You may even have to disengage yourself from the Problem/Solution process and take a “Mental Step Back” to
look at the Big Picture and update your SA. You might then notice or take in some other more important
information which may help you to more correctly Define The Problem.
Summary
Involve your crew and team and get them contributing (after all that’s what CRM is all about). “Sell” the problem
to them and enable them to take “Ownership” of the problem.
There is no point in defining the incorrect problem and them making a decision and solving that wrong problem.
It is essential that you take the time and effort to correctly Define The Problem.
See also Expectancy & Bias as these two factors can influence how you Define The Problem.

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Expectancy & Bias
This article is complementary to Command Judgement and Decision Making Part 6 - Define The Problem.
Taking The Wrong Path
There is no point in “solving” your PERCEIVED problem if in fact it is not the REAL problem. You will still have
the original problem unresolved.
You may lead your crew up the wrong path with your Expectation and Bias as the Captain. (See the
Lumberjacks & The Wrong Forest).
Checking the outcome of your decision (which will be discussed in a later article) is important to make sure that
you have not latched onto the wrong problem.
It is far better to make an incorrect decision, recognise later that it was wrong, admit your “mistake” and then
revisit the Judgement and Decision Making process to ultimately identify the correct problem and revise your
decision, than it is to blunder blissfully on along the wrong path with the original REAL problem still unsettled.
A man must be big enough to admit his mistakes, smart enough to profit from them, and strong enough to
correct them. (John C. Maxwell)
A man who has committed a mistake and doesn't correct it is committing another mistake. (Confucius)
Expectancy
You may “think” you have solved your problem, but the incoming raw data suggests that something is not quite
right.
It is difficult to realise that you did not actually solve the original problem and that you need to recomplete the
Judgement and Decision Making process from the start again. “That can’t be right (I’m not wrong). I fixed that
problem!”
This expectancy may inhibit you from recompleting the whole Judgement and Decision Making process and
thus defining the REAL problem. If you get into this situation you may be so fixated on your PERCEIVED problem
that it will be extremely hard for you to change your mind and outlook on the REAL problem.
It may be best if you acknowledge that you can’t work out what is wrong (but at least you recognise that
something is wrong!) and let another crew or team member state what THEY think is the problem. This might
precipitate an “Of course!”, forehead slapping moment when you finally open your eyes (and more importantly
open your mind) to the REAL problem that was probably staring you in the face all the time.
We see what we believe, instead of believing what we see.
Bias
As the Captain you have to be careful you don’t unduly influence your crew with your preference or Bias. In
other words YOUR Perceived Problem is THE Real Problem.
If you do introduce your Bias you risk influencing your crew’s thoughts and Judgement. Your crew may think
“The Captain must be right and I’m wrong.”
That’s OK if your Bias is correct, but you may lead them up the wrong path if it is incorrect – and that’s not OK.
This is a subtle form of Groupthink in which everyone will acquiesce and comply to YOUR way of doing things
and suppress their individual creativity and thoughts so as to conform to YOUR Bias and Expectations.

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You might be correct and what you think is the problem is the real problem, but then again you are human and
you therefore make mistakes.
Involve your crew in defining what the problem is and possible solutions.
Use open questions to gather their thoughts and perception of the situation (What do you think...?).
Get them to paraphrase in their own words and state what they think the problem is.
If they agree with your internal mental assessment you can be reasonably sure that that you are on the right
path (but not 100% sure as they are subject to Expectations and Bias as well). If their assessment is different
from yours then you may have to either restart the Judgement & Decision Making process again to seek more
information so that you can accurately define the problem in your own mind, or if you are sure that you’re right,
you will have to explain what you think is the correct interpretation and “Sell” it to them.
YOU have to be reasonably certain in your own mind that your crew is solving the correct, Real problem as YOU
are the Captain and YOU are ultimately responsible for not only your decisions and actions but also your crew’s
decisions and actions.
An Example
You get an indication that one of your Hydraulic (HYD) systems is not producing pressure (on the
ECAM/EICAS/gauge), but there are also conflicting indications and information displayed on a separate
instrument/gauge.
CN: It looks like the HYD system has failed. (You state YOUR perceived idea of the problem, which as it turns out
is incorrect)
F/O: OK. What now?
CN: Let’s secure that HYD system. (You state YOUR solution to what you “think” is the problem)
F/O: OK.
You have possibly Biased your F/O to accept your stated problem and solution and not involved him in the
Judgement and Decision Making process. You may have lead your crew up the wrong path. Autocratic Captains
favour this type of approach.
OR
CN: It looks like we have a HYD system problem, but there is conflicting information (you state what you see).
What do you think? (an open question)
F/O: It looks like we might have a false indication here and this other indication is telling us the HYD system is
operating normally and there are no other secondary indications.
CN: I agree. What should we do?
F/O: Let’s keep the HYD system running and see if we can confirm if it is just an indication problem.
CN: Excellent – just what I was thinking (this is good CRM and Leadership – you have praised your F/O for a
good decision).
You have involved your F/O in the assessment of the problem and the solution and he has confirmed your
initial diagnosis. Participative or Delegative Captains favour this method.
OR

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CN: It looks like we have a HYD system problem, but there is conflicting information. What do you think?
F/O: It looks like the HYD system has failed.
CN: I disagree. Look at that other indication – it shows the HYD system operating normally. And there are no
secondary indications of the HYD system malfunctioning. (“Sell” the new information to the problem to your
F/O.)
F/O: Oh yeah! I didn’t see that. You’re right, it’s most likely an indication problem.
You have involved your F/O and “Sold” the conflicting indications to him and he agrees with your initial
diagnosis. If you are a good Leader you can turn this into a valuable learning experience. This is a Participative
Captaincy style.
Involve Your Team
You can avoid leading your crew up the wrong path (with your possibly incorrect Expectancy and Bias) by
actively involving them in the Judgement and Decision Making.
You should encourage them to provide additional information and encourage input to Define The Problem and
assist in formulating a solution to the agreed problem. They are “Sold” on the problem/solution and since they
have been involved, they have a personal “Ownership” of the problem/solution.
A crew with this agreement and concurrence will be far more effective, motivated and willing to assist you than
a crew that has the problem and solution “imposed” on them, with little personal input.
So be careful not to introduce YOUR Expectations and YOUR Bias and integrate your crew and team in your
Judgement and Decision Making process. It will make your job easier.

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Judgement & Decision Making (Part 7 - Risk)
This is the seventh of a series of articles which will look at Command Judgement and Decision Making. (Part 6 -
Define The Problem) is here.
Risk
Risk is a big subject.
A big, complicated subject that, whether you like it or not, YOU as the Captain have to have a “firm, slippery
grip” on. One of your prime jobs as the Captain is to be a Risk Assessor and a Risk Manager and you have to be
adept at Balancing The Risk.
(Click over on the image for a larger view).
Risk Management is an essential step in the Judgement and Decision Making model being explained here. Risk
and your perception of it is a major factor in applying your Judgement to reach a sound and safe decision.
To make this big dry and, at times tedious, subject a little more palatable I’ll break it down into smaller risk
components. Just follow the links below to get to the indicated subjects.
Ensure you read Risk Definitions first as all the other articles will use these basic definitions.
It is probably best if you read all of the subjects and not just the ones that interest you, as the separate
individual risk subjects are part of a whole – like a jigsaw puzzle. The whole is definitely more than the sum of
the individual components.
Risk Definitions
The Nature Of Risk
The Four Essential "Rules Of Risk"
Balancing The Risk
Risk assessment

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Risk Definitions
This a series of articles about Risk, which are a part of Command Judgement and Decision Making (Risk
Introduction - Part 7 is here)
The following are definitions that will be used throughout the other Risk articles.
Hazard
Any current real or potential condition that can overtly or covertly lead to or contribute to an unplanned or
undesired event.
A hazard is the SOURCE of risk.
A hazard is always a PRESENT event – it is what is happening or affecting you right now.
Risk
The probability and severity of a loss linked to a hazard that is not adequately controlled or eliminated.
Risk is always a FUTURE event – the hazard has yet to occur or be experienced. Risk is a potential hazard.
Risk Formula
You will never be able to accurately quantify the product of the various risk factors (at least not in flight when
you will definitely lack the time, resources and brain power).
The Risk Formula is a guide for you to “estimate” or assess the risk of a particular situation when you do your
Risk Assessment, with the limited information available to you, the lack of resources and the time constraints
imposed on you in-flight.
RISK = SEVERITY x PROBABILITY x EXPOSURE
Severity is the extent of a possible loss. The severity lies in a range from a slight, minor loss to a catastrophic,
total loss.
Probability is the likelihood that a hazard will or could potentially cause a loss.
Exposure is the amount of times an event (usually a repeated event) occurs, or the length of time an event is
experienced.
Risk Assessment
The detection of hazards and the application of “measurement” to the level of risk that they represent (see Risk
Formula).
Risk Management
The process of defining and controlling risk.
A major function of your role as the Captain.

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Risk Neutral
Where the risk being accepted meets the requirements of the desired action.
Low Risk is low opportunity and may be overly “safe”.
High Risk is high opportunity and may be overly “dangerous”.
Risk Neutral is somewhere between these two extremes and is dependant on the actual situation and your
perception of the risk involved.
Balancing The Risk
Risk Assessment and Management such that a Risk Neutral situation is obtained for the current situation. Read
about Balancing The Risk here.
Gambling
Proceeding with little or no Risk Management process.
Usually associated with taking unnecessary chances as a result of poor or no judgement and unnecessary risk.
Safety is usually degraded.

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The Nature Of Risk
Is aviation a risky business?
Definitely – but that doesn’t stop us from going flying.
Consider the following statements;

Everything we do has some sort of risk (high, low or neutral) associated with it.
Life is risk.
The only people without risk are six feet under.
Risk is required to get things done.
We accept risk on an “assumed risk” basis because there is a potential benefit or opportunity to be gained.
Where there is no risk there is usually no opportunity.
Success at a risk-free endeavour is impossible.
He who risks nothing, gets nothing. (French Proverb)
Risk & Safety
You may have heard the phase “safety is paramount” (i.e. safety comes above and before all else). If that were
truly the case we would be out of a job, as we would never go flying. There will always be an element of risk in
anything we do (including aviation), but just because there is some form of risk does not mean that we will not
attempt it. We obviously want to minimise risk or even eliminate it if possible. Our usual strategy in the aviation
game is to be as safe as possible.
Being safe usually does not eliminate risk – it only
only reduces it.
That is where you, the Captain, come in. One of your primary goals, tasks and jobs is to constantly be a Risk
Assessor and Risk Manager and to Balance The Risk that you have elected to take on, to maximise the safe,
legal and efficient outcome of your flight. This Risk Management role will often dictate the decisions that you
make. You will be required to decide if you, or your crew, engage in risky behaviour or activities and when,
where and how much assumed risk you take on. This will have to be assessed based on your desired goals and
plans.
Pilots can be “Dangerously Safe”. This is another way of saying they are extremely Risk Aversive and do not
willing accept risk or will avoid risk no matter how minor. These dangerously safe pilots usually miss out on the

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benefits and opportunities associated with taking a considered and calculated Risk Assessment. They usually
frustrate the hell out of their other crew members, as the other person cannot understand why they are not
accepting some risk to achieve a better outcome.
Safety in our aviation system depends, to a great extent, upon the amount of control we exercise over our
choices to take risks. (Richard S. Jensen).
Human Centred Risk
Most pilots associate risk with external factors; the weather, environment, aircraft serviceability, ATC, terrain,
traffic etc.
However, risk can also be associated with internal, “human” factors. Risk is very often human centred – it is
YOU!
Do you ever look at yourself as a “risk”? Poor Decision Making, lack of judgement, uncurrent, ill-disciplined, not
prepared, fatigued, frustrated, lack of knowledge, emotional (both positive and negative emotions).
Often it is these “humanity” aspects that are risky. You can also gain or lose in the humanity stakes.
You may be worried about being late, not being promoted, being embarrassed, getting reprimanded. You may
need to, satisfy your need to be valued, feed your ego, fulfil other’s expectations, be seen as competent, to
achieve a personal convenient outcome or be accepted by your peers and/or superiors. You may want to get
home, gain or avoid a financial advantage/disadvantage, seek enjoyment or thrills. You may be personally,
over/under confident, happy, sad, frustrated, angry or be Risk Aversive or a Risk Taker.
These human factors also have positive and negative opportunities and outcomes and these are the human
motivators that may affect what types of risk you accept. These “human” factor risks could be seen as illogical
and irrational and have no place in aviation Risk Assessment and Management. But you (and your crew) ARE
human and therefore you WILL be affected by these humanity risk factors.
The Weakest & Strongest Link
Accident and incident reports have time and again shown that pilots are very often the weakest link in the
accident or incident chain (or in other words, the highest risk factor) and could be considered to be the weakest
link in the chain of events. So you and your team are a risk factor that you will have to consider.
But accidents or incidents are the negative outcomes of possibly poor or inadequate Judgement and Decision
Making. They are also an extremely tiny minority of the millions of flights that are undertaken.
The vast majority of flights will have a successful outcome. And one of the reasons for this overwhelmingly
successful rate is the complex and correct (not always optimal, but nevertheless correct and safe) Judgement
and Decision making that the human element (you) of aviation makes continually on every flight. We pilots are
irreplaceable (at least at the moment!), as computers and machines cannot match our flexibility, deductive,
analytical and decision making abilities in rapidly changing, complex, volatile and ambiguous situations. So you
could also be considered to be the strongest link in the chain of events.
As the Captain you are the Leader, the primary Decision Maker and Risk Assessor and Manager. You will most
likely determine if you and your team are the weakest or the strongest link on any particular flight. Hopefully
you will favour your strengths and work on improving your weaknesses.
The Bottom Line
At the end of the day we all just want to go home, see our significant other and ankle biters and have a beer
(BBQ optional). A smoking hole is not a good option.
Be the best Risk Assessor and Manager that you can be and Balance The Risk so that you can have that beer.

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The Four Essential “Rules Of Risk”
If you apply the following Four Essential “Rules Of Risk” you will become a far more effective Risk Manager and
Captain.
In addition, these “Rules” will assist, guide and help you to exercise good judgment and formulate sound
decisions.
1. Do not accept unnecessary risk.

risk.
The key word in this rule is “unnecessary”.

“unnecessary” An unnecessary risk is any risk that if taken, will not contribute
meaningfully to your flights’ accomplishment. Captains who take unnecessary risk are probably gambling with
crew and passenger lives.
Aviation is by its’ very nature an inherently risky business. You face and accept risk all the time, whether you
realize it or not.
You need to be constantly Balancing The Risk – achieving the “Risk Neutral” state, which is not overly “safe”
(low opportunities) and not overly “dangerous” (high opportunities).
There is no advantage to accepting a course of action that results in a new, increased or unjustifiable risk if
there are no meaningful benefits to be derived.
Risk should not be greater than the undertaking.
If it is not worth doing safely, then it is probably not worth doing at all.
Risk properly managed is acceptable.
2. Accept risk when the benefits outweigh the costs.

costs.
Nothing in aviation is risk free and we choose certain options that contain an element of risk because there is
an opportunity or benefit to be gained. This needs to be balanced against the probability of the occurrence and
the possible costs or severity of the risk.
Again you need to be Balancing The Risk. You walk the fine line of being either too risk aversive (low
opportunity, but possibly overly safe) or being too risky (high opportunity, but possibly dangerous).
If you are faced with a difficult decision, ask yourself “When is the success of the task not worth the risk?”
3. Make Risk Decisions At The Appropriate Level.
What is the right level? It is the level where the decision maker has the experience and maturity to make a good
decision.
Normally, this is the Captain’s job as most times you cannot defer or transfer your risk management duties due
to time constraints or a lack of resources.
However, you don’t need to make all the hard decisions solely yourself. You can involve other external agencies
(e.g. Aircraft Engineering Specialists, Dispatchers, Fleet Managers, Operations Managers or whoever has
Operational Control of your Airlines’ aircraft). The real trick is to assign the risk accountability at the lowest
possible level i.e. to the person closest to the action with the best SA, knowledge of the situation and

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experience.
Remember that ultimately the buck stops with you. As the Captain you are the final authority and are
responsible for the safe operation and conduct of the flight.
4. Integrate Risk Management Into Planning And Execution At All Levels.
Risk management is an integral part of the planning and execution of flight operations.
You need to constantly be assessing, managing and balancing risk during all phases of flight. This includes pre-
flight, in-flight and post-flight.
Risk management is an important part of the Captain’s role and you need to involve your entire team at all
levels – both on the ground and in the air. This entire “team” includes not only your flight and cabin crew, but
ground engineers, dispatchers, operations personnel, ATC, airline management and cargo loading, passenger
handling and traffic ground staff.

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Balancing The Risk
First reckon, then risk. (Field Marshal Helmuth von Moltke)

One way to envisage your role as the primary Risk Manager is to use the analogy of weighing the risks and the
opportunities on a set of balance scales. You’ve probably heard of “Balancing The Risk” and this discussion will
explore what is meant by that phrase.
(Click on the diagrams for a larger view).
No Risk
On one side of the balance scales is the No Risk option.
This can also be characterized by potential Safety (benefits – desirable) and Low Opportunity (costs –
undesirable).
In this region there is little gain, but also little risk. You may be missing some valuable opportunities on this side
of the equation and a less efficient operation normally results.
If you are a Risk Aversive person (i.e. you personally avoid risk whenever possible) you will heavily weigh this
side of the scales.
Whenever the Balance Of Risk is tipped to this side you will be in a Risk Aversive situation.
High Risk
On the other side of the balance scales is the High Risk option.

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This can also be characterized by potential Danger (costs – undesirable) and High Opportunity (benefits –
desirable).
In this region you can achieve big gains, but at the possible expense of elevated risk. You might obtain
significant, valuable opportunities but you also face the threat of “crashing and burning” if it does not turn out
correctly.
If you are a Risk Taker type of person (i.e. you readily accept risk if possible) you will heavily weigh down this
opposite side of the scales.
Whenever the Balance Of Risk is tipped to this opposite side you will be in a High Risk, possibly Gambling
situation.
Risk Neutral
When the scales are “balanced” you have weighed the benefits against the costs – No Risk against High Risk,
Safety against Danger and Low Opportunity against High Opportunity.
We accept risk on an “assumed risk” basis because there is a potential benefit or opportunity to be gained. The
rewards are now worth the risk.

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You are now “Balancing The Risk” and the scales are centred on the Risk Neutral region.
Balancing The Risk
Weighing up the options or calculating your Risk Assessment and getting the scales centred on the Risk Neutral
region is the main aim of Risk Management. You will be required to assess risk and determine the possible
negative costs and balance them against the potential positive benefits.
Notice that both the No Risk and the High Risk sides both have simultaneous positive (benefits) and negative
(costs) characteristics. On the No Risk side there is Safety (positive, a benefit), but also Low Opportunity
(negative, a cost). On the High Risk side there is Danger (negative, a cost) and also High Opportunity (positive, a
benefit).
This Risk Neutral region is where opportunity and risk interconnect and engage. It is where the risk being
accepted meets the requirements. The positive benefits are balanced with the negative costs. If you can
manage this you are “Balancing The Risk”.
Risk Neutral can at times be a fine balancing act; just enough risk – but not too little or not too much.
The Individual’s Risk Neutral Position
Different People
Each different individual person will have their own singular personal “risk thresholds” depending on their self-
confidence, experience, knowledge and personality. Some people may tend to be more Risk Aversive and
others will be Risk Takers.
If you are a Risk Aversive person your individual, personal perceived Risk Neutral region will tend towards the
No Risk, Safety, Low Opportunity side. If you are more of a Risk Taker then your individual, personal perceived
Risk Neutral region will tend towards the High Risk, Danger, High Opportunity side. Have an awareness of your
personal “risk threshold” so that you can factor this into your Risk Assessment and Management.
You Personally
Personally

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Your individual Risk Neutral region may alter and vary depending on your personal physical and emotional
state.
If you are fatigued (and you recognise this state) you may elect to be a little more conservative and Risk
Aversive to counter that fatigued state. If you get pissed off and angry you may tend to be more aggressive and
become more of a Risk Taker (“I’ll show them...”).
Your own personal individual Risk Neutral region may tend towards No Risk or High Risk and is constantly
changing (usually within a narrow “risk comfort” band).
Summary
Use the “balance scale” analogy to envisage how you will manage the risk of your flights. Allow for the different
"risk thresholds" which will result in different Risk Neutral positions (the "risk comfort level") of the members of
your crew. Recognise that your own Risk Neutral position will vary depending on the circumstances and your
emotional state.
When you do your Risk Management and Balance the Risk into the Risk Neutral area you should always try to
keep it on an even keel.

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Risk Assessment
Risk Assessment is the detection and identification of potential threats (hazards) and the application of
“measurement” of the level of risk (magnitude) that they potentially represent. It requires an adequate level of
Situational Awareness.
Unlike many corporate decision-makers, who allow risks to be accepted and are usually quite removed from the
resultant risk bearers (hey, it’s not my neck...), you are the combined decision-maker and the bearer of that
resultant risk. There is no accountability gap. So it is in your best interests to get it right!
Real-time inflight Risk Assessment is subjective. It is based on your reckoning of the “Perceived Risk”; not the
Real (actual) Risk. It will be highly unlikely that you will have the luxury of time, resources or spare brain power
to accurately quantify the level of Real Risk that you face when in an aircraft. It just doesn’t happen that way for
real.
Risk Formula
So how can you assess the level of risk for any situation that you actually face?
One way is to use the Risk Formula.
The Risk Formula is a guide for you to “estimate” or assess the magnitude of risk for a particular situation, with
the limited information available to you, the lack of resources and the time constraints imposed on you in-flight.
RISK = SEVERITY x PROBABILITY x EXPOSURE
Severity is the extent of a possible loss. The severity lies in a range from a negligible, minor loss to a
catastrophic, total loss.
Probability is the likelihood that a threat could potentially cause a loss.
Exposure is the amount of times an event (usually a repeated event) occurs, or the length of time an event is
experienced.
Risk Assessment Matrix
The Risk Assessment Matrix can be used to determine the magnitude of the Risk (as best as you can), by
estimating the perceived level of the Severity of the risk and the Probability of that risk occurring.
Severity

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Catastrophic; Death or serious injury, or hull loss/serious damage to aircraft (aircraft accident).
Critical; Serious injury, or damage to aircraft/systems (aircraft incident).
Marginal; Flight can be accomplished, although there may be adverse effects on the flight efficiency (extra cost,
delays, diversion etc.).
Negligible; No or little effect on the flight.
Probability
Frequent; May be continuous or encountered often during each flight.
Probable; May be encountered several times during the course of many flights.
Occasional; May be encountered sporadically during the course of many flights.
Remote; May be encountered infrequently; chances are possible but remote.
Improbable; May be encountered only rarely; chances are possible but improbable.
Assess the threats. Captains must estimate what the risk severity will be (catastrophic, critical, marginal or
negligible) and what is the probability of the threat occurring (frequent, probable, occasional, remote or
improbable). The goal of this step is to categorize the risk into the following categories: Extreme, High, Medium
or Low.
Just try and fit the situation that you face somewhere in the Matrix and you will get your best “guess” as to the
magnitude of risk that you face; Severe, High, Moderate or Low. Any situation that you assess the risk is Severe
or High requires careful scrutiny and monitoring of the situation and for you to proactively manage the risk.
Moderate risk requires careful consideration and Low risk is what we all would like our flights to be like.
How you personally categorise your risk magnitude will have a major impact on the Judgement you use to
manage that risk and the eventual decision that you make. A High risk level situation will be judged differently
to a Low risk one and very different decisions may be made to cope with either of these situations.
Factors Affecting Risk Perception
You will likely never be able to accurately measure the real, actual level of risk that you face in any flight that
you undertake. You have to rely on your Perceived magnitude of risk.
Your perception of risk may be influenced by factors other than its magnitude. The following factors may have
more affect on the acceptability of risk than the estimated magnitude of;
Risks perceived to be voluntary are more acceptable than risks perceived to be imposed.
Risks perceived to be under an individual's control are more accepted than risks perceived to be controlled by
others.
Risks perceived to have clear benefits are more accepted than risks perceived to have little or no benefit.
Risks perceived to be fairly distributed are more accepted than risks perceived to be unfairly distributed.
Risks perceived to be natural are more accepted than risks perceived to be manmade.
Risks perceived to be statistical are more accepted than risks perceived to be catastrophic.
Risks perceived to be generated by a trusted source are more accepted than risks perceived to be generated by
an untrusted source.
Risks perceived to be familiar are more accepted than risks perceived to exotic.
Risks perceived to affect adults are more accepted than risks perceived to affect children.
(Fischhoff B, Lichtenstein S, Slovic P, Keeney D. 1981)

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When risks are perceived to be dreadful, unfamiliar, uncontrollable by the individual, unfair, involuntary, and
potentially catastrophic, they are typically of great public concern, or high outrage. When risks are perceived as
voluntary, controllable by the individual, familiar, equitable, easily reducible, decreasing, and non-catastrophic,
they tend to be minimized by the public, or low outrage. (Dr. Robert Scheuplien)
Our natural tendency to think in the manner described by Dr. Scheuplien leads us to be overly concerned about
risks for which we feel little control and to feel little concern for risks where we can exercise significant control.
So be aware of your personal “Risk Tolerance” level.
So How Do I Do This?
As you can see Risk Assessment for Captains is more of an acquired Art than a Science. Hopefully you have
been studying your previous Captains and absorbing their collective wisdom on Risk Assessment and
incorporating it into your “way of doing business”.
Policy, Procedures and NPs/SOPs are a good framework to base your Risk Assessment on. In fact some risks
may have already been identified, assessed and a decision made for you. For example, your airline might have
mandated that when Microburst Alerts are in force (a possible Extreme risk level) that no take offs or landings
are to be done at that airfield. Another example may be Unstable Approaches (a possible High Risk event and a
leading cause of runway excursions) – if certain flight parameters are exceeded (e.g. airspeed too high, or not
on the glidepath by a certain minimum altitude) that a Go Around is mandatory.
Ultimately it will be up to you. Often your experience will be all that you have to determine the Risk magnitude.
This is why inexperienced and novice Captains are generally more risk aversive (they avoid risk) as they do not
have the experience to judge accurately the risk magnitude a particular situation presents.
When all else fails remember the “Rules Of Risk”;

Do not accept unnecessary risk.
Accept risk when the benefits outweigh the costs.
Finally, when in doubt, take the safest option.

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Risk Management (or Managing The Risk)
Once you have assessed the risk involved you have to do something about it. What you eventually do or what
decision you ultimately make takes place after you consider and complete the final part of the Risk
Management process – actually managing the risk.
Definition(s)
Risk Management can be defined as;

Risk management is the human activity which integrates recognition of risk, risk assessment, developing
strategies to manage it, and mitigation of risk using managerial resources. (Wiki)
Risk management is the process of identifying risks, assessing their implications, deciding on a course of
action, and evaluating the results. (Transport Canada)
These definitions cover the entire risk process that we have been looking at over several risk articles. For the
purposes of this particular article we will confine ourselves to what we do to manage the risk after we make our
risk assessment.
What Is It?
Risk Management is used to decide what to do about each threat or hazard and its’ risk, and to formulate and
implement those decisions. It is based on the notion that the probability of an adverse event occurring can be
reduced or its’ consequences minimised. Effective risk management seeks to maximise the benefits of a risk
(risk versus reward) while minimising the risk itself (balancing the risk).
Effective risk management requires effective risk assessment.
“Perceived” Risk
People do NOT react to “real” risk; they react to “perceived” risk.
“Real” risk is almost impossible to quantify in the dynamic and ever changing aviation environment and you will
almost never have all the relevant data or information that affects the risk of a particular situation.
Your personal perception of what is or is not risky will often be very different to someone else. In particular your
risk perception may be very different from your F/O or your Cabin Crew. As the Captain (and decision maker)
you will be required to use good communication skills to clarify and either “sell” your point of view to the rest of
the crew (or ATC or any other member of your extended team) or be convinced that your crew or other team
member has a better perception of risk than you. Never forget that aviation is a team game and you want
everyone striving to willingly achieve the same goal.
TEAM
What you actually do to manage those risks you have assessed can easily be recalled by using the TEAM
acronym. For each threat or hazard that presents a risk to your flight, consider whether you should;

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(Click on the table for a larger view)

Like anything to do with aviation (or indeed Command) you will have to practise this TEAM structure of
managing risk. Use it in real life, in situations that you will experience on the Line as an F/O. Use it in scenarios
that you or your peer study group pose.
Remember that preparation is the price of admission to a Command Course. Don’t waste your apprenticeship –
and start practising this TEAM management of risk now as an F/O so that it is routine, effortless and entirely
natural for when you have to use it in a Command situation.
Read more about the TEAM method of managing risk in this FAA Tips For Teaching Practical Risk Management
article and here in this FAA Aviation News article.

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Judgement & Decision Making (Part 8 - The Decision)
This is the eigth of a series of articles which will look at Command Judgement and Decision Making (Part 7,
Risk, is here). It is a work in progress and will gradually be built up sequentially. So bear with me and be
patient!
using your judgement to make a decision. There is no point in reading Part 8 before Part 7 as the Part 7 info is
required to understand Part 8.
Judgement
In the entire Judgement and Decision Making process there are essentially two parts to consider; the “hidden”,
often unconscious and unobservable Judgement component, which then eventually leads into the “visible”,
observable Decision Making element.
Everything that we have discussed so far; your senses, their limitations, your sense and perception filters,
recognising the essential data from the multitude of information that bombards you so that you can accurately
define what the actual problem is and the multi-layer aspect of Risk Assessment and Risk Management;
comprises the Judgement facet or component of the Judgement and Decision Making Model.
This Judgement component is often the difficult, hidden and unseen feature of how you go about formulating
and making a decision. It is often the most important, but most neglected part of the two stages of Judgement
and Decision Making.
The eventual decision you make is the output result of a complex Judgement process that you (usually
unknowingly and sub-consciously) go through. The decision you make is normally the only thing that others can
“see” – they don’t get to “see” how you arrived at that final output decision.
Now we will look at the visible, readily observable part of the Model; the outcome and the part that you will be
assessed and possibly evaluated on – the Decision Making part.
The Decision
(Click on the image for a larger view)
Your decision is the observable and eventual outcome of the entire Judgement and Decision Making process.
This second phase of the Judgement and Decision Making Model is perhaps the easier part of the two phases (I
can hear a great sigh of relief!).

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You usually will have a number of options that you can choose from, which will result in a number of different
possible decisions that you can choose from and it’s your job to choose the best one to suit the situation that
you find yourself in. This process of choosing the “best” option normally takes place after you have completed
the entire Judgement phase which culminates in you completing your Risk Assessment and doing your Risk
Management of the situation.
As part of your Risk Management you will weigh up the positives and negatives (Balance The Risk) of the
various options available to you.
Easy Decisions
Often it will be relatively easy – Option A is very much better (or safer) than Option B because of...
Often the decision will already have been made for you and incorporated into your SOPs/NPs, policy,
procedures, checklists, QRH/ECL, manuals or other publications.
For you to be the most effective as the Commander and the primary Decision Maker obviously requires that you
be knowledgeable and adequately prepared to take advantage of this. Ensure that you thoroughly know your
stuff, as this will make your Decision Making far easier, quicker, more correct, less stressful and allow you to
have more Spare Mental Capacity (SMC) so that you can then fulfil your Leadership and Command functions
and manage the situation after you have made your decision.
Hard Decisions
Sometimes it will be hard. A lot of the time you will be operating in unclear, ambiguous and novel situations –
the Grey Areas. The process of making a decision when operating in these Grey Areas takes longer, more brain
power and you may be unsure if you’ve eventually made the correct decision. Can you see why it’s essential
that you are knowledgeable and prepared? Why as the Captain you need much more refined and better
developed SA, TEM and monitoring?
Go Ahead – Make My Day
As Dirty Harry advocated, often in the difficult decision making situations you will need to come up with A
Decision sometimes any decision. It doesn’t have to be perfect or optimal (sometimes you have to satisfice),
Decision,
but you can’t afford to be indecisive, waffle and faff-about. This does not project a good image of you as the
Leader and Captain.
If your initial decision is incorrect, imperfect or can be refined to a better outcome, then the final part of the
Decision Making phase, Evaluation, can be used to improve that initial decision. But don’t just sit there being
hesitant, uncertain and indecisive.
Never, ever forget that this is a team game. YOUR decisions potentially can affect hundreds of people. More
specifically your immediate crew and team members (F/O, S/O and Cabin Crew) will be looking to you for
guidance and direction in these difficult situations. Sometimes it may be appropriate to initially make a decision
(any decision), get your team focussed on what you require from them and then revisit the whole Judgment and
Decision Making process to amend or refine your initial decision to provide a better outcome.
You have to be flexible and adaptable, while at the same time being CDF – Clear, Decisive and Firm.
When Doing Nothing Is A Decision
Occasionally you may find yourself in the situation where after completing your Risk Management in the
Judgement phase you decide that doing nothing is the best option.

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This is fine, but make sure that you communicate your Mental Model of your perception of the circumstances
and your intention to do nothing to the rest of your team. Otherwise they might think that you’ve gone to sleep
or haven’t made a decision at all!
NOTE: This is “do nothing” option is only valid if you have made a conscious decision to do nothing and
communicate that intent to your other team members. This is OK.OK
If you do nothing for any other reason it is because you were ignorant of the situation because you did not
recognise the developing signs or indications or did not have the knowledge or skills to formulate a decision.
This is definitely NOT OK.
OK
Communicate Your Intent
Now that you have made up your mind and made your decision, you need to communicate your decision,
intentions and requirements to the rest of your team. This may also include not only your F/O, S/O and Cabin
Crew, but also your “extended team” members such as your passengers (by PA), ATC, Operations and
Engineering, Traffic and Cargo Loading Ground Staff etc.
You may need to inform your team as to why you have decided on this particular course of action. You have to
convince them that this is the right thing to do. You need to get them to “come on board” with you and to take
“ownership” of your decision. It may require you to “sell” the decision to others to convince them that this is the
best possible decision, in the current circumstances, so that they willingly follow you.
It’s all about team work. If you can get your followers striving towards a commonly understood and accepted
goal as a functional team then they will perform better than a bunch of unconvinced individuals pulling in
different directions.
As the Leader you can delegate tasks to various individuals in your team. Ensure that you tell these people their
required tasks, what you expect from them, to what standard and how much time they have to complete the
task.
Now all you’ve got to do is get your team to implement your decision – and that’s the subject of the next article
“Action”.
Part 9 “Action” is under construction.

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Judgement & Decision Making (Part 9 – Taking Action)

This is the ninth of a series of articles which will look at Command Judgement and Decision Making (Part
8, The Decision, is here). It is a work in progress and will gradually be built up sequentially. So bear with
me and be patient!
Each part needs to be read in the sequential order presented, as this is the way I believe you mentally go
about using your judgement to make a decision. There is no point in reading Part 9 before Part 8 as the
Part 8 info is required to understand Part 9.
A Call To Arms – Action Stations!

This Action part of the whole Judgement & Decision Making process is relatively easy. It is very often what we
pilots immediately jump to; perhaps too quickly without considering all the risks or options.
You’ve made your Decision. Now it is time to implement that Decision and Take Action.
You do this Action Initiation by “Communicating Your Intent” – telling the

relevant members of your team what you hope to achieve and then allocating
duties or resources to your team members to achieve that goal.
Often you will be required to delegate duties or tasks to your subordinate team
members so that you can maintain your “Big Picture” overall view of the
situation and to adequately manage your other Command tasks and the
developing situation.
Inaction
To accomplish results we must couple our decision with the necessary action to
attain results. The formula for achieving results is: Decision x Action =
Results.
A decision without action is no more powerful than indecision or no decision.

Decisions are powerless unless we follow through. Without action, you could
make the greatest decision and have the greatest plan in the world and you
would still fail. However a modest idea and an incomplete plan often produces
success when accompanied by enough action.
Indecision is debilitating; it feeds upon itself; it is, one might almost say, habit-forming. Not only that, but it
is contagious; it transmits itself to others. (H. A. Hopf)
Even if you are on the right track, you will get run over if you just sit there. (Will Rogers)
In any moment of decision the best thing you can do is the right thing, the next best thing is the wrong
thing, and the worst thing you can do is nothing. (Theodore Roosevelt)
After all, if we do the wrong thing, at least we can learn something from our mistake. But inaction teaches us
nothing, other than regret. Don’t become paralysed into inaction for fear of making a mistake. You will make
mistakes, but each mistake is an opportunity for you to learn.
Be Clear, Decisive and Firm and implement into action your decision.

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Judgement & Decision Making (Part 10 – Evaluation)
This is the tenth of a series of articles which will look at Command Judgement and Decision Making (Part
9, Action, is here). It is a work in progress and will gradually be built up sequentially. So bear with me and
be patient!
Each part needs to be read in the sequential order presented, as this is the way I believe you mentally go
about using your judgement to make a decision. There is no point in reading Part 10 before Part 9 as the
Part 9 info is required to understand Part 10.
Review & Evaluation – Closing The Circle
Every Decision Making Model (except the SOCS Model) that I’ve seen has, as its’ final
step, an Evaluation or Review portion.
This Evaluation step is like a closed Feedback loop and its’ purpose is to ensure that the Decision that you put
into Action is indeed achieving your desired goal or outcome.
There is no point in implementing and executing flawlessly a Decision, if that Decision does NOT solve your
original problem. Problem Solving and Decision Making are intimately interwoven – the Problem drives the
Decision and sometimes the Decision will change the Problem.
The only way to determine if your chosen Decision is satisfactory and is achieving your desired outcome is to
review the eventual outcomes that come from the action that is taken after you make a Decision.
It’s Obvious...Isn’t It?

This should be blatantly obvious and you probably do this Evaluation (or Review or Feedback) step
unconsciously. If your actions are not achieving your desired outcome then you re-do the Judgement & Decision
Making process to put into place a revised and better Decision and Action(s).
This is how almost everyone does Decision Making in real life situations – they do a bit, observe the change,
then do a bit more, observe etc. You use the feedback from your initial Actions to refine and modify your initial
Decision to attain your eventual preferred outcome.
The problem occurs when your Decision and its’ Actions DO NOT achieve your preferred goal. If you do not
incorporate this feedback Evaluation into your Decision making process you will never determine if you have
either;

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Tried to solve the wrong problem (a Problem Solving error), or

Your Actions, that come from your Decision, are not working (a Decision Making error).
Evidence Based Feedback

Don’t get caught out by ignoring or disregarding contrary evidence that your Problem is NOT getting solved
because you assume that “I can’t be wrong” or “I fixed that problem”.
As humans we tend to disregard indications that don’t fit into our perceived model of the way we think the
world should be (assumptions).
We see what we believe, instead of believing what we see.
Evidence Based Feedback (which is just a fancy way of saying, look at your instruments and take in what they
are actually saying) is one way to counter this erroneous step in your Decision Making.
If you fly a Glass Cockpit aircraft a common example of this is blindly believing your FMS vertical deviation
indication (which indicates whether you are high, on, or low on vertical profile). You see the Magenta doughnut
(Airbus) telling you are on profile and believe that indication, instead of mentally computing your vertical profile
by using the “raw data” indications on other instruments (e.g. altitude, V/S, Distance To Go, DME etc.)
Closing the loop by using Feedback to Review and Evaluate your Decision will result in you determining that you
are achieving your desired outcome and if not will indicate that you will have to start the Judgement & Decision
Making process again.

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The “Human Element” Of Aviation (And Life)

This particular article is included with the Judgement & Decision Making section as I believe it has a
huge bearing on how you apply your Judgement to arrive at an eventual Decision (and how you
interpret and incorporate the feedback and evaluation of your actions).
However, it affects everything that you do as a Captain, as an aviator and as a person.
The “Human Element” is the humanity aspect of the things that we do every single day as an
aviator. It’s why sometimes we are illogical and not totally rational. That’s not good or bad – it’s just
the way we as humans function. Get used to it. It’s the way we as humans do business.
It influences your Leadership style, how you interact with other people (both face-to-face and via
non-personal means such as via radio), your CRM qualities, how you communicate, whether you are
having a “good day” or a “bad day”, the quality of your handling skills, your SA, monitoring and TEM
– everything.
The “Human Element” overlays everything; it’s like an enveloping cloud shrouding and covering the
thoughts, actions and behaviours that we exhibit. And like a cloud it can obscure, reduce visibility
and make things less clear, less obvious, less transparent (especially to other people).
The Elements
You already know many of these “Human Elements”, although you may not be fully aware that they
affect your Command skills, qualities, actions and behaviours.
Open any CRM book and most of the “Human Elements” will be listed in there.
So what are some of these “Human Elements” of aviation and life? The following is most (but not all)
of the major factors that will influence you as a human in aviation (and life);
• Preparation
• Memory and Recall
• Common Sense
• Fatigue
• Stress (both good and bad stress)
• Perception

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• Personality
• Experience
• Knowledge
• Confidence
• Situational Awareness
• Attitude
• Time (or usually a lack of it)
• Assumptions
• Bias
• Ethics
• Morals
• Beliefs
• Illness (Physiological)
• Training (good or bad)
• Information
• Emotions (a big player in the “Human Element”)
It’s Why We Are Different
We are all individuals and each of us will have a different mix of all the “Human Elements” contained
within us. That’s the main reason that two people with exactly the same conditions and information
or “raw data” will reach different decisions or conclusions.
An example of this is the perennial vexatious question of “What is a Suitable Airfield?” (which is
usually disguised when your Trainer asks you “Where would you go now in the event of an engine
failure/cargo fire?”). What is “suitable” for one person may be totally “unsuitable” for another.
Have you ever wondered why? Well, I suggest that the “Human Element” plays a major role.
One person may have prepared and studied the terrain, navaids, approaches and ATC facilities at a
diversion airfield and equipped with this additional knowledge determines that his choice is a
“suitable” airfield.

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Another person may have lots of experience and be very confident in his ability to safely land at an
unfamiliar airfield with an emergency situation.
And yet another may have been influenced by a peer who told him that this airfield is a “difficult”
one and so have a preconceived image or bias that no matter what, that this airfield is “unsuitable”.
It is the same for Decisions. What is a “good” or “suitable” Decision for one person is a “bad” or
“unsuitable” Decision for another. You both have exactly the same information, yet you both arrive
at different Decisions.
So Who’s Right?
The crux to this question of who’s right and who’s wrong is what is “right” and what is “wrong”.
There are usually a number of different “correct” solutions to any problem (and by extension a
number of different “correct” Decisions that can be implemented to solve that problem); all may be
correct, some more correct than others, but that doesn’t mean that any of them are “wrong”. Just
different.
So who determines what is right and what is wrong? Well that’s pretty easy – as the Captain you get
to do what YOU consider as “right” and NOT do what YOU determine is “wrong”.
You may actually cock-up and what you thought was “right” was in reality “wrong”. Management
usually likes to point out the error of your ways in these situations, but they do so with the benefit
of hindsight (Hindsight Bias), with all the facts (that you may not have had at the time), with no time
pressure, while sitting in their air conditioned office that’s not moving anywhere. If you can look
these Management dudes in the eye and say “Well, I did the best that I could, with the information
that I had at the time. I’ve learnt from it.” you will have become a better aviator.
But, we all make mistakes, right? It’s not ever really a mistake unless you don’t learn from that
error.
Command “Human Elements”
You will need to take all these “Human Elements” into consideration when you are acting as the
Captain of your flight(s). By factoring these elements into the human equation you may get an
understanding of why your F/O or Cabin Crew are uncertain, wary or unsure of actions or Decisions
that you make. You may have to modify your Leadership style to take into account these “Human
Elements” so that you and your team can function optimally in that particular situation.
Remember – it’s not all about you. You have to consider all the other humans (and their “elements”)
that form part of your extended team.

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Only by doing that will you be the best Captain that you can be.

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A Basic Decision Making Model

If you’ve been a regular reader of Airline Command you’ve endured the long drawn-out unveiling of
Judgement & Decision Making with its’ many parts.
Perhaps it’s best to re-cap the whole Judgement & Decision Making process and use a Basic
Decision Making Model and which includes a brief overview of the entire problem solving and
decision making process. May be all the other Judgement and Decision Making parts will make more
sense and you will be able to PRACTICALLY apply decision making and make some higher quality
decisions for real.
PROBLEM SOLVING and DECISION MAKING – there are two broad components in the entire
decision making process. First you have to recognise that a problem exists and determine what the
problem actually is. This recognition then leads to the second component of the process of making a
decision and then implementing it through action.
The entire process is circular, cyclical and continuous and after you put your decision into action
you must review or evaluate if your decision is actually solving your originally defined problem.
Problem Solving
Before you even make a decision you must first of all recognise that a problem exists. This is
accomplished by effective monitoring of the flight, the environment, the team and the instruments in
the cockpit which results in you continually updating your Situational Awareness.
Good monitoring and SA results in you recognising that a problem exists, but first you must
accurately determine What Is The Problem? The nature of the problem will establish the
decision(s) to be made.
Problem solving is the INPUT stage and the start of the decision making process.
Decision Making
After establishing what the problem is you then make a decision to solve that problem to your
satisfaction. As part of your judgemental decision making you may have to balance one option
against another and assess the risks associated with the options.
Part of making a decision is ensuring that it is enacted. A decision without action is useless.
Decision making is the OUTPUT stage of the entire process.
Review
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Once you put your decision into action, you must continually review the outcomes of that decision.
Are we achieving our desired outcome?
This feedback loop is where you will pick up errors in your problem solving; “Did I work out what
the real problem was?” and also errors in your decision making; “Is my decision actually solving
my problem?”. If you cannot answer “Yes” to either of these basic questions you will need to restart
the problem solving and/or decision making again.
This diagram illustrates a very basic decision making model and displays the essential steps that
you will have to complete as the Command decision maker.
Communication
While communication is not a part of the problem solving and decision making model, it is essential
for good decision making and overlays the entire process.
Good communication is required in both the problem solving and the decision making stages. Good
communication coupled with effective CRM ensures that everyone in your team knows what the
problem is, how you are planning to solve it and is striving to achieve a satisfactory outcome to fix
the problem.
Problem Solving. You will need to share your Mental Model in the problem solving stage with the
rest of your team. Gathering data and information is important in this stage to ensure that your

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team agrees with the assessment of what is the problem.
Decision Making. Communication Of Intent is vital in the decision making stage. This is where
you implement your decision by initiating action, providing direction or delegating tasks within
your team members.
So, if it all becomes too hard when making a decision, think about this simple decision making model
and it’s two basic components – What’s the problem? and then Make a decision.

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General Ramblings

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Stop and Think! What Triggers You?
This article should be read in conjuction with RED FLAGS as they

are intimately linked.
What gets your attention, pushes your buttons or triggers you into thinking "Hang on...let's think about this a bit
more?"
One of the hardest techniques that I have been trying to develop lately is to catch myself when something
unusual or odd happens and force myself to Stop and Think.
Think
It's not as easy as you would think either. As pilots we are trained and coached into being very task oriented
right from our first flight. This is further instilled into us when in an Airline job as the Company expects us to get
from A to B on time. Pretty clear goals eh?
But being so focussed on completing tasks can sometimes be our undoing. By not stopping and thinking things
through clearly we can sometimes end up making poor or bad decisions or even NO decision at all!
I've been trying hard to hone this Stop and Think skill, but it's been hard work as I sometimes continue to make
snap decisions as that is what I was taught to do and have been doing for many years. I've been trying to refine
this skill and work out how I can improve it. It wasn't until I was recently training a Command Trainee that I had
a deeper period of cognition (I'm trying not to use the word think too much here!)
We were coming back from a regional trip in SE Asia when the Trainee got some updated weather via ACARS. It
had 3,500 metres visibility and Overcast at 300' hidden within the METAR. He had a look at the METAR and
passed it to me without comment. I had a look at it and started doing some mental LWMO and diversion
planning (but I kept that to myself). When we arrived at our destination, the weather was pretty much as
forecast. We got vectors for the ILS and the Trainee was a bit surprised and taken aback when we broke visual
less than 100' above the CAT 1 minima.
He focussed on the 3,500 metres visibility and assessed that the arrival would present no problems. I spotted
the Overcast at 300' and thought to myself "This could be interesting - we may get visual really late due to the

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low cloud base."
I realised later that the Overcast at 300' was a Trigger or RED FLAG that got my attention. It's what made me
Stop and Think about the consequences of that weather, such as LWMO, Missed Approach, late disconnection
of AP, diversion, holding (where, fuel and time).
Now that I've thought about it more I actively seek out those attention Triggers or RED FLAGS, so that I can
Stop and Think about the actions or consequences in that situation. In other words be proactive, rather than
reactive.
Some other triggers or RED FLAGS that I have recently used are;
Missing ATC transmissions or giving incorrect Readbacks - why am I doing this, am I getting overloaded or
bogged down?
Poor weather in Forecast or METARS (e.g. low cloud base, poor visibility, strong crosswind, windshear) - better
start planning for Missed Approaches, LWMO, holding, increasing VApp, may be using Manual Thrust etc.
MEL items - am I (and the rest of the crew) happy to get airborne with this malfunction (and how will it affect
this flight) or should I get the Ground Engineer to check it out first?
Anything unusual occurs below MSA - will it kill me now? If not let's wait until above MSA then we'll sort it out.
Anytime I feel uncomfortable (gut feeling) - why am I uncomfortable? What have I forgotten, am I getting pushed
for time and starting to rush things? If so slow down!
There are not too many things that happen during a flight that can't wait for a few seconds so that you Stop and
Think about them.
Start to train yourself to recognise the Triggers or RED FLAGS that should cause you to pause and Stop & Think
about the situation. Now you can be proactive and make high quality decisions. You start making those kind of
decisions and your Command Training will be so much easier.

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Red Flags
We talked about Red Flags first in Stop & Think and both articles should be read in conjuction with each other
as they are intimately related.
What the hell are Red Flags?

Flags
Red Flags are the indications or signs that you are in a situation(s) that you need to pay particular attention to.
They are attention grabbers or triggers to prompt some sort of action or thinking.
They are usually the first indication that things are going off the rails and you are losing or have the potential to
lose your Situational Awareness (SA) or you are heading for a "bad thing". They are the triggers, indicators,
warning signs or recognition signals that you should Stop & Think about the situation you are in (or about to put
yourself in) so that safety is not compromised.
Have a read of any accident report and you'll no doubt recognise the myriad of Red Flags that preceed the
ultimate "loud and firey smoking hole". Reading or discussing Accident and Incident Reports are excellent ways
to build your store of personal Red Flags.
If you can recognise the Red Flag warning signs reading the report in your nice safe crew room, why couldn't the
accident crew?
Try and put yourself in their shoes, in an aircraft not doing what they expect, with noise and vibration, under
stress and possibly fatigued (both sometimes self-imposed), with may be poor ATC, CRM, Leadership and/or
communication with a malfunctioning airframe. "Couldn't happen to me!" (that's your first Red Flag - it can
happen to anyone if you're not careful).
You have to be able to train yourself to be able to RECOGNISE Red Flags.
Here are some Red Flags as examples (and this list is no where near complete, there are heaps of others
waiting out there for you);
distractions
missed radio calls
ambiguity
discrepancies
confusion
uncertainty
stress and/or fatigue
"gut feeling" - something doesn't feel right (don't dismiss this as "unscientific", it is a valuable warning sign)
unusual or abnormal circumstances (this may be the actual situation or other things like noise, vibration or
smells)
getting behind the aircraft (losing SA or losing the "Big Picture")

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NPs or SOPs breaking down or not being complied with

failure to meet targets (e.g. Stable Approach Criteria)
complacency (lulled into a false sense of security)
increase in workload (sudden - easy to spot or, gradual - not so easy)
you need to use your CRM, Communication or Leadership skills (something has broken down somewhere)
short or field length limited runways
parallel runway operations (ILS PRM?)
poor weather (windshear, micro bursts, low cloud, poor vis, LWMO, strong crosswind, autoland)
icing, cold weather or contaminated runways (de-icing required, low temperature altimetry)
Whenever you get one of these Red Flags you should think "Danger Will Robinson. Alien approaching!" (if you
don't get that, you're too young).
If you can add to this list, then just leave your Red Flags in the COMMENTS at the bottom of this post and share
the good information.
Always be on the lookout and alert for Red Flags and when you recognise one Stop & Think to ensure you
enhance, rather than compromise safety.

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SEP - Somebody Else's Problem!
The Somebody Else's Problem Field (SEP Field) is a fictional technology from the "Hitchhiker’s
"Hitchhiker’s Guide To The
Galaxy" trilogy by Douglas Adams. It is a cheaper and more practical alternative to an invisibility field.
What has this got to do with being the Captain of an Airliner?!
Well, as a Captain everyone wants a piece of your time...and it is usually right when you are busiest. I wish I
could get my SEP Field up and running sometimes and fade away and just get on with my job rather than
getting involved with solving other people’s problems.
Unfortunately, as it says above, the SEP Field is fictitious. However you can utilise the essence of the title by
trying to make problems, hassles and nuisances Somebody Else’s Problem. This sometimes goes by the name
of RESPONSIBILITY and sometimes by the name of DELEGATION.
DELEGATION
As the Captain, you do not have to do anyone else’s job for them.
Let's look a typical example;

If a Ground Staff member is having problems with a suspected intoxicated passenger prior to boarding, he may
attempt to use his SEP Field and come and see you and say, "Captain, we are having a bit of a problem with
one of the boarding passengers. He looks like he’s drunk and is being very loud. What do you want to do?"
Nice try buddy, but this is really YOUR problem, so engage your SEP Field to Warp Factor 9 and reply "OK. What
are YOU going to do about it?"
This is really the Ground Staff’s RESPONSIBILITY and most Airlines will have laid down and published
procedures for the Ground Staff to follow in this situation.
Exactly the same sort of thing happens with Ground Engineers, ATC, Cabin Crew...the list can be endless.
People will want you,
you as the Chief Cheese, Numero Uno, The Big Kahunha, to fix their problems.
By all means be polite and helpful. If you can see a solution to their problem (especially if you’ve encountered
this type of problem before) then offer it as a suggestion. But, you don’t have to do their job for them. It is their
Responsibility. Bounce the problem back at them by asking "Well, what are you going to do about it?"
The other side of the coin is when YOU have a problem. Try to off-load your workload as much as possible. Get
other people working for you by giving them the problem to solve or fix. This is not cheating...it is called
DELEGATION and delegation is one of the essential skills that you will be required to use as a Leader and
Captain.
An example of this might be;

You get a last minute runway change, just prior to taxi (how does ATC know when to swap the runways at the
exact worst moment?) If you are busy, you can off-load some of your work to the First Officer (provided he has
some spare capacity) - get him to get the new Take Off data, or get the new STAR charts out.
Just remember though that YOU also have certain RESPONSIBILITIES as the Captain and most of the major
ones you CANNOT delegate. You are at all times responsible for the safe, legal and efficient operation of the
aircraft, the crew and passengers and your responsibilities are usually laid out in Black and White somewhere
in you Company’s Operations Manuals.
So next time you or someone else is having a little problem, engage your SEP Field and use two of the
Foundation skills of Leaders and Commanders - RESPONSIBILITY and DELEGATION.
May the Force be with you!

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Quotes To Keep You Going During Command
I like quotes. People very often are able to express an idea succinctly, to the point and do it with style - unlike
me! So here are a few of the Quotes that I personally give to Command Trainees.
Life
It’s a funny thing about life - if you refuse to accept anything but the very best you will often get it. (W. Somerset
Maugham)
Life is not a rehearsal.
Enjoy life. There’s plenty of time to be dead.
If you don’t like what you’re getting back in life, take a look at what you’re putting out.
Aviation
There are old pilots and there are bold pilots, but there are no old, bold pilots.
Experience is something you get just after you need it.
A superior pilot is one who uses his/her superior knowledge to avoid situations that require the use of his/her
superior skill.
Efficiency is intelligent laziness.
Try to stay in the middle of the air. Do not go near the edges of it. The edges of the air can be recognized by the
appearance of ground, buildings, sea, trees and interstellar space. It is much more difficult to fly there.
The three worst things to hear in the cockpit:

The Second Officer says, "Oh shit!"
The First Officer says, "I have an idea!"
The Captain says, "Hey, watch this!"
Command Course
You reach the finish line one step at a time, one day at a time, and with the understanding that it will take many
steps and many days to ensure you get there first. You achieve your goal one step at a time, focused and
diligent, always moving forward. (Muhammad Ali)
If not You, then Who? If not Now, then When?
Before I get in the ring, I’d have already won or lost it out on the road. The real part is won or lost somewhere
far away from witnesses - behind the lines, in the gym and out there on the road long before I dance under
those lights. (Muhammad Ali)
Whether you think you can, or whether you think you can’t…you’re right. (Reggie Jackson)
When an archer misses the mark he turns and looks for the fault within himself. Failure to hit the bullseye is
never the fault of the target. To improve your aim, improve yourself. (Gilbert Arland)
Excellence is never an accident; it is well thought, well planned and well executed.

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Some succeed because they are destined to, but most succeed because they are determined to. Desire is the
key to motivation, but it is determination and commitment to an unrelenting pursuit of your goal - a
commitment to excellence - that will enable you to attain the success that you seek. (Mario Andretti)
W.I.T. - Whatever It Takes.
Winners see what they want to happen, losers see what they fear might happen.
The anticipation of failure is a recipe for defeat.
Failure is so often the fertiliser of success.
Check out also Great Aviation Quotes by Dave English - there’s something in here for every occasion!

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K.I.S.S.
Hands up who doesn't know what K.I.S.S. stands for?
For those of you who have been living in a box for your entire aviation career it is an acronym for Keep It
Simple...S
Stupid!
This article could also be sub-titled You Don't Need To Make It Any Harder Than What It Already Is (but
YDNTMIAHTWIAI is nowhere near as cool as KISS).
By now you've probably got the drift of this blurb. One of the secrets of Command is to simplify whenever
possible. If you have two options, and one is harder than the other but they both achieve the same result, you
would be a bit silly to choose the harder option.
Efficiency is intelligent laziness.
The job of being a Captain of todays modern airliners can be a piece of cake when everything is going according
to plan - the weather is great, the aircraft is not broken, you've got a supportive team, ATC is giving you Directs
and High Speed - but it can rapidly get a tad difficult when everything is turning into a can of worms. I mean,
anyone can do this job when everything is going right, but not too many people can do it when the wheels are
falling off. When this happens you start to earn your pay as the Captain.
Here's some idea of what I mean by trying to simplify stuff;

If isolated TCu or CB's are around, then look out the window and visually avoid them rather than get buried
"heads down" trying to dodge them using the radar.
Use the Autopilot soon after Take Off if you have a minor problem, have to dodge weather or your workload
increases for whatever reason.
Utilise the automatics (Managed in the Airbus) whenever possible to ease your load. This method is only
effective if you are aware of what the Managed automatics will accomplish for you. (You do know what the
automatics can do for you, don't you? If not then you'd better get cracking and learn fast as the automatics can
be a very effective way to gain valuable spare brain power).
Don't unduly complicate engineering, cabin crew or pax problems.
An example of this happened on one flight with a Command Trainee when we got an ECAM FLAP SYS 2 FAULT
during preflight with the ground engineer sitting in the Jump Seat completing the Logbook. The engineer
suggested doing a Flap System check (to which the Command Trainee readily agreed) and shortly after
commencing the test the fault self-cleared. The Command Trainee let the engineer complete the test (Elec HYD
pumps ON and external observer to confirm actual flap/slat position) and wasted valuable time that could have
been put to better use, as the check effectively tested a now serviceable system.
Have a think about things, even when all is going to plan, and endevour to take the easy option if that will
achieve the same result.
Now that you are aware of it, use K.I.S.S.

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R.E.D.
Doing your Command upgrade Training can be quite a stressful time. It is (possibly) the culmination of many
years of struggle, learning, financial and family difficulties.
You don't get this stage of your career by being second rate and by not travelling the hard yards. Let's face it, to
get to here you have had to jump through a serious number of hoops. Some Command Trainees invest so much
of their time ensuring that they are as well prepared as they can possibly be (an admirable goal) that they
neglect their mental and physical health (a not so admirable goal).
You will still have to look after yourself while you are
preparing and undertaking your Command Course.
Don't start losing sleep, doing no exercise or eating crap foods. Why? Because your Command Performance will
suffer and you will be operating at a less than optimal level.
To look after yourself remember R.E.D. - Rest, Exercise and Diet.
Rest Get lots of rest and recovery (mainly good quality sleep) to recharge your brain and to ensure that you
don't feel "flat" and lethargic.
Do not fall into the trap of thinking that you have to study and prepare during every waking moment. You need
to "rest" your brain and have some relaxing time to refresh yourself. This might be as simple as watching some
enjoyable TV/DVDs, continuing your hobby or just socialising with family, friends and mates.
Ensure that you are achieving good quality sleep. Your brain "recharges" during quality sleep. If you neglect this
important area of your personal health you will eventually become chronically tired and your physical and
mental performance will deteriorate.
Exercise Exercise is great for relieving stress, getting you out of the books, out of the house/flat and is a good
chance to mentally "switch off".
If you haven't been regularly exercising prior to commencing the Command Course this doesn't mean that you
go out and over-do it. You will just wear yourself out and make things worse (and possibly injure yourself). Go for
a walk with the dog, chase the kids around the playground (or the significant other around the bedroom?).

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I personally find that I do a lot of thinking about things while out exercising. This might be the best time to think
about problems or difficulties you may encounter during the Command Training process.
Being physically fit is an excellent way to counter the effects of stress (and some Command Trainees manage to
put themselves under enormous self-imposed stress), to promote good quality sleep and feel good about
yourself (you have to look after your self-concept - nobody else will).
Diet You are what you eat (literally). Eat a balanced diet to get all the goodies that your body and brain requires
and so that you feel refreshed and recharged. A crap diet can leave you feeling lethargic and washed out.
Once again, you don't have to make major changes to your lifestyle just because you're on a Command Course.
Just pay a little attention to what you're popping into your mouth to make sure that it is "quality" food.
It is easy when you don't feel like you have enough time to do anything to neglect your diet and eat fast foods or
poor quality foods. Eat fruit and veggies (you don't want to get scurvy!). Watch out for increasing your alcohol
intake - don't fall into the trap of drinking more to offset the increased effects of stress (both professionally and
personally).
Do not under-estimate R.E.D. If you start stressing about the course, start losing sleep, neglect to do any
exercise and eat junk food you are pretty much setting yourself up for future poor performances.
Look after your body and your brain. After all this is not a physical job, it is mainly a mental one.

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First Flight
I bumped into a guy I know who is on a current Command Course, while on the bus returning from the airport.
He was dressed in his uniform, so I knew that he had been flying somewhere. I asked what he had been doing
and he replied that he had just returned from his first two sectors in the flying phase of his Command upgrade -
a two sector, day return trip, to a regional airport with significant terrain and indifferent ATC.
He was very up-beat, enthusiastic and pleased with himself. Why? Well, as he said, "I'm pretty happy with the
way these first two sectors went."
He had managed to get an aircraft that had numerous minor defects - none of them major - that took a fair bit
of time to review and in one case, to resolve a confusing defect with the ground engineer. He said "In almost 9
years with this company, I've never seen anything quite like that!" (How do the aircraft, ATC and the weather
know when to conspire against you?)
He described the pre-flight preparation like "Fielding multiple cricket balls" and he was happy with the way that
he handled the situation. He was also pleased with the way that he had physically manipulated the aircraft from
the new Left Seat.
I thought about this later, "Why would he be so happy?"
Well the two sectors had gone well, he felt like he had operated the flight well in his new capacity as the
Captain and he had handled some engineering problems well.
Off to a good start for his Command Training!

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Things like this don't just "happen". I suspect that this guy had done quite a bit of preparation prior to strapping
that jet to his bum and it showed in the way he displayed his Command skills.
Getting hassles in your first few sectors can be a good thing - provided you do a good job handling them. He
now has increased self-confidence in his Command skills and flying ability from the Left Seat (which was
boosted by being praised by his Trainer in the debrief).
Are you ready? Have you prepared? Are you confident?
You'll be amazed at how good you feel and how your self-concept and self-confidence improves if you do things
well (and more so if your Trainer praises you).
Smile
How are your interpersonal skills?
My WHAT skills!? (Interpersonal skills are those things that you use to interact and relate with other real live
carbon based life forms (humans) and are essentially a reflection of your personality and your Leadership
methods).
As Captain you will be required to interact with numerous members of your "team" in real life. Your team
consists not only of your F/O but your Cabin Crew, your Pax, the Ground Engineer and maintenance personnel,
Traffic and Cargo Staff – anyone that visits you in your "office".
One of the most effective ways to boost your effectiveness with other members of your team that you meet
face-to-face is to look at them and SMILE.
Seems too easy, but it works wonders and costs nothing!
It soothes tension, makes your job pleasanter and you are more likely to gain an ally and valuable team

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member.
Give it a go – SMILE.

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Attention Suck - FMS
If you fly a glass or FMS equipped aircraft beware of "Attention Suck".

Suck"
These types of aircraft with their sophisticated PFDs, NDs, FMSs, ECAMs or EICASs are traps for the unwary.
They are just so visually attractive, colourful and contain so much information that they just "suck" your
attention towards them. You are compelled to look at them. Glass cockpit displays have been likened to
vacuum cleaners - they suck heads, eyes and fingers straight into them.
However, always remember the old maxim of Aviate, Navigate, Communicate. At least one of you (and I'm
mainly talking about two crew aircraft here) needs to be "Heads Up" at all times and doing the Aviate bit.
Don't allow the Attention Suck to draw both of the pilots' focus of attention inside to view or interact with the
screens so that you are both "Heads Down". It's a powerful attraction that requires discipline and sometimes, as
the Captain, firm direction and guidance to your F/O/crew to prevent it occurring.
This is especially so when an aircraft malfunction occurs and the ECAM/EICAS is yelling out "Look at me, Look
at me!" This is when the two of you can be drawn into the "Black Hole" of Attention Suck and you both focus
almost exclusively on the malfunction. You can guarantee that your SA will be degraded almost instantly.
If you recognise that you or your crew are suffering from Attention Suck, then you as Captain have to start
directing firmly the crew's duties, i.e. I/You have control, I/You will remain "Heads Up" and then make a decision
about whether to "Standby" or continue with the malfunction actions. Do not allow Attention Suck to degrade
your SA (see SA Enhancement - Quick & Dirty for a quick method to regain basic and essential SA).
Even though you may fly a very sophisticated and modern aircraft, the Basics, as always, still work and are
required. Think about Attention Suck and ensure that you and your crew are extremely disciplined and someone
is always "Heads Up" flying the jet.

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Mentors
Find a Command Training Mentor if you can.
A mentor (a trusted friend, counsellor or teacher, usually a more experienced person - in this case a Captain)
can be invaluable help for you during your Command training.
You will learn at a vastly accelerated rate and will get tips and pointers from the "coal-face" of real Captain(s).
Not too much theory, but solid practical stuff. And stuff you won't be able to get from reading a book.
There is a certain amount of trust required (both ways).
Generally I would advocate that you approach a Captain in your Company that you are comfortable with and
trust and ask if he would be willing to mentor you as you undertake your Command Course. If he is on the same
type as you are doing your Command so much the better. Company policy and procedures can be discussed
and scenarios tossed around.
If you don't have any previous Command experience, this is a great way to clarify, consolidate and practise the
elements of Command that you will soon be required to display for real "in the heat of battle".
It doesn't have to be anything fancy, may be a phone call every couple of days, the occcasional email, having a
quiet beer or two and "shooting the breeze". Bounce things that trouble, concern or confuse you off your "big
brother". Your mentor should be able to guide and educate you and generally point you in the right direction
with some focussed attention.
"A problem shared is a problem halved."
You don't have to do your Command alone, in fact it's much better if you build a strong support group about
yourself. A Mentor is one such option.

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Four Communication "Groups"
Communication is an essential skill and attribute for a Captain and Leader.
But you also have to be able to communicate to a wide variety of "groups" that comprise your "team".
I use four main "groups" that I communicate with;

Cockpit Crew
Cabin Crew (and passengers – don't ever forget them!)
ATC, and
Anybody Else.
Cockpit Crew
This has been hammered into you from day one. It's a major part of CRM. You must ensure that your F/O (and
any other cockpit crew that you may have e.g. FE, or Relief Crew) is appraised of your decisions and kept in the
communication loop. Share your "Mental Model" so that you can work as an effective team towards a
commonly stated goal.
Don't forget that communication is a two way operation. Get information from your other cockpit crew members
too.
This should be second nature by now, but if it isn't then you really need to start addressing it right now, as your
job as a Captain will be so much more difficult (and more so while under Training).
Cabin Crew (and Pax)
All too often in this post-9/11 age we, as Cockpit Crew, act in isolation in our secluded and security locked little
area at the pointy end of the aircraft.
Never forget that you have team members (your Cabin Crew) who are busy working in the rest of the aircraft.
Keep them informed of what's happening, especially if you have anything unusual occurring (delays, holding,
problems, rough weather ahead etc.).
Use the "chain-of-command" if at all possible and it's not time critical. Inform the Head of the Cabin Crew and
then let him or her disseminate the information to their subordinates. If it is a time critical message consider
using the PA.
Again this is a two way communication thing. Encourage your other Cabin Crew team members to contact you if
they have any problems, especially any safety concerns. Sometimes Cabin Crew are reluctant to directly contact
the Cockpit Crew because of the "sterile cockpit" philosophy. Don't block this communication channel.
Never, ever forget your other "team" members in the cabin; your passengers. Keep them informed as well. How
much information you divulge is up to you. Your job here is to inform and reassure. Nobody likes to be kept in
the dark. Avoid prolonged and unnecessarily technical explanations. And never lie or make up some bullshit
excuse! Keep it brief, factual and to the point. You as the Captain are the Leader of your pax as well.
ATC
You will always be talking to these guys. And like the Cockpit Crew your communication with them should be
very well refined by now.

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ATC can be/is an integral part of your "team". Use them as such and include them in your communication
process.
Anybody Else
This communication group can be Operations, Engineering, Traffic, Ramp or Airport Staff and Specialists (such
as Security, Doctors, Dispatch etc.) that you can contact using face-to-face/VHF/HF/ACARS/Satcom. Who you
communicate with is only limited by your imagination.
Don't act in isolation and neglect this part of your "team".
Whenever you've got to "spread the word", communicate your intent or decisions or receive information, think of
these four Communications "Groups" that comprise part of your "Team".

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"Holistic" Command
You cannot afford to look at things in isolation – that's just not how the real world works and it is definitely not
how you want to operate as the Captain. You must take on an increasingly "holistic" view of your activities as
Captain and of your crew and "team".
We've already discussed things like Red Flags, Stop & Think, Four Communication Groups, Decision Making,
Airmanship and the list will continue to grow.
These are all individual "tools" that you can use from your "Command Toolbox" to assist you in being the most
effective and safe Captain that you can be. But they cannot exist in isolation. Everything is inter-related.
As an example, when you recognise a problem (and a Red Flag type incident might alert you to the developing
problem), you then might Stop & Think about it, Enhance Your SA, use your team, communication and listening
qualities and your decision making skills (e.g. CLEAR Model) to come up with a course of action, communicate
your intent to your "team", implement that action and review the success of your action. Everything works
together to produce the outcome that you desire and intend.
In "The Difference Between THE Captain & AN F/O" one of the differences was the "big picture" view that you as
Captain have to take in. A holistic, integrated, whole, big picture view is what is really required.
A tall order? Yes, but that's just another attribute of being THE Captain.
So start this "holistic",

"holistic" all encompassing practise now so that it is refined and second nature when you start
your Command Course.

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Just Say NO!
I first came across this simple but powerful set of words "Just Say NO!" in Aircraft Command Techniques
(among other good tips).
As pilots, we are very task and goal oriented and "can do". We want to complete the job, get to our destination,
depart on time, land on our aimpoint – you know; all those "pilot things". And the pilot selection process
naturally weeds out those who do not have these qualities. A pilot who is not too interested in making his
destination does not last long (either in the aviation environment or in life!)
Part of CRM encourages us to be a "team player", help the other guy, don't rock the boat or ruffle feathers. We
have to be Mr. Nice Guy and get along harmoniously with everyone. This "groupthink" mentality (where we
acquiesce to the prevailing group or team point of view) is one of the disadvantages to being a team player.
Now don't go out and be "Attila the Hun"! CRM actually does work – but occasionally you will be required to
make hard decisions.
Sometimes as the Captain and Leader you have to make unpopular, divergent and opposing decisions. You
can't please everyone. However, never forget that YOU are the one who will have to explain YOUR actions if
things don't turn out OK. You have certain powerful responsibilities to ensure that the flight is concluded safely,
legally and efficiently.
These occasions may be when you "Just say NO!"

The Ground Engineer says that that particular defect is OK to go flying with. NO! – please rectify it because of
this…(insert your reason here).
The Traffic Staff want to load a possibly drunk passenger. NO! – it is a flight safety issue.
Operations wants you to divert to an alternate that you have reservations about. NO! – because of…
The Cargo Loaders want to put an extra 1.5 tons of freight on when you're already at Max Takeoff weight and
the weather at destination is not too good. NO! – I need to take this amount of fuel and I'm already at Max
Takeoff weight.
A manager asks can you extend your Flight Duty time by using Commanders Discretion. NO! – we're fatigued.
You may not be very popular and might put some people's noses out of joint, but you're not in a Popularity
Contest. You are the Captain and you have the final say in how some things are actually conducted with your
flight.
Ensure that you have valid reasons ready to justify your decision. By explaining why you made that decision will
display good CRM and possibly convince the other person that you are right and they are wrong (well you can
live in hope!)
So remember those three little words "Just Say NO!"

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Don't Just Sit There - Do Something!
You should never as the Captain be just sitting there doing nothing, staring vacantly out into space. Especially
so during the often hectic, busy preflight preparation phase of the flight.
If you operate in a two cockpit crew flight deck, you both should simultaneously be doing something.
Most Airlines dictate what duties you complete as the PF or PNF/PM in your SOPs/NPs. These normally work
well to distribute and even out the workload and to ensure that one person does not get overloaded, while the
other is underloaded.
However, it sometimes only takes a relatively minor fault/situation to occur to cause one of the cockpit crew to
become overloaded. And that one person is usually the Captain. As Captain you have to monitor, supervise and
direct the fault/situation as well as complete your “normal” duties.
If you recognise that you are getting overloaded or falling behind in your SOPs/NPs, then consider delegating or
off-loading some of your duties to your F/O or others. In other cases you will have to prioritise tasks; work on
the highest priority task and then move onto the next highest task. In all cases ensure that you pace yourself
and don’t rush into making a mistake.
A good example of this occurred while I was doing Command Training recently. The aircraft had a U/S ACARS
(on our Airline we use ACARS to receive the Loadsheet and get RTOW data), so the Trainee Captain’s PF
workload increased slightly as he had to obtain these essential bits of information from other “non-normal”
sources. As we were conducting our preflight preparation two different minor ECAM faults were displayed which
required the Ground Engineers to trouble-shoot the two respective systems and refer to the MEL, while
consulting with the Trainee Captain.
Now the cockpit has three Ground Engineers crowded into it and the Traffic Officer passing NOTOCs and the
Loadsheet into the cockpit over their heads. I was acting as the PM for this sector and managed to finish my
PM duties easily (nobody was hassling me and if they did I just pointed to the guy sweating it out in the LHS!)
The Captain, however was very busy attending to all the other demands on his time, liasing with the Ground
Engineers, consulting the MEL, signing the loadsheet and keeping the Cabin Crew informed of the expected
possible delay. While he was doing all of this he was attempting to get an RTOW via SMS on his mobile phone
(our Airline’s preferred RTOW backup method), which was giving him an error message. He was overloaded and
getting a little stressed out!

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Meanwhile, I was sitting just to his right doing nothing, watching him stew while I was inwardly having a small
demonic chuckle to myself. Trainers can be bastards sometimes – but I bet he learnt a valuable lesson and
won’t do that again!
This was a perfect case where delegation, prioritisation and pacing would have made the preflight preparation
go better, reduce his workload, promote efficiency and safety and reduce his stress levels.
Have a think about this situation and mentally work out how you would have handled it. Remember, as Captain
you don’t have to do everything yourself. Delegation, prioritisation and pacing are some of the Command skills
that you can use in this type of situation. Head on over to the Scenario Discussion area to see how I debriefed
this Command Trainee on one possible way to have handled this situation.
Be observant as the Captain and take in what is occurring around you (SA). If you recognise that you’re getting
over-loaded or if you notice that your F/O is sitting there doing nothing and you’re busy, off-load some of your
duties to him (delegate). Be sure before you do this that he has completed all his duties, otherwise you will be
just increasing his workload. Similarly, if you have completed all your duties and the F/O is struggling, take
some of his duties and complete them for him.
The cruise is generally a low workload time. Don’t just sit there and veg out. Always be thinking about the flight.
During the low workload periods formulate plans and strategies to counter threats that will occur in the high
workload periods. Numerous studies have found that effective and high performance Captains do just that -
plan during low workload times for the anticipated high workload times.
I always want to know where my nearest suitable airfield is, for the day that the shit hits the fan and I want to
land ASAP. What’s the MRA I can descend to if I depressurise? How can I save fuel, can I step climb, will I arrive
ahead/on/behind schedule? Do I have any defects that I can alert the destination engineering staff about and
will it affect later sectors?
If you notice poor weather at your destination think about LWMO, windshear, poor visibility, who will do the
landing (you, the F/O or the AP), holding, fuel/time, crosswind etc. while in the cruise, NOT during descent or
approach.

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If something is broken, review the systems description, fault/error/ECAM/EICAS indications or messages, can I
fix or reset it, review the MEL for future sectors, can I get further information from engineering, how will this
affect my flight from now to completion or future sectors, will I need any extra equipment (ground power etc.),
discuss any implications the defect willl have on the operation of the flight.
Discuss your plans (share your mental model) with your crew. Always be thinking about your current situation
and planning ahead.
Time can be a precious commodity in aviation. Don’t waste it by just sitting there – do something!

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Support System – For You
Command Training can be stressful, fast paced and put you well and truly outside of your comfort zone. It can
make you feel exhilarated, excited, joyous, frustrated, depressed, miserable, happy and angry – often all in the
same day, on the same flight!
At times it can feel like it’s you against the rest of the world.
It doesn’t have to be this way. You don’t need to go through your Command Course alone and isolated.
You should be preparing your technical, operational and aeronautical skills and knowledge prior to beginning
your Command Course. In conjunction with this “operational” preparation, you should also be doing some
“personal” preparation to make the “human aspect” of your Course easier, less stressful and more enjoyable.
Mentor(s)
We’ve already discussed Mentor(s). They can be invaluable and provide an empathetic support system.
Ideally your mentor will be a Captain in your airline flying the same type of aircraft that you will be undertaking
your Command Course on. This provides you with someone you can discuss aircraft type specific procedures,
Company Policy and general Command techniques and skills. If that person has gone through the same
Command Training system that you are about to start, then great, you can also talk about what you can expect
from the “Training Machine” in your Airline/Company.
If you can’t find one of these ideal mentors all is not lost. Any experienced Captain that you trust can assist you.
Remember, most Command Trainees that are unsuccessful in their upgrade training don’t fail because they
can’t fly the aircraft; they fail because they lack Command and Leadership skills (e.g. decision making,
prioritization, work-load management, CRM, team building, interpersonal skills etc.)
A mentor can be a sounding-board to bounce ideas off, discuss how you would manage situations, obtain
relevant Command information and to examine “what-if” scenarios. They can also be very helpful in reviewing
situations that have occurred to you, to try and work out how you could possibly handle that type of event better
in the future.
Peers and Mates
Even if you are fortunate enough to enlist the aid of a mentor don’t forget that your peers and mates can be a
valuable source of support and information.
If your Company does any sort of pre-Command workshop or training, then get the other trainees’ phone
numbers and email addresses so that you can form an instant support group. Keep in contact with them.
Most likely these other Trainees will be going through their Command Training in parallel with you and in some
cases this can be more beneficial and more empathetic than a mentor. If your Company doesn’t do any pre-
Command Training then find out who is doing their Command Course at about the same time as you and
contact them.
Peers can be a useful source of information about the airports and routes that you will soon be flying into. As
part of your preparation to an airport, call up someone who has been to that airport recently and find out all the
information you can about it, especially if you have never been there before. Local knowledge can be extremely
valuable and is often not contained within Company publications.

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Trainer(s)
The vast majority of Trainers have your best interests at heart. They want and desire that you will be successful
and complete your Command Training.
Any worthwhile Trainer should be readily and easily contactable. If you have any burning questions then give
your Trainer a call and get it sorted out. The same goes for any contentious issues that are brought up
(especially during debriefs).
Your Trainer is a “resource” that you should use.
Your Training Management section is also a “resource” that you should use if you require assistance with the
overall management and conduct of your Command Training Course.
This is more “big picture” stuff such as personal or financial problems at home or within your family that may
have the potential to affect your Command performance. You will be under enough (self-imposed) stress while
undergoing your Command Course – you don’t need to increase the pressure by having other external stressors
on top of the existing ones inherent in your Command Course.
See your Training Management personnel if you have any major problems with your allocated Trainer. Trainees
and Trainers are human and sometimes the two will have an uneasy working (or unworkable) relationship. If it
adversely affects your Command performance, then it might be best if you request another Trainer. A tough call
I know, and only you will be able to make that decision (a strong support group is invaluable in these types of
situations to “assist” you in arriving at that decision). However, this should be a last resort. Don’t think that you
will be able to solve all your stresses and problems by getting a different Trainer.
"Stress Relief"
Most aircraft systems that operate with significant pressures (e.g. hydraulic, pneumatic and fuel systems) have
pressure relief valves incorporated into the system to protect it from damage from excess pressure.
You should be no different. You need to incorporate a “stress relief valve” into your life so that excess
stress/pressure doesn’t damage you or those close to you.
Every Command Trainee at some stage during their Course will get depressed, frustrated, pissed off and
stressed out. You will need to proactively manage this insidious build up of stress and pressure.
If you don’t, it can have the potential to affect not only your performance during your Command Course, but
also your personal life. Taking your frustrations out on your wife, husband, girl friend, boy friend, mistress,
gigolo, kids or dog is not a good thing. And if you do go down this road can further increase your stress. These
people are part of your “team” – keep them on your side (see Support System - For Your “Team”).
Even if you don’t take it out on others and you keep the stress and pressure bottled up inside, it will adversely
affect you. It may affect your sleep and cause increased fatigue which in turn increases the potential to make
mistakes and errors and so further increases your stress. It can be a slippery slope once you start to rapidly
accelerate down it and sometimes requires prompt and firm action to halt the downward slide.
NEVER, EVER neglect your partner or family. Make time to include them into your life (play with the kids, take
your wife to dinner etc.). It is all too easy to get so focused on YOUR problems of successfully completing your
Command Training that you completely neglect the most important people in your life. Keep this Command
Training thing in perspective – sure it’s important, but not as important as your partner or family. Would you
rather be a Captain or divorced? By keeping those closest to you happy and on your side will reduce personal
stresses on you.
Have a few beers or socialize with your mentor, peers or mates to relieve built up stress, blow off pent up

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pressure, rant at the “unfairness” of the Training Machine and how your Trainer is the “worst” person in the
world, share your triumphs and successes or valuable Command skills that you have learnt.
You have to proactively manage you stress levels (see also the article on RED - Rest, Exercise and Diet).
Socializing and interaction with trusted mates and friends is a good way to keep yourself sane, grounded and
relatively stress free.
Ensure that during your Command preparation you give some thought to your own personal Support System.
Seek out a mentor, hook up with peers and monitor your stress levels while on the Command Course. Keep
your stress levels under control by “switching off” and socializing with your partner and family and mates and
friends.
You don’t have to do this Command Training alone!

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Support System – For Your “Team”
We’ve talked about having a Support System for you – the one who has to “endure” the rigours of undertaking
a Command Course.
However, consider the people closest to you. They will be affected by your emotions and moods as you progress
through your Command Course as well. This is especially so if you are married and have children.
The people you have close relationships with, your spouse or partner, kids, parents etc. are part of your home
“Command Team”. You will have to plan and to work to keep this Command Team harmonious, happy and on
your side. There is nothing worse than trying to get through a stressful Command Course without adding to that
stress with personal difficulties at home.
It is all too easy to neglect and ignore those closest to you, while you single-mindedly focus on your goal of
successfully completing your Command Course. Let’s face it; you would never have got to this stage of your
career if you were not very task and goal oriented, with strong motivation to be successful and not fail whatever
you embark on in aviation.
“Team Time”
Just as you need time to yourself (“Me Time”) to think through various Command difficulties and problems and
to unwind and relieve stress and pressure, so too does your family and those closest to you in a relationship
need you to be involved with them (“Team Time”).
There is no point in successfully passing your Command Course and becoming a Captain, but failing in your
personal life and becoming divorced.
Don’t neglect and ignore them. Make time in your busy life to play with the kids and spend time with your
spouse or partner (take her/him to dinner and flowers are always a winner with wives/girlfriends). It will make
them happy and will also make you happy.
It’s really a win-win situation. They don’t lose you for the months that you are immersed in your Command
Course and you have a great source to relive stress and pressure.
Be proactive and ensure that you regularly “schedule” Team Time.
Keep Them On-Side
You will be placed under enough stress while you are completing your Command Course and you definitely
don’t need to add to that already present stress.
One way to dramatically elevate your stress levels is to allow your relationships with those closest to you to
deteriorate. Hence the need to ensure that “Team Time” is regularly included in your busy life. Like I said before
you benefit and those closest to you also benefit.
Do all that you can to keep them happy and on your side. A supportive partner and/or kids is a huge asset for
you during your Command Course and will make life so much more easier.
Prepare Them
Discuss with those closest to you your Command Course and what it entails, prior to starting it.

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Outline how the Course is structured and what your Company will expect of you. That way they won’t be taken
by surprise when you decline an invitation to Aunty Flo’s 70th birthday party (who you’ve never met) so that you
can prepare for your final Command Check.
Prepare them also for the emotional rollercoaster that you (and them) will be riding as you progress through
your Command Training.
The positive emotions (joy, happiness, contentment, satisfaction – generally associated with success and
things going well) are easy to cope with, but the negative emotions (sadness, frustration, anger, regret –
generally associated with failure or things not going so well) can sometimes take those closest to you
completely by surprise.
Let them know that this emotional up and down could occur. If you keep your Team on-side they can be a
massive help to you to weather the emotional storms that you may face.
Parallel Emotions
Be aware that any one really close to you will tend to celebrate your successes and suffer through your failures.
Those really close to you will be emotionally affected by YOUR emotions and moods.
If you get stressed out, tired and grumpy, you can tend to take it out on them, which may make them frustrated,
pissed off and stressed out as well.
It is almost as if they are undergoing the Command Course themselves and their emotional state will very
closely parallel yours. This is one reason why you need to prepare them for the emotional rollercoaster and
keep them on-side.
If you’re aware that this can occur, you can help them and they can help you.
”Team” Support Staff
Just as you should surround yourself with support staff (mentors, peers and friends), so should your family or
those closest to you.
Arrange for your spouse or partner to talk with another spouse or partner who has gone through what they are
about to go through. Swap phone numbers and email addresses so that your spouse or partner can contact
someone (especially if you’re away somewhere during your training).
A strong home network of “Support Staff” can be invaluable for your spouse or partner and should be in place
before you commence your Command Course.
If you are in any sort of close relationship you really need to get your “Team” organised prior to commencing
your Command Course. Ensure you spend quality “Team Time” with them, keep them on-side, prepare them for
the rigours of your Command Course and surround them with “Support Staff”.
Like I’ve said before – you don’t need to do this alone!

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The Fine Line (TFL) of Command
Everyday and on every flight that you conduct as a (Trainee) Captain you will be required to walk “The Fine Line”
(TFL
TFL)
TFL of Command.
TFL can be likened to a suspended, variable width “line” or boardwalk whose width changes depending on the
current circumstances or situation that you as Captain are presented with and how well you handle the
situation.
The width of your TFL depends on your skill, judgement, decisions, experience, airmanship, Leadership,
preparation, knowledge and attitude as the Captain (internal factors) as well as the environment, aircraft, ATC
and other external factors.
Some days your TFL will be broad and give you a very large piece of latitude to manoeuvre about, sometimes
allowing multiple paths to be taken (not too demanding, stress free and allowing different options), while being
very close to the ground (minimal risk or no dire consequences). On other days it will be narrow, almost like a
tightrope, and allow you a very small range of latitude with little margin for error (very demanding, with a huge
dose of stress, with no options), being high above the ground with no safety net (lots of risk with extremely dire
consequences).
Some days the borders delineating Acceptable, Poor, Bad, Good or Excellent will be fuzzy and indistinct and you
may not be fully aware that you are transitioning between one area and another. On other days it will be razor
sharp and blindingly obvious.
The eventual outcome of Acceptable, Poor, Bad, Good or Excellent is a direct result of how well you can balance
and walk your TFL steadily, with no stumbling or staggering and the width of your TFL.
The eventual TFL width, height and outcome is largely in your control. While you can’t control the external
factors (e.g. the weather, aircraft serviceability, ATC controlling, etc.), you most definitely can control the
internal factors of YOU as a Captain (skill, judgement, decisions, experience, airmanship, Leadership,
preparation, knowledge and attitude).
Use all your Command skills to make your TFL wide and low, pick a steady, confident path and proceed
resolutely forward.
So shoulders back, head up, eyes front and confidently walk your TFL of Command.

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Control The Pace
As an aviator your workload varies depending on the phase of flight, the situation, unforeseen circumstances
and your crew. Sometimes it is mind-numbingly slow and at other times it is fast paced and conducted at a
vigorous tempo. Now that you’re the Captain (or training to be the Captain), you’ll have to include your crew’s
workload into your “global” SA view and take it into consideration.
You get the best out of your team when you all function harmoniously together. It’s like your team is marching,
line abreast, maintaining formation. No one getting ahead or falling behind the others and you’re synchronised
and keeping in step with each other as a cohesive team.
You, as the Captain, have a certain degree of control over the pace of your crew’s workload. You can speed it up
when time is of the essence, or slow it down, which is more often the case, to ensure nobody on your team gets
left behind. This is what I mean by “Controlling The Pace” or by “Pace Yourself (or Your Team)”.
Never forget that your “team” includes not only your F/O or F/E, but your Cabin Crew, possibly your Passengers,
ATC, Ground Engineers and Traffic Staff, in fact anyone associated with your operation and you can influence
the pace with these "team" members as well. If an external "team" agency (e.g. ATC or Ground Engineer is
causing you to get bogged down, use the magic word of "Standby" to control the pace).
One particular area that you will have to be very conscious of is the (in)experience of your F/O. You will
generally be more experienced that him and it is very easy to get ahead of your F/O or allow him to get bogged
down and leave him behind.
Be alert to the fact that this can also happen to you, especially if you are managing complex or novel unusual
situations or handling malfunctions. You can get so bogged down with the Command aspects (e.g. making PAs,
CRM, communication, gathering information, decision making, risk assessment etc.) that you rapidly fall behind
the aircraft. If you let either your F/O or yourself get to this stage then you have effectively “Split the Cockpit”
(see Splitting The Cockpit – And How To Join It Again).
“Controlling The Pace” or “Pacing Yourself” is really just workload management and to a certain extent
prioritisation. Managing the workload so that the load is evenly distributed (delegation or doing the others’
tasks to relieve the burden) and completing the higher priority tasks first and deferring the lower priority tasks.
It doesn’t have to be a complex situation or malfunction that requires Pacing. After Take Off and around the FAF
during arrival are two common situations in normal operations when Pacing is required as there can be a lot
going on in a short period of time.
For example; you are PF for the Take Off. You get airborne and at about 1,500 feet the following may be
required by your team (PF and PM/PNF according to your Airlines’ NPs/SOPs);
Monitoring and calling FMA changes as the FMGS sequences from the Take Off to the Climb phase,
Changing (if manually flying the aircraft) or monitoring (if AP/FD engaged) the pitch attitude to accelerate from
V2 +10 to Climb Speed and/or the roll attitude if a close in turn is required,
Thrust reduction (more FMA changes),
Configuration change from flaps/slats extended to clean (normally sequentially in several stages),
Turning Packs on (if you’ve done a Packs off Take Off),
Changing ATC frequency from Tower to Departures (and Departures will invariably give you either Direct to
somewhere or a higher altitude clearance – more FMA/FM changes),
After Take Off checks when clean,
Releasing the Cabin Crew to work in the cabin.
These happen on every Take Off. It gets even more exciting if when cleared to Take Off you also get “Maintain
runway heading, maintain 3,000 feet”. A clearance like that is a Red Flag to me, to Control The Pace. A lot will

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happen very quickly!
In addition depending on the circumstances you may also have to deal with additional matters, distractions or
complications;
Avoiding any weather/windshear/turbulence in the immediate Take Off path,
Additional ATC headings, direct to waypoints, speed control, frequency changes and/or altitude/FL clearances,
Minor malfunctions that are only apparent when you are airborne (e.g. inhibited cautions).
It is easy for you or your F/O to get caught out and fall behind and more so if something unusual or extra occurs
(e.g. an unexpected clearance or aircraft malfunction).
Plan for the future and identify when high workload periods will occur during low workload periods when you
have time and are not overloaded (one of the attributes of good Captains). Then you can brief your team to
pace themselves, prioritise and effectively manage their workload to ensure that everything gets done correctly
and nobody gets bogged down and left behind.
Control the Pace (..."Use the Force Luke"...) – it needs to be part of your global SA and one of the many
attributes that you will need to develop as the Captain. Usually you will have to slow the pace or tempo, but
when pushed for time you may have to increase it.

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Nicola – An Oldie, But A Goodie!
This joke has been around for a while. If you get a chuckle out of it – great.
If you get a chuckle out of it AND it makes you think occasionally of your pax sitting in the back, relying on you –
then even better.

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Time – And Its' (Mis)Management
Time waits for no man. Time marches inexorably on.
(Time) is the most valuable thing you have. It is perishable, it is irreplaceable, and it cannot be saved. It can
only be reallocated from activities of lower value to activities of higher value. (Brian Tracy)
Unless you’ve got a spare Time Machine (the Tardis maybe?) sitting around somewhere, you will not be able to
go back in time to alter the Past or go forward in time to influence the Future. You can only act in the now; the
Present.
Consider the Past, Act in the Present, to Plan for the Future.
That’s a pretty good way of allocating your time and performing as a Captain while you’re out doing your
aviation thing.
Time management is another skill that you will have to learn and employ effectively as a Captain. There have
been a number of aviation accidents where the ultimate result was crashing because of fuel exhaustion (United
173 and Avianca 52). If you look back into these accidents you can see that inappropriate and ineffective time
management and a lack of time awareness (a component of SA) was a major causal factor.
Time is a little like fuel – you never seem to have enough of it. In fact time and fuel are closely inter-related.
Your fuel guage is almost like a time guage.
Fuel = Time and Time = Options
Decision Making Time
The amount of time available (or the perceived lack of it) has a direct effect on your Decision Making abilities
and the quality of those decisions. Don’t rush into making a mistake.
Decisions and the consequent actions made under time constrained pressure (i.e. you don’t have the luxury of
enough time to make a high quality, well thought out decision) are usually much poorer decisions than
decisions made after spending sufficient time to gather additional information, involve your team and seek
their input, think through the various options and do risk assessment of those options.
Avoid making impulsive, snap decisions. Stop & Think. There are very few aviation decisions that require to be
made immediately. Take the time to gather information and assess risk and the various options.
Time Constrained Decisions
In some situations you will not have a lot of time available – you will be in a time critical situation requiring a
prompt decision. This is where your preparation, skill, knowledge, airmanship, Leadership, teamwork and
common sense will guide you towards the “best case” decision in the little time that you have available. But
these time critical decisions are a rarity in aviation.
Ask yourself “Do I need to act immediately?” If the answer is Yes,

Yes you may be betting your life (and others) that
you have made the correct decision. You certainly won’t have all the information, you’ll be under an enormous
amount of stress and you won’t be able to utilise your team fully (you may be acting in isolation). If the answer
is No then take a little longer to use all the available resources to formulate a better, higher quality decision.
Ask yourself also “Will it help or hurt to delay making a decision?” Delaying may allow you to gather more
information, involve your team and present you with more options (in this case it would help). However delaying
costs time and circumstances change with time. If darkness is approaching or the weather is deteriorating and

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you're burning fuel all the time, delaying would result in your options being reduced (in this case it would hurt).
As you can see, time is a valuable resource when you are making decisions.
Time Awareness
You can suffer from “temporal (time) distortion”, especially when you’re under a very stressful situation such as
a major emergency. Temporal distortion is your false perception of time going really fast or really slow. When
you’re bored, doing routine things, time seems to drag and take forever (“Are we there yet?”). In a really
stressful situation a few seconds can seem to take forever or a few minutes can seem to be gone in seconds.
Be aware that this time distortion can occur. Consider starting your chrono or stopwatch to keep track of the
real time.
Related to this temporal distortion is “time detachment”. In this case you are completely unaware of the actual
passage of time. I suspect that the crews of the fuel exhaustion aircraft where unaware of the time that had
passed and how much time they had available to them. Time detachment is most often experienced during
preflight preparation or during stressful occurrences. You get so involved or focussed with your duties that you
lose complete track of the time (e.g. you’re unaware of how much time you have to STD). Try to include the
clock into your scan and set a “time target” for yourself (e.g. "If we can’t sort out this problem by time 11:15
UTC, then we’ll choose Option B"). Use a real time for your time target and not “in 10 minutes from now”.
Time
Time Pressure
Sometimes we place an inordinate amount of obligation to complete things on time. In our role as the Captain
we force ourselves to be punctual, depart and arrive on STD or STA, we need to fix this problem right now or we
need to land off this approach. We put pressure on ourselves to complete things on time. This is “time
pressure” and is usually self-imposed.
More haste, less speed
Or if you like; if you rush the job it will get finished later, or trying to do things too quickly and carelessly makes
them take longer in the end. It is better to concede one minute and do your job safely and efficiently, than it is
to complete your task unsafely on time and then waste ten minutes fixing a haste induced error or mistake.
Time pressure can be relieved by “building” more time into the situation. Take time to make time. You slow
things down, reduce the tempo and pace yourself and your team more effectively. You can slow the aircraft
speed down, request to enter the hold or get extra track miles, go around, delay pushback or take off, use the
magic word "Standby" or may be uplift more fuel.
Procrastination
Procrastination is the thief of time.
As the Captain and Leader you can not afford to procrastinate, waffle, be indecisive and waste time. You should
never be just sitting there doing nothing. By not doing anything and delaying any type of action through
procrastination you gradually begin to limit your options as time (and fuel) is used up. This type of negative
behaviour also sends a poor message to the rest of your team - it shows poor Command Presence. You need to
be Clear, Decisive and Firm.
There are some occasions where your decision may be to do nothing. Note that this is NOT the same as
procrastinating, ignoring or not being aware of the situation. In this case you have made a conscious decision to
do nothing as the best solution. If you do decide to make this type of decision, ensure that you communicate
this to your other team members.
Time management is one of your Command skills. Use and allocate your (and your teams) time wisely, safely
and efficiently.

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Monitoring – It May Save Your Life
Monitoring and cross-checking seem to be the aviation buzz words of the moment. But we all do this don’t we?
It’s been beaten into us from our very first flight, assessed every time we do our Regulatory checks in the
simulator and during our Line Checks, so what’s the problem?
The Problem
The problem with monitoring is that humans are generally not very good at it (that’s the nice way of saying that
we humans (pilots) suck big time at monitoring!)
Humans are pretty poor at monitoring tedious, repetitive and boring things and we therefore tend to become
complacent. We are also not particularly good at catching our own self-induced errors, despite there being at
least two pilots on any modern airliner’s Flight Deck for just that reason – monitoring and cross-checking to
increase safety.
Good monitoring skills are not inherent in pilots as they progress in their careers. Effective monitoring
techniques must be trained and rewarded. (Capt. Frank Tullo)
LOSA audits, and analysis of ICAO, Flight Safety Foundation, NTSB ASRS; in fact pick any report or study, has
found abundant evidence that well over 50% of accidents and incidents have had "inadequate monitoring and
cross-checking" as a causal factor. And this doesn’t even look at unintentional errors or Undesirable Aircraft
States that didn’t result in a reportable incident or accident!
In an attempt to alleviate this very human tendency, aircraft designers and manufacturers have increased the
level of automation (AP/FD, A/THR, ECAM/EICAS, FMGS, CPDLC, ACARS etc. and in the process designed out
the human F/E). This increased use of automation (and in certain cases the lack of human centred automation
– i.e. automation designed without any regard to how humans will inter-face and utilise the automation) has
further degraded our monitoring skills, as our SOPs/NPs are designed around the use of automation and we
now rely, depend and in some case blindly trust our automation.
The end result of all this is that lack of effective monitoring and cross-checking by the crew can render the
procedural defences (SOPs/NPs) ineffective and so potential mistakes or errors may occur and/or not be
detected, which ultimately reduces safety.
Why Is Monitoring So Hard?
In the past monitoring and cross-checking has received little attention from any of the Regulatory bodies, the
Airlines, pilots or from the training establishments responsible for training those pilots. Everybody just assumed
that pilots naturally accomplished monitoring and all pilots did it to a high standard. After all it’s our necks on
the line here.
Monitoring, in the past, wasn’t considered a primary task for pilots. So it is easy to allow other pilot actions,
skills and requirements to take precedence. However monitoring IS a primary task and as a primary pilot task
you can’t allow other duties or distractions to degrade your monitoring.
To state the obvious, one of the most important aspects of a safe flight operation is the requirement for
crewmembers to carefully monitor the aircraft's flight path and systems, as well as actively cross-check each
other's actions. Unfortunately, these seem to receive too little attention. (Patrick R. Veillette – Aviation Week)
Monitoring has been treated as a Passive skill when in fact it is an Active skill. Like any pilot skill, monitoring
must be taught, practised, developed and honed. It sometimes requires targeted, planned, conscious thought.
It’s not easy and you have to work at it.
What’s being Done To Fix This Problem

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In the past few years the light has switched on for Airlines, pilots and the Regulatory bodies to regard
Monitoring as an essential primary skill required by all pilots.
A lot of Airlines have modified their SOPs/NPs and included Monitoring in regulatory sims, Line Checks and
recurrent training to emphasis the importance of monitoring and cross-checking as a primary duty/skill.
The “old” designation of PNF – Pilot Not Flying,

Flying has been changed to PM – Pilot Monitoring.
Monitoring The rationale
behind this change of designation is to amend it from what the non-flying or non-handling pilot was NOT doing
(a negative description of PNF), to what he IS doing (a positive description of PM).
Ultimately it is up to you as an individual and the Captain to develop, practise and insist on effective Monitoring
and cross-checking from your team members.
How To Effectively Monitor
As we said before, Monitoring is an Active skill that you’ll have to studiously work at. Ensure that it is given the
priority and importance that it deserves as a primary task and skill that you will be required to display.
Discipline yourself to intentionally and consciously apply Monitoring skills.
Distractions and inappropriate workload management are two big enemies of monitoring. Generally as your
workload increases, your monitoring decreases. Monitoring also can decrease when you start to run out of time
(time pressure). Be aware of this and ensure that you and your crew conduct their duties with this in mind. Be
conscious of your workload and manage your workload to ensure that you don't get overloaded. Afford
monitoring the high priority it deserves.
All too often flight crews are doing too many concurrent things to adequately monitor the aircraft. Pace your
crew and slow down the tempo if required and prioritise your workload.
High Risk Areas For Monitoring
Areas that studies have shown are high risk monitoring times are;
Taxi. Both for Take off and after Landing. Both of you should be “Heads Up”, with taxi charts available, cross-
checking the taxi route and looking out for taxiway traffic. Avoid unnecessary “Heads Down” e.g. getting an
updated ATIS, or new RTOW data. This is when runway transgressions, overshooting taxi clearance limits,
incorrect Slat/Flap settings and incomplete checklist actions regularly occur.
Thrust Reduction/Acceleration Altitude. A lot of simultaneous actions and FMA changes are required or
automatically happening here and the pace and priority of these tasks needs to be addressed. If you can see
that it will be a particular problem, include monitoring, pacing and workload management in your Take Off brief.
FMS. Beware of Attention Suck. The FMS has been described as a vacuum cleaner; it seems to suck attention,
heads, eyes and fingers straight into it! LOSA data has found that 30% of crew errors occurred when the flight
crew was programming or altering the FMS. One of you should always be “Heads Up” doing the Aviate and
Navigate bit and the other is “Heads Down” fiddling with the FMS. Be really anal about this division of duties
and attention and strictly follow your SOPs/NPs.
LOC and/or G/S Interception. Again there is a lot happening here. Afford this critical area of flight the strict
attention of monitoring that it deserves. You both want to be focussing on LOC and G/S capture. Workload
management and prioritisation is imperative here. Changing to the Tower frequency, putting the gear down, flap
selection, checklist completion, standard calls etc. is very important, but so is ensuring a stable approach and
not flying through the LOC into a hill!
Non Precision, Circling
Circling or Visual Approaches. Airline crews rarely get to fly these types of approaches. As they
are infrequent the potential is there to cock-up, so you want both pilots’ attention focussed on ensuring the
procedure is completed correctly, within limits and safely. Get all non-essential duties completed early
(workload management and prioritisation again) and consider being a little more conservative when flying the
approach. Don’t allow distractions to effect your Monitoring. Plan and brief the arrival in detail.
TOD and Descent. LOSA audits again have identified the Top Of Descent as a monitoring high risk area. Get
your PA to the pax out of the way early, get the ATIS early and brief the approach before TOD. If you can’t get the

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ATIS use your most accurate information (TAF, METAR, ACARS, local knowledge). 90% of the time you’ll have
picked the correct STAR, arrival and runway in use. You both should be “Heads Up” in a low workload
environment at TOD and during Descent just monitoring the flight path, ATC and each other, NOT reviewing
charts and conducting an arrival briefing.
1,000 To Go. Altitude busts are most prevalent if a distraction and consequent breakdown of monitoring occurs
within one thousand feet of level off during climb or descent. 1,000 feet to go should be a “quiet” time when
you’re both “Heads Up” focussing on the altitude capture.
High/Low Workload Periods. Again, LOSA audits have revealed that over 30% of monitoring errors occurred due
to poor workload management (pacing and prioritisation crop up yet again! Are you seeing a pattern here?)
Good Captains and pilots plan ahead during periods of low workload for the hectic times of high workload. An
example of this would be checking the STAR and arrival in the cruise (low workload) and identifying areas of
potential high workload during the arrival and approach. This should be part of your TEM strategy. Don’t just
identify threats, work out some way to mitigate those threats and then share your plan with your crew
(communicate your intent).
“Heads
“Heads Down”. At some stage someone is going to have to go “Heads Down”. Try to schedule these “Heads
Down” occurrences to low workload periods. Determine if it is really necessary at the present time, it may be
more appropriate to defer it until a more opportune time. If you do have to go “Heads Down” alert the other
pilot so that he is aware of your reduced monitoring state and so that he can focus and increase his monitoring
state.
Self-
Self-Monitoring
As we’ve already seen, automation is an increasingly complex and integral part of our daily operation as pilots.
As the PF you will likely have the AP/FD and A/THR engaged for most of the flight with the FMGS programmed
for the strategic, long-term vertical and horizontal flight path or use the FCU for the tactical short-term flight
path.
You, as the PF, are in effect “monitoring” the AP/FD flying the aircraft, as well making, or directing, the
appropriate selections through the automation interfaces (FCU and/or FMS) and the PM is also monitoring the
AP/FD in addition to monitoring you monitoring the AP/FD!
"Monitoring the results of one's actions is an important ingredient in consistent, excellent performance of
complex tasks," was the conclusion in one NTSB safety study. "In flying, self-monitoring allows a pilot to
recognize inadequate performance, observing changes in the operational environment and take corrective
action. Self-corrections may range from adjusting control inputs to reversing decisions. In multi-crew
operations, the monitoring task is shared by two or more crewmembers. The flying pilot (PF) is responsible for
monitoring his or her own procedures and control inputs. In addition, operational redundancy is provided by the
non flying crewmember (PM), who is given the task of monitoring the flying pilot."
Self-monitoring is generally where you will pick up self-induced errors (e.g. inserting the wrong speed or altitude
constraints into the FMS, or selecting the wrong speed, heading or altitude on the FCU in response to an ATC
clearance). Don’t just solely rely on your PM to pick up your mistakes.
Actively Monitoring
Monitoring is an Active skill and not something that just happens – you’ve got work at it.
“Actively Monitoring” is a slightly different term, in that you are “mentally flying” the aircraft as the PF with the
AP/FD engaged or as the PM at any time.
When you’re actively monitoring the aircraft you’re assessing its’ flight path (vertically and horizontally), the
navigation (we’re here and we want to go to there), the speed, configuration, aircraft systems, where is the high
terrain or windshear (hazardous areas), the automation modes on the FMA, FCU and FMS and are they suitable
to achieve what we want.
If that sounds a bit like SA, then you’re right. Actively Monitoring is the process that you acquire information (by
being consciously aware of your aircraft, its flight path, its systems and its state) to continually update your SA.

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Summary
The bottom line? Be good at Monitoring.
Be aware of when you need increased Monitoring vigilance.
Monitoring is an active skill and you need to consciously work at it.
“Mentally fly” the aircraft either as PF or as PM (Actively Monitor).

To ensure the highest levels of safety each flight crewmember must carefully monitor the aircraft’s flight path
and systems, as well as actively cross-check the actions of each other. Effective crew monitoring and cross-
checking can literally be the last line of defense; when a crewmember can catch an error or unsafe act, this
detection may break the chain of events leading to an accident scenario. Conversely, when this layer of
defense is absent the error may go undetected, leading to adverse safety consequences. (Captain Robert L.
Sumwalt, Captain Ronald J. Thomas and Key Dismukes)
Download these PDF articles that contain more Monitoring info to further ram home the need to Monitor
effectively:
Enhancing Flight-crew Monitoring Skills Can Increase Flight Safety
Human Factors in Aviation Safety: A View From the Left Seat

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TNB – Healthy Skepticism
There is only one rule – Rule One – TNB – Trust No Bastard – they are all trying to kill you.
(Captain Rick Davies, Chief Pilot, Royal Flying Doctor Service of Australia (Queensland Section), advice given to
new Captains.)
Back in the bad old days of piston

engine airliners and the infancy of the “new” jet airliners, pilots were regularly faced with the very real potential
hazard of losing their lives through “pilot error” or mechanical malfunction. They had a highly developed and
healthy skepticism of all things associated with their aircraft, crew and the flight.
The following quotes are from a letter to the editor of Flight International that LTCDR C. K. Manning wrote over
25 years ago. Survival became an important part of any new aviators bag of Airmanship in years gone by. As
you read the quotes, think to yourself “Does this still apply in today’s aviation?”
“(The pilot)…thought and talked a lot about emergencies and learned to approach every flight, every aircraft,
and everybody and everything connected with them as a potential cause of his sudden demise. A robust and
healthy suspicion was the order of the day, reinforced by a good sprinkling of hairy experiences.”
“Most of the world’s airliners are being flown by competent and conscientious professional airmen. But the
industry should recognise that the very excellence of modern aircraft, equipment, and traffic control is
breeding a new generation of airmen who feel safe in the air – too safe.
This is the paradox of the dangerously safe, and unless we are ready to accept the pilotless, fully-automatic,
computerized, fail-safe airliner…we need to rethink the functions of pilots to prevent them becoming airborne
machine-minders whose fallibilities merely degrade the level of safety that could be achieved without them.”
I love the term “dangerously safe”; the (erroneous) belief that we can let our guard down because we fly in such
a safe environment with increasingly reliable equipment and procedures.
While this particular letter was related to Automation Complacency, it has relevance in today’s current glass
cockpit airliners (along with Automation Dependency and Automation Bias) and with all things associated with
our job – Flight Planning (CFPs), Loadsheets, Engineering, Met reports – anything to do with our profession of
aviation.
I have seen Ground Engineers give me incorrect information or dispatch the aircraft under the wrong MEL, get
incorrect Enroute Airfields used as Enroute Alternates on the CFP by Dispatchers for Polar flights and get Met
forecasts and METARs that bear no resemblance to the actual conditions enough times to have a very “healthy

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skepticism”. And not only for external agencies – I’ve seen enough pilots (myself included) screw up to keep a
close eye on my off-sider and for him to keep an eye on me (good Monitoring).
And so that brings us back to TNB – Trust No Bastard,

Bastard as they are all trying to kill you (people as well as
computers and automation).
Now this doesn’t mean that you get all paranoid and think everyone is out to get you. That is why I use the term
“Healthy Skepticism”. 99% of the time the system works as it should and your job as the Captain is relatively
easy. However, you’ve only got one life and it’s a bit of a bummer if you relax and get complacent for that
remaining 1% and you write yourself off (and your crew and passengers)!
You as the Captain are ultimately responsible for the safe, legal and efficient operation of your aircraft and
crew. You’re the one who will have his arse strapped to the jet, struggling in the air coping with things as it all
“turns to a can of worms”; not the ground based members of your “team”, who will be sitting in their air
conditioned offices at Ground Speed Zero!
I’ll leave you with a few further quotes to drive the TNB message home:
It’s when things are going just right that you’d better be suspicious. There you are, fat as can be. The whole
world is yours and you’re the answer to the Wright brothers’ prayers. You say to yourself, nothing can go
wrong...all my trespasses are forgiven. Best you not believe it. (Ernest K. Gann, “The Black Watch”)
Man is not as good as a black box for certain specific things. However he is more flexible and reliable. He is
easily maintained and can be manufactured by relatively unskilled labour. (Wing Commander H. P. Ruffell
Smith, RAF, 1949)
He is most free from danger, who, even when safe, is on his guard. (Publilius Syrus)
Nobody who gets too damned relaxed builds up much flying time. (Ernest K. Gann, “The Black Watch”)

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VUCA – Get Used To It
VUCA is an acronym (now almost a word in our “new age” vocabulary) that is often used by the Military,
particularly post Cold War.
It stands for Volatile, Uncertain, Complex and Ambiguous.
It describes aptly some of the situations that you will eventually face (or have already!) in your role as the
Captain. You may as well get used to it, VUCA that is, as you will continually come up against situations that are
complex, novel, that change rapidly with several possible correct solutions (some more correct than others) and
that you have never heard about or experienced before as a new Captain or as an F/O.
These are usually the situations that you start to earn your Command pay, not some major airborne
catastrophe. The woman giving birth at thirty five thousand feet by seat 56H, several MEL items that on closer
inspection are inter-related and require common sense to resolve so that you can get aloft safely and legally,
typhoons with constantly changing winds, windshear and micro bursts, unreconciled baggage with a “No Show”
pax, your F/O goes sick at an outport (or you do), a snow storm passing through with forecast visibilities so poor
that you cannot find a legal alternate anywhere near your destination, unruly, obnoxious and/or drunk
passenger(s), ATC closing the airfield on you when on downwind and when you ask “Why and for how long?”
you get told “Standby” repeatedly, you’re delayed and are approaching the airfield curfew cut-off time, one
more passenger on board than there are actual seats as you are taxying out for takeoff, a Cabin Crew member
calls you on the Intercom and says “I smell Smoke” and you can’t talk to them again for 10 minutes, punters
having a cigarette in the toilets and setting off the smoke alarm (this one tends to really get your attention at
two in morning over Iran), a passenger dying airborne, an uncontrollable engine and as you are getting ready to
shut it down you get an Aft Cargo Door open indication (is this a LOFT?!), you divert due to unforecast fog at
your destination and the authorities won't let the passengers disembark and after two hours "trapped" on the
aircraft one of them calls 911 on his mobile phone and tells the Police that they are being kept "hostage" (next
thing your aircraft is surrounded by heavily armed Police and Security officers) – take your pick. I’ve no doubt
that you’ll get to experience situations that you think can’t possibly happen. Oh, and by the way, none of that
stuff above is fiction - it has either happened to me or someone I know.
Forewarned is forearmed. Be ready and expect one day to get one of these “out of left field” VUCA situations.
And don’t be totally surprised when it occurs to you (usually on your Final Line Check).
Think on your feet, be adaptable and flexible and use your common sense. In these VUCA situations everyone
will be looking at you for Leadership and direction and you’d better be prepared to give it. Otherwise you’ve lost
control of the situation and more importantly, the respect of your followers.
Be flexible without being limp. (old Military saying)
Flexible is much too rigid, in aviation you have to be fluid. (Verne Jobst)
Volatile, Uncertain, Complex and Ambiguous – VUCA. Get used to it!

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Sons & Daughters Of The Green/Magenta Line
Many Command Trainees have been exposed to a relatively “safe” aviation environment.
You may never have flown any type of airliner other than a “Glass Cockpit” equipped one, with reasonably
reliable and efficient automation and computers (AP/FD, A/THR, FMS, ACARS, CPDLC, Satcom, ECAM/EICAS
etc.). You may never have flown “round dial” or “steam driven” airliners fitted with the “ultimate humility and
learning device” – a Flight Engineer (F/E). Being belted on the back of the head or verbally assailed by your
“friendly” F/E as a result of your error or indiscretion, while being politically incorrect and the cause for an
assault charge in these litigious days, certainly got your attention and you were unlikely to repeat the mistake!
As a result of operating in this current “dangerously safe” environment (i.e. you trust and implicitly put your faith
in the reliability, accuracy and information that this highly safe environment creates which tends to breed
Automation Complacency, Automation Dependence and Automation Bias), you abrogate some of your
responsibility as the Captain to ensure the safety of flight to the automation and computers. After all, you may
think, the automation and computers haven’t been wrong before have they? They do a better job than I do,
don’t they? They make my job easier and less stressful, so I can afford to off-load some of my responsibilities to
them, can’t I?
Even if you as a current Command Trainee don’t think this way, you may find that your younger crew members
do.
This blind faith mentality in computers

and automation by the current crop of technophile crew members is suitably described as being “Sons &
Daughters of the Green (Airbus) / Magenta (Boeing) Line”.
Line”. They will blindly follow and trust in the Green or
Magenta track line on their NDs.
Don’t fall into this subtle trap. It’s not a matter of IF you will get caught out, but of WHEN and by how much.
The antidote for this sub-standard attitude is a big injection of TNB (Trust No Bastard), fine tuning your Bullshit
Antenna and closely Monitoring the whole operation. Make sure you read these articles!
Be on your guard and don't become one of the "Sons & Daughters Of The Green/Magenta Line".

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Recognise & React
React
A lot of the time in aviation, you as a pilot (and now the Captain), are required to react to the situation
presented to you. Many of the articles in this blog are guidelines and suggestions on how you can or should
react to certain circumstances, normally to achieve a better outcome – loss of SA and regaining it when you’ve
lost it, pacing or controlling the tempo of yourself and your crew, VUCA situations, Monitoring (a primary flight
skill), time management, Stop & Think etc.
Well, that’s the easy part – reacting to a certain situation. Provided you’ve prepared and you have learned and
practised some basic core aviation and Command skills you can usually react in a satisfactory manner to
whatever is thrown in your direction. Your reaction can either be proactive (if you’re thinking ahead) or reactive
(if you get caught out or get a bit behind the aircraft). But, you eventually do react to the situation.
Recognise
What about those times that you DON’T react to a set of conditions or situation? And more importantly, WHY
didn’t you react?
Now for the hard part! The reason you don’t react to a situation that requires your attention or intervention is
simply because you generally don’t RECOGNISE that you have allowed that situation to develop or deteriorate.
There can be no reaction if there is no recognition.
Not recognising something is a little like being blissfully ignorant, and being ignorant can be a dangerous thing
in this aviation game. How many aviation accident reports have you read where there is statement such as
“…The pilot failed to recognise the deteriorating situation…”?
As a Command Trainee you will be expected to be a proactive Captain and react to and manage the various
situations presented to you.
To react you have to recognise. Recognition is a key aviation and Command skill that you need to continually
develop.

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Improving Recognition
So how can you improve your recognition skills to be a better and more effective Commander?
Gut feeling – if something feels wrong, then it probably is wrong. Very unscientific, but very valuable. This
should be a recognition signal that you take a mental step back and view the “Big Picture” to try and determine
why you have this Gut Feeling that something is not quite right. By doing this you may eventually recognise what
it is that has caused you to feel uneasy.
Red Flags are good recognition signals and indicators that you are required to react to a situation. Sit down and
have a good think about Red Flag incidents that have happened to you as an F/O.
“Arm Chair Fly” scenarios (visual simulation) that you imagine may happen to you and try to determine the
indicators that trigger a recognition of the situation (e.g. ATC gives you a tighter vector to intercept the ILS –
less track miles and time (recognition) – so use Speedbrake or start configuring earlier (reaction)).
Prepare, prepare, prepare. Prior Planning and Preparation Prevents Piss Poor Performance (P7). Fill your head
full of knowledge. If you are ignorant about something (Company Policy, aircraft systems, procedures etc.) how
can you possibly recognise that the situation is going astray and then react to it?
Talk to other Captains, or your mentor if you are fortunate enough to have one, about how they recognise things
– use their hard won experience to build up your emergent experience. There is no substitute for experience.
Once you have experienced a certain situation it is easier to readily recognise the same situation when it occurs
again, or even better, you can recognise the developing situation and be proactive to take action to ensure a
satisfactory or alternative outcome. Keep a journal or notebook that you can use as a “debriefing” tool and list
recognition signs and signals that you can recall from past flights.
Experience is something you get just after you need it.
You start with a bag full of luck and an empty bag of experience. The trick is to fill the bag of experience before
you empty the bag of luck.
So develop your recognition skills so that you are able to react to situations. Recognition is a key skill.
There is no way that I can possibly have identified all the recognition signals that you can have, so add your
own personal recognition signs or signals in the COMMENTS to this post to share with the other readers.

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The Light Comes On - A Major Command Realisation
I was discussing our Company’s Command Training Course with a friend who successfully completed the
Course a few years ago. I always like to talk to Captains who have completed the Course (and F/Os who were
not so successful) so that I can keep in touch with the current trends, demands and pressures of the Course
and to continually reinforce and remind myself what it is like to undergo the Command Course (Trainers take
note!).
This particular Captain said that the biggest lesson or revelation (epiphany perhaps?) that occurred to him while
on the Course happened about halfway through the flying phase when he was in the thick of the action. He was
wondering why the weather always seemed to get worse when he was due to go flying, why the aircraft was
presented to him with defects and MEL items or it always seemed to break on him. Why does it always seem to
happen to me? Why can’t I have fine weather and a good aircraft? I don’t want to have to work too hard while
on this Command Course (that tends to increase my chances of screwing something up)!
The “light came on” halfway through the Course when he finally recognised that this is what his life would be
like as a Captain for the rest of his career.
This uncertainty is a Captain’s fact of life. If you want an easy, comfortable life, then don’t become a Captain.
As the Captain you will continually be operating in VUCA (Volatile, Uncertain, Complex and Ambiguous)
situations in which you’ve got to focus your efforts on your “Circle Of Influence” by controlling the controllable
and considering those things that you can’t control (such as the weather or the aircraft serviceability) to achieve
your desired outcome safely, legally and efficiently.
It’s one of the main differences between being the Captain and being an F/O – and most of the major change
required is a MENTAL change of ATTITUDE and MIND SET.
My friend said that after he made this connection, “when the light came on”, between the uncertainty and extra
work involved and the role of Captain, and he realised that this is normal and what the rest of his life as a
Captain would be like, that the self-imposed pressure and stress lessened (it didn’t disappear completely) and
he just accepted what was dealt to him on the day and got on with the job. He didn’t waste time or mental
energy worrying about “Life is so unfair! Why me!” – he just knuckled down and got on with his job as the
Captain.
Hopefully you’ll make this mental adjustment and realise that this uncertainty is a Captain’s fact of life. The
sooner your “light comes on”, the easier and less stressful your role as the Captain (Trainee) will be.

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Command Course – A Marathon, Not A Sprint
Undertaking a Command Course can be a lengthy, time consuming and protracted event.
How long the Course will take depends on your particular Company’s Command syllabus (ground training,
simulator sessions and flying sectors) and how well you progress through those syllabus events. If you are
having trouble with a particular phase or aspect of your training, you may be required to complete extra
sessions until you reach the required standard.
A Command Course is like competing a Marathon, not a Sprint.
When competing in a Sprint, the runner is expected to produce an explosive, short duration, maximal effort to
get to the finish-line as quickly as possible. Sprints use fast twitch muscle fibres. It is fast paced, but over
relatively quickly. You don’t get to dwell and think about things too deeply – it all happens much too quickly for
too much in-depth thought. High velocity sprints are only capable of being sustained for relatively short periods
of time.
In a Marathon the runner is required to expend a steady, continuous level of energy over a long period of time.
Long distance, endurance events use slow twitch muscle fibres. It requires stamina and continual, sustained,
high pacing of your effort, both physically and mentally (not too fast – or you burn out too early, but not too slow
– or you get passed by other competitors), along with a determined and often pre-planned mental effort and
race plan. You get time to think things through and often have enough time and energy available to re-plan your
race strategy depending on how you perceive your race is progressing.
And so it is with your Command Course. Unlike a running race, your Command Course is more of a Mental effort
than a Physical effort.
You should endeavour and plan to produce a sustained, high (but not maximal) effort for the entire duration of
your Course. You don’t want to peak too early or to burn out at any stage of your Command Course – you need
to pace yourself throughout the entire length of the Course.
You may need to re-plan your “Race Plan” depending on how your Course is progressing. Whatever you do,

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whatever is thrown your way, never, never, ever give up. Always keep striving and progressing forward, towards
the finish-line. You reach the finish-line one step at a time.
Marathoners need to develop their mental stamina in conjunction with their physical stamina, as you will have
to also do with your mental attitude towards your Command Course.
So start preparing for your long distance, endurance Marathon event - your Command Course. It’s not a Sprint!

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The Hard, Necessary Things
Most people don’t want to work hard. They want the easy life where things occur as they desire without too
much effort on their behalf. It’s a fact of life and it’s human nature.
However, anything worthwhile in life requires effort (mental, physical or monetary) on your behalf. Things that
you have to earn, to expend effort on, strive towards and work at eventually mean much more than to you than
things that you just get given with minimal effort on your part.
All too often we do the EASY, FUN things first. It doesn’t require too much effort, you enjoy doing it (and you
want to do it) and it usually involves instant gratification.
But to be successful in life requires you to defer these EASY, FUN things until all the required HARD,
NECESSARY things have been completed. The HARD, NECESSARY things don’t give you instant gratification and
require dedication and sustained effort to achieve. You’ve got work at them.
At times during your Command Course you will have to diligently apply this philosophy: do the HARD,
NECESSARY things before you do the EASY, FUN things.
This is particularly so with your preparation pre-Command Course and while undergoing the Course. You need
to be focussed and complete your preparation before you head off into town with the boys for a “well earned”
beer.
It can also become a problem when you defer items or just don’t accomplish a goal or target because you
“don’t feel like it” and opt instead to slack off and spend the time watching a DVD.
If being a Captain and passing a Command Course was easy, everybody would be doing it. In reality being a
Captain is demanding and at times difficult and passing a Command Course requires dedication, effort,
determination and can be plain hard work. The sense of accomplishment after successfully completing a
Command Course and being presented your Four Bars is all the more sweeter and more deeply fulfilling
because it is so difficult.
So whenever you would like to slacken off during your preparation or during your Command Course, ensure that
you accomplish the HARD,
HARD, NECESSARY things before you do the EASY, FUN things.
things All successful people do.

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Making P.A.s
As the Captain you’ll have to make PAs to the passengers (and sometimes to the Cabin Crew). The rich, velvety,
dulcet tones which contain timely and pertinent information, pitched at a technical level that most passengers
can digest and understand, with minimal Umms and Ahhs sound great and as a passenger imbue a sense of
confidence in the Captain and Cockpit Crew. (I wish I could do that!)
Purpose
So what is the purpose of making PAs?
As far as you, as the Captain, is concerned, it is to inform and reassure your passengers (and at time critical
events, your Cabin Crew).
As far as your Company is concerned, it is an added marketing tool to promote the Company’s value for money
service and safe and caring image.
You want to convey the impression to the several hundred punters seated behind you of a confident,
competent, in control Captain.
The PA can also be used to convey time critical and urgent information to your entire Cabin Crew in one quick
delivery. However, if you elect to use this method you risk alarming the passengers in the process. It’s a trade-
off and one that only you will be able to make when you face that critical situation. It’s one of the joys of being
in charge!
It’s All About Communication
Communication is an important skill as the Captain. The main reason that you even bother to make a PA is to
communicate information that you have, with the pax who don’t.
To effectively communicate you (as the transmitter) have to send your message through the PA handset or
microphone, via the cabin loudspeakers (the medium), so that the pax (the receivers) can hear it, comprehend
it and hopefully understand your intended message. These are your Communication Goals.
If you fail in any of these steps (transmitting via a medium to the receivers so they can get your intended
message) then you’ve wasted your time in making the PA. In conjunction with your message being delivered you
also want to convey your competence as the Captain.
PA Tips
What follows are a few tips for you to consider whenever you pick up that PA handset or microphone:
Practise your PAs in the comfort and safety of your study/home before you get to do it for real to several
hundred punters. Practise not only your set-piece welcoming and farewell standard PAs, but also your “Sorry,
we’re delayed”, “we’re diverting”, “we’ve had a slight problem”, “we can’t land at the moment”, “we’ve
discontinued the landing”, “we have to hold” etc. Get really confident at making PAs so that they flow and come
easily and naturally.
Speak clearly, enunciate and consider slowing your verbal pace a little. Mumbling, speaking softly or speaking
so fast that your words all blend together as one do not achieve any of your communication goals.
Avoid colloquialisms. You may understand what you’re talking about, but your audience may not. In
international operations you will have a diverse cultural mix of pax who won’t all necessarily have the same life
experience. Colloquialisms can confuse and distort your intended message.

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Eliminate Umms and Ahhs. You will sound indecisive and less than competent. Before you open your mouth,
silently review the relevant facts and rehearse what you are about to say.
If the information contains facts – temperatures, times (local or early/late), time zone changes etc. write them
down on a piece of paper so that you can readily refer to the information as you’re speaking.
Avoid, if at all possible, printed scripts that you just read from. They sound stilted, impersonal and “plastic” and
don’t allow for ad hoc additions or the inclusion of “personalised” flight information. With further practise and
experience you can include and add interesting or relevant details to that particular flight (e.g. weather, scenic
views, delays (and their reasons), unusual activity around the aircraft (de-icing, ground engineers etc.)
Don’t bullshit and make things up (especially to either make yourself look good or to cover up cock ups). You
may get away with it most of the time but eventually you WILL get caught out and look like a liar and a dick! This
is not a good look for a Captain (especially under Training). Passengers will often write letters to your Airline
complaining about (or even sometimes complementing) the Captain as a direct result of the quality of his PAs.
Tell the truth – how much of that truth you elect to reveal is up to you and depends on the particular
circumstances you face. This is one of the secrets to making effective PAs.
Do not get too bogged down trying to explain technical stuff to the generally non-technical and uninformed pax.
If you go into laborious detail about the busted “widget”, you’ll either bore them to tears and they won’t listen
anyway or you’ll scare the shit out of them (at the very least make them apprehensive). Just briefly outline (in
layman’s terms) what has broken and what you’re doing to fix it. Again, how much you reveal is up to you and
your current circumstances.
If you get delayed either departing or arriving at your destination, give your best estimate of the time delay.
Remember, you are not a fortune-teller and can only work with the information that you are given, so don’t
bullshit. It may be correct, but then again it may not be. Keep the passengers (and Cabin Crew) informed and
updated. People will put up with a lot of crap as long as you keep them informed. Leave them out of the loop
and they will quickly get pissed off! Engineering and ATC delays always seem to be at least double of what they
originally tell you. (My record is being stuck at the gate for 5 hours with over 300 pax in a typhoon – you get lots
of PA practise in these situations! We never did get airborne – more PAs!)
Don’t unnecessarily alarm the punters. Avoid if possible words like windshear, adverse weather,
(thunder)storms, severe turbulence, and any sort of technical or mechanical “defect”. Most people these days
watch the news and the Discovery Channel and associate these words with an accident or disaster. Choose
your words carefully and avoid too much aviation “techno-babble” – your job is to inform and REASSURE.
Make your PAs short, concise, succinct and to the point. Don’t waffle on. Remember your Communication
Goals. Bored and disinterested pax don’t listen too well.
Avoid starting your PA with “This is your Captain speaking…”. Instead consider introducing yourself with
something along the lines of “Hi, I’m Fred Bloggs and it’s my pleasure to be your Captain…”
Avoid making a PA on the ATC frequency in use or Guard. The other aircraft in your airspace don’t give a damn
about your message and you won’t deliver the message to your intended audience. Make sure you’ve got your
audio switches set correctly before you open your mouth. It’s not a matter of if, if but of when you make this
classic faux pas.
Make PAs during low workload times. If you’re really busy then elect to NOT give a PA. This is especially relevant
approaching Top of Descent. If you get pushed for time then you’ve got to prioritise. The Aviate part of your job
is more important than the PA part. However, you really do need to make some sort of PA during high workload
abnormal/emergency situations (see below).
The “Unusual” PAs
At some stage of your career in the Left Seat you will be required to make a PA concerning unusual, abnormal
or emergency situations. Your aim here is to inform and reassure.
Be prepared. Practise these PAs before you have to use them in anger. What situations you devise are up to you
and your previous experiences.
Try these suggested situations:

Departure and/or Arrival delays,
ATC holding (where, how long etc.),
Smoking in toilets,
Unusual parking bays or transport from/to the aircraft,

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Technical or engineering delays (particularly if personnel are swarming over the aircraft and/or cowls are open),
Security issues,
Passenger boarding and/or baggage loading/unloading,
Inflight turbulence (if it is really bad or prolonged),
Missed approach or go-around,
Diversion to an alternate,
RTO,
On ground emergency evacuation.
Abnormal or Emergency Situation
There is nothing worse than being a helpless passenger “trapped” in an aluminium tube, when you know that
the shit has hit the fan (weird smells, vibrations, noises, flames, sparks, panels missing, fire trucks surrounding
the aircraft on the ground etc.) and being kept in the dark. I know if I was a passenger in this sort of situation
that I would like to know what the hell was going on!
During these abnormal or emergency situations you have to display Leadership and Captaincy. You MUST
inform the passengers of what is happening and what you intent to do about it. Your primary method of
communicating your intent to those aft of the cockpit door is by the PA system.
You’ve got four main communications groups you need to focus on; those in the cockpit (F/O, F/E), those in the
cabin (Cabin Crew and passengers), ATC and any others you can think of.
I can’t give you too many specifics of how to make a PA in these situations as they will all be unique and
different. But, think about it now, in the calm, safe environment of your home so that you’re ready if it happens
for real on a dark and stormy night.
You will be under some form of additional stress (a lot of stress?). When you speak when under stress you tend
to speak quickly and in a higher pitched tone. This quick, high pitched tone is usually interpreted by listeners as
panic or distress. So before you make your PA, take a deep breath, rehearse what you are going to say, force
yourself to enunciate and speak at a normal pace and clearly. Sound like you’re in control and have the
situation in hand. The last thing you want is a riot in the back!
Be short, succinct and speak clearly to get your intended message across. Practise your PAs until they flow
smoothly and become natural and second nature. It’s all a part of your job as the Captain.

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The Nature Of People
We work and operate in a very regulated and technical environment. As aviators we have to be quite goal
oriented, operate to the best of our ability (and expect the same from other people that we are involved with,
such as Ground Engineers, Traffic Staff, Dispatchers etc.) and as the Captain put yourself last to achieve your
flights safely, legally and effectively.
You would expect that people in the aviation industry would be logical, rational and not allow extraneous factors
to affect or influence our decisions or actions.
However, that is NOT the way people are “built”. People are generally selfish,
irrational and emotional creatures (that’s a fact of being a human being – it’s how we are “wired” to behave). I
guess it’s all part of the survival instinct, to look after yourself.
So why I am bothering to tell you about this? Well, if you have some understanding of what motivates people (a
facet of Leadership that you should study to be a more effective Captain), you can then comprehend why
people act the way that they do and if you’re a good Captain, use that knowledge to persuade, coerce,
manipulate, direct, encourage or order others to alter their behaviour and actions to assist you in achieving
YOUR goals. Remember, YOU are the one ultimately responsible for the safe conduct of the flight.
Let’s illustrate this with an example. You arrive at the aircraft and there is a Ground Engineer in the cockpit
frantically doing something (you don’t know what just yet). As you get to the cockpit the Traffic guy asks if he
can start boarding the pax straight away.
If you look at what both of these people are trying to achieve, you can understand what motivates them. The
Ground Engineer is trying to fix something that is broken so that he can sign off the logbook and release the
aircraft for flight. He just wants “his” problem to go away, so that he can go onto the next “crisis” in his day’s
events (probably another broken aircraft). The Traffic guy just wants to get the pax boarded as soon as he can
so that “his” problem is solved and a delay doesn’t blamed on him. And you just want both of them to get out of
your hair so that you can prepare for the flight.
Everyone is, in most cases, only interested in their own personal problems and they will tend to get frustrated

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and pissed off if things don’t go according to plan. They will tend to be selfish, irrational and emotional.
Not all people are like this all the time. Some are actually very good team players and quite unselfish. The
Traffic guy might suggest that he delay boarding to give you some time to assess and rectify the aircraft defect
or the Ground Engineer might suggest that you delay boarding as he is having a problem fixing the aircraft and
it will impact on the passengers.
However, it has been my general experience that most people will attempt to get you to do what is easiest for
them – they’re being a little selfish. And what is best and easiest for them as an individual may not be the best
and easiest thing for you as the Captain trying to integrate all these “team” players together to get the flight
completed safely, legally and efficiently. Sometimes you will have to say NO.
Try to see the problem from their point of view and attempt to give them options or solutions to assist them in
fixing their “problem”. As the Captain you may have to delegate duties or tasks (try to not do people’s jobs for
them and if at all possible make it Someone Elses Problem (SEP). If all else fails remember to smile and
attempt to soothe frayed nerves and take the stress out of the situation.
Be aware that the nature of people is to be selfish, irrational and emotional. Use this knowledge to your
advantage to get your “team” people to all pull in your goal direction.

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New Lines Of Thought
A while back an upcoming A320 driver left the following comments on the Contact Me post page (if you haven’t
seen these Comments just go to the Contact Me page from the Index and scroll down to the bottom):
…It’s been some time now and my colleagues and me have been questioning and asking people of experience
about things which your site so clearly details. I'm currently going up for Command and I can't explain to you
how much I have benefited from your posts.
HKspikes comments about not agreeing with everything holds good for me too and I think that is fine. Since we
can't agree with everything. But your perspective opens up new lines of thought which I never thought about
earlier.
This got me thinking a bit (a hard proposition at times!)
First of all thanks for the encouragement. I act mainly in isolation in running this blog and require feedback
from readers to ensure that topical, relevant and current information is posted. So keep the feedback coming.
Even if it is bad. No, especially if it is bad. I can only look at the world through my own personal tiny lens and I
make as many mistakes as the next bloke.
Second, it’s great that you and your buddies have been questioning and learning from your more experienced
colleagues. You should be watching, observing and modelling yourself after the good Captains that you go flying
with. Pick their brains, discuss scenarios with them, get them to teach you something new, watch their
Leadership style and technique, how they treat and Lead people. Incorporate the good Command techniques
into your “Command toolbox” and reject the bad.
Some Line Captains have a bit of a whinge when they say “I don’t need to teach or train anyone. I don’t get paid
to be a Training Captain. I just do my job and that’s all”. What a pathetic and crap attitude! How did they learn
how to be a Captain? I bet it was from their previous Captains. I believe that when you get into the Left Seat, it’s
payback time – it’s time to help your F/O to start to learn how to be a Captain. Every Captain is a Training
Captain, whether they like it or not! So extract every bit of information from your current Captains and the more
experienced aviators you come into contact with.
Lastly, “opening up new lines of thought” is what this blog is all about and it gives me great satisfaction that at
least one person is looking at the Command perspective from a different, novel or unusual point of view. You
may read all the articles posted here and not get to use most of them for real. But if only one article gets you
thinking about a particular subject – “Hey, that’s a good idea. I’ll put that in my Command Toolbox” or “What
absolute crap. This guy’s off his rocker. I’m going to do it another (my) way” or “I hadn’t even considered that!
I’d better think about this a bit more" (or even better ask a more experienced person his opinion) – then great,

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fantastic. You have embarked on the first and most important step of your “Self Directed Learning” journey.
YOU
So as you read these articles, learn, question, disagree, argue, give feedback or add your own thoughts, so that
we as group can learn from the collective experience out there and you can be the best Captain that you can
be.

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The “Joys” Of Command
Reading and thinking about all this Command stuff and various skills is great and it all seems pretty easy.
The rewards and satisfaction of a difficult flight well executed can be immensely more satisfying as the Captain.
That’s one of the joys of the job.
But until you’re in the LHS doing the job for real, on a dark and stormy night with an inexperienced F/O in a
plane full of passengers, with real risks, real operational, commercial and time pressures and real stress and
no one to turn to for assistance – you can’t truly comprehend the dilemma, conflict, ambiguity, stress, emotion
and “loneliness of Command”.
The times you have to say “NO” to your Managers and boss(es), the times you have to make the tough
decisions; “We’re not pushing back, We’re not taking off, We’re going around and diverting, We’re not
accepting this aircraft until it has been fixed” – and then living with that decision and often having to justify it to
your boss (and they’ve got hindsight and the complete picture to fall back on, that you didn’t at the time).
This is nothing new. It has been an integral facet of Command and Leadership since it was invented. Just be
ready for it. As you gain more Command experience you will tend to get a little more inured and used to it.
A large dose of moral courage and Self-confidence helps.
You may get to experience this during your Command Training. A “good” Trainer will let you stew and sweat for
a while when you face or back yourself into a tight, demanding spot. Learning to cope with these intense and
unpleasant emotions is just one more aspect of the human side of Command that not too many people talk
about.
It is not the critic who counts: not the man who points out how the strong man stumbles or where the doer of
deeds could have done better. The credit belongs to the man who is actually in the arena, whose face is
marred by dust and sweat and blood, who strives valiantly, who errs and comes up short again and again,
because there is no effort without error or shortcoming, but who knows the great enthusiasms, the great
devotions, who spends himself for a worthy cause; who, at the best, knows, in the end, the triumph of high

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achievement, and who, at the worst, if he fails, at least he fails while daring greatly, so that his place shall
never be with those cold and timid souls who knew neither victory nor defeat. (Theodore Roosevelt)
There’s a lot more to sitting in the LHS and being the Captain and Leader, than flying with your other hand and
getting paid more.
Be aware of this aspect of Command and start preparing yourself as best you can for the pressures, stresses
and emotions of Command. I say “as best as you can” because you can’t really actually prepare yourself for this
authentic, challenging type of stress and pressure – that will come in the crucible of real, practical, tough, cold,
hard experience.
There’s an up-side to Command – embrace, enjoy and relish the challenge of a flight well conducted. But be
aware of the down-side to Command.

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100 Posts, 6 Months Old
Welcome to the 100th post of Airline Command in our 6th month of existence.
What started out as my inept, inexperienced and not terribly well thought out attempt to spread the word about
upgrading to your Command has almost taken on a life of its own. It has required far more investment of my
time, effort and dwindling grey matter than I originally thought it would (a bit like your Command Course!) But it
has been well worthwhile.
I don’t get to meet many of the regular readers of this blog face-to-face, but those that I do have given me some
encouragement and thanks for the info contained within Airline Command.
So I thought I’d waffle on a bit about Airline Command in this “historic” 100th post.
Why Do It?
There are three kinds of people:
- Those who make things happen,

- Those who watch things happen, and
- Those who ask "What happened?" (Casey Stengel)
I realised reasonably early on in my Airline career that there was not a lot of “Command” stuff freely or readily
available for candidates to study or educate themselves with prior to commencing a Command Course. Shortly
after completing my own Airline Command, I commenced writing an “eBook” containing subjects and topics
that I thought should be available for future Commanders – to help them out with their Command upgrade.
It was done partly as a method for me to think about how I do my own brand of Command, my own personal
“Command style”, so that I could understand why I did things the way that I did and as a consequence to
improve myself and partly as a start to write my thoughts on Command down so that others could benefit from
my past experience(s).
I stumbled across Blogs in a book in my local library and I realised that this would be the perfect medium to
“spread the word”. The partly written articles in the eBook formed the initial articles of this blog.
You should be able to benefit from the past experience of others. You shouldn’t have to “re-invent the wheel”.
More experienced aviators have an inherent responsibility to teach, mould, develop and train their less
experienced brethren – to train their replacements (or in our particular case, current Captains should train their
F/Os to become future Captains). These things, I believe, are part of our aviation profession.
I believe strongly that I am at the stage of my aviation career where it is incumbent on me, almost an essential
requirement, to give back some of what I have been fortunate to have received from all my previous mentors,
aviators and past Captains.
I also believe in the "Law of Reciprocity" which essentially means "If you give, you get" or "You scratch my back
and I'll scratch yours". If I widen my scope of Command and look beyond myself and help others get what they
want, chances are that they will help me.
And this Airline Command blog is the result of that “giving back”.
What Have I Got Out Of It?
“I didn’t know what I was getting myself in for” is the understatement of the year about Airline Command as far
as I am concerned!

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This whole endeavour has been a personal voyage of “Command” discovery for me. I have learnt so much in
the last six months as a result of thinking about a subject and then researching and writing it. I believe that I
am a better Captain and a better Trainer as a direct result of this learning experience.
It has been personally and professionally fascinating to read some of the aviation articles that are freely
available on the internet (where I get most of my research and learning material) and to have read some of the
extremely interesting aviation books that are out there waiting for you to also read. I wish I had read Redefining
Airmanship
Airmanship back in 1994 when it was first published – but maybe back then I wouldn’t have been ready to
absorb its’ message.
I’ve taken to having a notebook in my nav bag at all times so that when something pops into my head that I
think might be interesting as an Airline Command article, I immediately pull out my notebook and scribble some
notes and thoughts down. Then at a later stage I’ll sniff around and get all the research and background details
and produce one of these articles.
The time and effort to produce these blog articles have definitely been well worthwhile.
What Have You Got Out Of It?
I really, really hope that I’m not wasting my time and writing for an audience of one!
It really is up to you, and you alone. You are the only one who is truly interested in your aviation career and you
are the only one who will ensure that you are successful in your Command upgrade. To that end, you are the
only one who will determine what you ultimately get out of this blog.
The mere fact that you are bothering to read something like this is good – it means that you are keen and
interested in advancing yourself.
The aim of this Airline Command blog is to give you some educational material to digest, study and incorporate
into your “Command style” so that you can be the best Captain that you can be.
But most of all I hope that you have altered your Mind Set and your Attitude so that you are ready to assume
your role of Captain and Commander.
I'll get back to contemplating the fluff in my navel now. See you in another 100 posts in 6 months time!

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Workload
As the Captain and Leader you will have to master the art of workload management. You actually get to choose
(to a certain extent) how hard you or your team work. You can use delegation, prioritisation, planning and
preparation, use of automation or your crew to regulate how hard you have to work.
Managing your workload allows you to become much more effective at both using manipulative fine motor skills
to physically fly the jet and make systems selections and more importantly, to free up mental capacity so that
you can plan, make decisions, communicate your intent, direct and guide your team – you know, do those
Captain things!
Monitoring
As the Captain and Leader you will also have to master the art (or science?) of monitoring. Monitoring is now a
primary flying skill, especially now in this age of glass cockpits and FMS driven aircraft.
In addition to monitoring what is happening with the aircraft systems; their state and health (Plane),
(Plane) and where
the aircraft is going in the three dimensional world that we work in; by observing the attitude, airspeed, altitude,
configuration and navigation (Path),
(Path) you now have to focus your attention much more on what your F/O, Cabin
Crew and the members of your “external extended team” are doing (People).
(People)
In an ideal world you want your monitoring to be good at every level of workload – both during low workload and
high workload.
But as you’ve probably already experienced this is not how it works in real life!

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As your workload increases your monitoring effectiveness decreases.

decreases If you are a maths geek you could write it
as this formula:
1 ⁄ Monitoring α Workload
Or another way of saying it would be that your Monitoring is inversely proportional to your Workload. As your
workload increases, your monitoring decreases.
And this is where it gets screwy. This is the exact opposite of what you really want to happen.
In an ideal world as your workload increases you want your monitoring to increase to cope with the extra
demands placed upon you and your crew in the high workload environment. But as you know as your workload
increases (unusual, complex, ambiguous, abnormal, emergency, unplanned change, surprise) your monitoring
can plummet (if you let it).
The relationship is not linear either. It is more like an exponential relationship. A relatively small change in
complexity can lead to a large increase in workload and a subsequent large decrease in monitoring. And the
more things stack up against you and your team, the more your teams’ workload increases and the more your
teams’ monitoring decreases. Ideally you want to keep your workload to the left of the graph (low level
workload) so that you have excess monitoring capacity (high level monitoring).
Using the graph analogy further; the difference between your workload curve and your monitoring curve (to the
left of the crossover point) could be said to be your "excess capacity". The lower your workload, the greater the
difference between the two curves and the greater the excess capacity and greater the monitoring capability.
You definitely don't want to go pass the point where the two curves crossover - you're now overloaded, have no
excess capacity (in fact you are in a "capacity deficit" and this is when you load-shed tasks and make errors and
miss things) and your monitoring becomes almost non existant. You are now a passenger and NOT a pilot!
What To Do About It
It
First of all, recognise that this is what happens for real. Be aware that by allowing your workload to increase to
“high” levels you end up with monitoring at “low” levels and potentially will eventually compromise safety. Don’t
rush to the scene of the accident!
Next, train yourself to recognise the “Red Flags” that your, or your teams’, workload is increasing. You cannot
react, if you don’t recognise. If you don’t recognise that things are going off the rails you cannot react and alter
the situation to a desirable outcome. This might be triggers such as missing radio calls or standard callouts, a
breakdown of SA, making a series of minor mistakes, being unsure of what is happening and what will happen
next, having to rush things to get them done in time or having a gut feeling that something is not right. Work on
identifying your own individual workload “Red Flags”. Practise this as an F/O in the lead-up to your Command
Course.
Now that you’ve recognised that the increased workload may, or is actually, affecting your monitoring you need
to put your workload management strategies into effect (you have got some haven’t you?). It might be as simple
as using the Autopilot, handing over control to your F/O (but don’t forget you still have to monitor him),
requesting an orbit, holding, extra track miles (buy extra time), putting into place a pre-planned strategy that
has been discussed while you were in a low workload environment, focussing on the highest priority
requirement and deferring the lower priority tasks, communicating to your team your assessment of the
situation and what you require from them.
It will all happen in a rush, when you are under pressure and stress. You need to think out your workload
management strategies well before you have to use them, and practise them as an F/O as you will not have too
much spare time to think about what you’re going to do when it actually happens.

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An Example
You’re flying into Hong Kong for an ILS on runway 25R. Lots of high terrain surrounds the airfield and there is a
dirty great 3,300 foot hill just to the right of the LOC at almost your altitude when descending on the G/S. It is
busy and ATC is giving everybody quick fire radar vectors and speed control to get the traffic spaced for optimal
runway capacity.
Approaching the LOC, ATC cuts you in early and you lose some track miles. You need to use speedbrake and
start configuring right now. There are numerous ATC radio exchanges with new altitude and speed
requirements, you’re observing the other traffic on TCAS and there are numerous standard calls as you and
your F/O start to extend flap.
While all this is simultaneously occurring your workload is increasing. It is so easy to allow your monitoring to
decrease by neglecting to monitor the LOC and G/S capture. You want to get this right as there is that big hill
just waiting for you to go through the LOC and head on down the G/S.
In this case you might assess that the highest priority task is ensure that you capture the LOC and only then will
you follow the G/S. This isn’t rocket science – this is basic survival!
You should have communicated this requirement as part of your arrival brief. Now your F/O is made aware of
the danger and your particular requirements and highest task priority. You both should be devoting a fair bit of
time monitoring the radar vectors to the LOC and the raw data to ensure that you, your F/O or the A/P actually
gets it right.
Decrease your workload by anticipating this high workload, high threat situation and briefing a strategy to
mitigate it, slowing a little earlier, taking flap a little earlier, deferring non essential tasks until you get to lower
workload time – manage your workload to a “low” level so that your monitoring remains at a “high” level.
You do get to manage some aspects of your workload and as the Captain, workload management needs to be
very highly refined and developed. By managing your level of workload to the “low” level, you can manage your
monitoring to the “high” level – which is what we want.
The 2 Rules

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And don't forget it!

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Playing The Hand Dealt To You
When you play a game of cards, you are usually dealt your “hand” of cards after the deck has been randomly
shuffled. You don’t get to choose the cards dealt to you and you normally don’t get to exchange your cards for
better ones once the game commences.
You have to play with the hand dealt to you – good or bad. What you do with that dealt hand is entirely up to
your skill in playing the card game.
And so it is with flying (especially with Command

Training). You don’t turn up for work and get to choose whether the weather is good or bad, the aircraft is
serviceable or “broken”, your Trainer is a nice bloke or a pain in the arse, you receive quality training or
indifferent training, ATC is accommodating or a “hindrance” or your team is helpful or hurtful.
You are presented with a particular set of circumstances and you are expected to deal with those
circumstances as best you are able as the Commander and Leader.
It is a complete waste of time, effort and brain cells wishing, hoping or praying that you will get CAVOK weather
and a serviceable airframe and great ATC and an all round helpful team. This doesn’t happen too many times in
real life (see The Light Comes On).
Too many Command Trainees focus on how “unlucky” they were: the visibility and cloudbase was poor; the
aircraft had multiple MEL items, and then it broke on pushback; ATC gave me poor vectors and “forced” me
into an unstable approach situation; I got bad advice from the ground engineer etc.
Is this really “bad luck” or is it just the application of sub-standard or poor Command skills, judgement, decision
making and/or risk management when presented with less than ideal conditions?
I guess it really depends on your personal attitude towards your Command Training.
My own personal view is that you are presented with a particular set of circumstances, some of which you have
absolutely no control or influence over (e.g. the weather or the aircraft serviceability) and some of which you
have either a lot of control over (your personal knowledge and preparation) or a little bit of control over (e.g.

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moulding and engendering an “esprit de corps” in your newly formed team of cockpit and cabin crew). “Luck” is
a wimpy excuse for those who are perhaps not quite ready to step up and be the Commander and Leader.
Usually the better prepared, the more skilful, the more knowledgeable that you are, the “luckier” you get!
Poor weather, indifferent ATC, a less than helpful F/O

or Cabin Crew or an unserviceable aircraft is a “Command Opportunity” for you to demonstrate that you have
what it takes to be the Captain of one of your Company’s very expensive assets and to Lead a disparate group
of individuals. Sure it may not be a fun, easy trip and you may have to make some hard decisions (and have to
live with their consequences or justify your actions), but that’s the chosen lot of a Captain.
As a Trainer I love it when something unusual, novel or complicated happens to one of my Trainees. You get to
see who are the good “Commanders” and you get to teach those who are struggling a bit. No Command Course
is ever complete until the Command Trainee gets to experience that sweaty, uneasy turmoil of emotions when
you are required to make some tough decisions, with not all the required information, in a time compressed
situation or fly the aircraft in not so nice weather. You can simulate these types of things in your study all you
like but you really have to experience it for real to fully comprehend the “loneliness of Command” that it entails.
I also firmly believe that it is better to experience this type of “unease” during Training before you get to have to
use it during your Check ride.
Wrap your brain around it – some days you will have to work exceptionally hard just to keep the show on the
road and get from A to B (safely, legally and hopefully, reasonably efficiently).
You have to play with the hand dealt to you.
What you do with the particular, unique set of circumstances presented to you is entirely up to you as the
Commander.
Play well.

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A Sporting Command
How many of you Command Trainees are sporting types?
My chosen sport is triathlon and I used to compete

regularly. In fact I learnt most of my mental skills (goal setting, visualisation, motivation, attitude, knowledge of
self, determination, handling mistakes and hardship etc.) as a direct result of being involved with my sport. I
become more and more interested in the mental aspect of sporting excellence and so I began seeking “mental
training” books and articles in magazines (note to self – I must do some book reviews of these exceptional and
relevant books).
Sport is a fantastic way to learn about yourself and life (get out there and do it – being a spectator doesn’t
count!)
In fact businesses are learning a hell of a lot from the field of sports psychology. Most of the “sports”
psychology characteristics are directly transferrable to business practices and of course to Command Training.
I was flicking through a triathlon magazine the other day and I came across this “training” philosophy:
Stress
Rest
Recover
Repeat
It perfectly encapsulates the principle of physical adaptation that most sporting training principles are based
upon.
You go out and train hard physically (and sometimes mentally) to stress yourself.
Then you rest to allow your body (and mind) to adequately recover.
recover During this recovery period your body
compensates for the previous stress by “over”-compensating (adaptation) and as a result you become fitter and
better than before.
You then go out and repeat it, but at a slightly more intense, harder, higher or faster level so that the cycle can
be repeated again and again. That’s your free Sports 101 lesson – who said you don’t get something for free!
This same training cycle can be used during Command Training. Instead of physical stress you are usually put

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under some form of mental stress. Don’t forget that there are good and bad forms of stress.
During your Command Training you want to be pushed a bit, stretched out of your Comfort Zone into your
Learning Zone (good), but not so far that you enter your Anxiety Zone (bad).
You also need to rest (see RED – Rest, Exercise and Diet). Sometimes you should have a day (or a few days)
doing absolutely nothing related to your Command Training. You have to “rest” your brain and unwind, de-stress
and chill out. It is only when you rest that you adequately recover. If you don’t rest and allow yourself to recover
you will “burn-out”. That’s how chronic stress results. If your Command Course goes over a few weeks/months
you need to actively plan for rest periods so that you can recover.
It is after you have adequately recovered that you will notice any improvements, just like physical exercise.
Then you repeat. But because you have learnt from previous training and experience (you have adapted) you
will now be able to cope with more complex and strenuous Command situations. Your Trainer should gradually
be increasing the complexity of your training the further you progress into to your Command Training –
otherwise you are not learning, you are just stagnating in your Comfort Zone.
So have a sporting Command; Stress – Rest – Recover – Repeat.

Repeat You know you want to!

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My Command Course In Retrospect - Captain Jay
What follows is one particular successful Captain’s notes about his Command Course in one particular Airline –
the good, the bad and the ugly.
We’ll call him Agent Jay (“…the difference between you and me is, I make this look good!”) to preserve his
anonymity and de-identify the specifics. This will be a generalised account of what any Command Trainee could
expect, in any Airline, flying any aircraft type. I have very slightly edited the text, to protect the innocent, but it is
97.5% straight from Captain Jay, in his own words.
Captain Jay emerged triumphant (a little battered and bruised) from the Command Training sausage machine
about 10 months ago. This is real life Command stuff and contains some very pertinent points – read on if you
dare!
It goes without saying that preparation is essential, but just reading the books isn’t enough. You need friends
and colleagues to discuss scenarios with. You need to make your own decisions based on the information
available to you and have your friends critique your answers. They may suggest other courses of action or pick
holes in your answers. You need to get into the books to find certain things but not to memorise them, just to
find them and maybe just to see if that word was “should, shall, must or may”!
When people tell you not to let your guard down, they really mean it. When you feel comfortable and confident,
that’s when you relax and miss small things. They may seem insignificant but they are all noticed and written in
the training reports. Once you get up to the standard required for, say, the Command Line Check to become a
Captain, you must work just as hard to maintain that standard in the flights leading up to it. That requires a
surprising amount of effort.
Every small error or omission during training may be written up, even though your Trainer may now seem like a
friend. These small things will add up and be looked at unfavourably during a review of your training reports.
Your aim is to get perfect reports. If your Checker is sitting on the fence about something during the debrief,
push him onto the favourable side! Ask him if he considers you suitable to carry on with the training or to stop
the Course, then he should agree that you should continue with the Course and write a report to mirror that.
Formulate a method of dealing with problems.

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With passenger problems, make sure you get as much info as you can. That may involve speaking to the
passenger yourself, especially if safety is the issue and you need to do a character assessment. Otherwise use
the ISM (Inflight Service Manager) and ground staff to get information for you. Remember that their opinion
may be different to yours.
With technical problems, try to fix it. If you cannot, call an engineer to try and fix it ASAP (on the ground). While
waiting, get as much info as you can. Use the QRH, FCOM 3 (Abnormal, Normal and Supplementary Procedures)
and MEL to find out all you can, including if you can go without it. Engineers and the airline's engineering
department are a tool for you to use but you must not trust them completely as they are human too. There are
countless stories of engineers instructing pilots to do something contrary to an OEB (Operational Engineering
Bulletin – takes precedence over FCOM 3 procedures) or even bare faced lying about a problem, particularly at
some of our outports. Some engineers may need your input to help solve a problem. Make sure you get
engineers to explain the problem well enough for you to understand exactly what is wrong and what the
implications are.
On the subject of not trusting anyone, items written in as an ADD (Acceptable Deferred Defect – in the Aircraft
maintenance Logbook) are sometimes wrong, despite having been written up days prior. Perhaps some Line
Captains don’t check the small print regularly, or just missed it, but on your Command Course, when you look at
an ADD in the MEL, make sure it’s right because your Checker or Trainer will be looking at it right after you. Use
any available engineering sources before your flight to give you a heads up about ADDs and the procedures
involved.
Don’t guess. Don’t formulate a strategy without all the info. Look it up. It’s not a memory test. You are allowed
to look at the books. There may have been an amendment yesterday. This is why a good working knowledge of
the books is required, or at least a good (updated) index of our manuals so that you can find things quickly.
While you may feel you want to back up your ISM on something, make sure it is the right decision. (S)he may
have jumped to a conclusion without all the info. Think of the ramifications. One of my ISMs wanted to offload a
female passenger for popping 20 pills. It turns out it was only about 5 pills and the passenger was a movie star.
That wouldn’t have been good advertising for the airline if she’d complained to the newspapers the next day for
being offloaded for taking Vitamin E!
ECAM/EICAS cautions require you to sit on your hands and think. They may go away. If there are no
ECAM/EICAS actions you have hit a dead end straight away. Think resets (of computers and equipment), use
the QRH for that, always. Cautions in busy phases of flight should be assessed and left until later (flaps
retracted for example) if possible.
When you fly with a F/O, the biggest challenge is that you are no longer sitting next to an STC (Senior Training
Captain), you are with a normal F/O who may be nervous about the STC sitting on the jump seat. At least now
you can act more like a Captain, but ensure that you keep a ‘command gradient’ from left to right. With
confident senior F/Os this may be difficult but there are tricks to keeping a tangible gradient, such as
delegating ND range changes, frequency changes, FM page changes. The best way is to be one step ahead of
him. Don’t give him the chance to prompt you for engine anti-ice, radio calls, TCAS traffic or anything at all.
A new challenge for you is to analyse his personality from the moment you meet him at dispatch. Is he a JF/O
(Junior First Officer)? What are his limits? Which sector do you want him to fly? You may find, like me, that some
JF/Os may appear under-confident but are some of the best operators we have. Similarly, some senior F/Os
can appear confident so you trust them more, then they lose the plot and make a big mistake.You are
constantly analysing the guy next to you, and hopefully monitoring him despite tiredness and complacency.
Gut instinct is one of your best tools. Before a Command Course we think that there is a special formula
needed to make Command decisions, or that you may not have developed a Command decision process yet,
but this is wrong. Whenever you are presented with a problem, as an F/O or a Command Trainee, you have
always formulated a solution or plan of action. The only difference now is that you have to volunteer your
thoughts first rather than wait for the Captain to voice his (as YOU are now the Captain). Over the years you

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have hopefully gained enough experience to now trust your gut instinct and to not doubt your ability to reach
sensible decisions. I surprised myself through my Command Course at how many decisions were based on gut
instinct rather than theoretical analysis, and were right!
The rest of it is down to luck…and your personality! If you are relaxed, confident and on top of everything, you
will look good and fly through the Course. A day full of technical and weather challenges can either make you
look superb or hopeless, that’s all down to you!
Some further thoughts about being the Captain:
Big picture stuff. Command Presence. Assertiveness. Awareness. Spare capacity. Intervention. Run the show.
Set the tone. Professional. Businesslike. Be in control. Think ahead.
The standard operation should be second nature by now, leaving spare capacity for awareness and planning.
That includes standard triggers, which must not be overlooked.
Direct the F/O, but don’t ride him. He doesn’t need to be your friend, he needs to do what you say when you say
it. Don’t say “Can you…would you…please.” Say “Give me this…Activate the Approach Phase…Before Start
Checklist”. No flippant remarks. Be serious.
Get the F/O to fly the aircraft the way you want it flown. I don’t care what you think, I want it, just do it! (but use
appropriate CRM). Even with a friendly crew, do not let your guard down. Don’t accept everything the F/O says
verbatim.
The flight must be safe, legal and efficient.
Delegate, direct, no need for please, it’s a big operation.
Anticipate and verbalise threats and strategies (to mitigate those threats). E.g. – Plan A is to regain the ILS
before 1500’ with self vectoring and descent to 1600’. Plan B is to go around which will be non-standard
towards an MSA of xxxx. (Communication of Intent and your plan).
Aim for zero error. If an error occurs try to get back to the zero error position ASAP. (If you fly into a
thunderstorm, get out. If you have a tech problem, try to fix it. If you get high, get down.)
What’s next? Think ahead. (Packs to come on. Engine Anti-Ice on for take-off. Call Departures after flap
retraction. Speed control required while in selected speed)
Eager F/O? Beat him to it. Out-eager him. Verbalise everything!
If the command gradient feels just right, increase it! (don’t over do it though.)
Give reminders to the PF. Direct his FM page selection if necessary. Direct his choice of runway exit if
necessary. (He stomps on brakes for a nearby exit, tell him to take the next one.)
In quiet moments, say something relevant. Look ahead, amend something, check something. However, never
miss an opportunity to keep your mouth shut! Some comment you make may prompt a difficult question.
Volunteer information on events that occur. If there’s the possibility of a missed approach, consider TCAS ALL
or ABOVE.
Any ‘gut reaction’ is probably correct; act on it.
Aim to impress, not to be average. Sell yourself to your Trainer or Checker.

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Think ahead of the aircraft even when PM and ask him to clarify his plan. (“Weather ahead, do you want a
heading?”)
Look for problems before they arise and have a plan to counter them.
Confirm ATC desired speed even when under positive speed control.
Monitor aircraft in front (and behind) on TCAS very closely and listen to instructions given to him by ATC.
No-one knows what I’m thinking. The Checker needs to know my thought process so verbalise them.
Think through briefs to yourself first, then brief the PM.
You are the last line of defence. It must be right!
Thanks Captain Jay for that sage advice.
What do you think? Is he right, wrong or you haven’t got a clue? Add your comments by clicking on the
COMMENTS button below.

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Why Did You Get Into Aviation In The First Place?
NOTE: This diatribe is a little off topic – but I think every aviator should revisit the thoughts expressed here
every so often to have a much needed reality check - especially TRAINERS!
Why did you get into aviation in first place?
Was it for the sheer joy and thrill of flying? Did you make model aircraft as a kid, join the Air Cadets, do any
crappy job on your school holidays just so you could scrape together the “astronomical fortune” to afford a few
flying lessons? Did you hang out at airfields just so you could watch airplanes take off and land?
Did you have your head well and truly in the clouds?
Almost everyone I know of in this fickle aviation game initially got into it because they WANTED to. There were
no other options. Flying was their motivation, their goal, their burning desire.
Can you remember what it was like when you first soloed? Your first cross country navigation exercise? Your
first aviation job (well maybe that one is not a pleasant memory – but it was a stepping stone towards your
future goal(s), right)?
Unfortunately, a lot of pilots in today’s business, economic driven Aviation Industry have forgotten why they got
into aviation in the first place. Airline Aviation especially can become “sterile”, passionless, boring, tedious – it
can become just another job, just another pay check to pay the bills and keep the family in the luxury (or
poverty) they are accustomed to.
This way of thinking is entirely up to you. You do have a choice about whether you feel good about your job (or
more correctly, your profession)
profession or not.
I choose to enjoy every flight I go aloft on. I still look forward to going flying, the challenges and skills, the joy of
aviation. I still smile, I still feel good about myself and I take pride in being a professional, safe and proficient
aviator.
So if you find yourself getting stressed out, pissed off, hassled, just RELAX, SMILE, ENJOY yourself. You’ll be
less stressed out and will learn better.
TRAINERS TAKE NOTE!!!
As a further reminder of how much fun flying can be check out The Inner Art Of Airmanship and Great Aviation
Quotes (both by Dave English).
You really do need to have a reality check every once in a while.

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Risk & Your Command Course
During your training you will not only have to Balance The Risk as a part of your normal role as the Captain but
you’ll also have to balance your own “Command Training” Risk.
Your Risk “Attitude”
Some Command Trainee’s attitudes towards risk while undergoing a Command Course is to be extremely Risk
Aversive for fear of “failing”, or making a cock-up, or because they lack confidence. They become constrained
by conservatism and as a result sink to become the “lowest common denominator”.
By doing this they remain well and truly within their Comfort Zone. They are fearful of taking a calculated risk
and pushing themselves into their Learning Zone.
As a general rule you will probably be a little conservative and Risk Aversive during your Command Course and
during the first 12 months after successfully completing the Command Course.
As your confidence, experience and expertise grows, you will naturally tend to tolerate greater risk. Your Risk
Neutral region will tend towards the High Risk, High Opportunity side. You probably have much greater self-
confidence and are more aware of the true nature of your abilities and skills and so can confidently handle
more difficult, higher risk (and higher opportunity) situations. This doesn’t mean that you are all of a sudden
more risky – it just means that you are balancing the higher risk, higher opportunity with increased and
improved skills and confidence.
A better way to look at it may be that instead of becoming more of a Risk Taker, you are becoming less of a Risk
Aversive Commander.
Take A Risk
Risk
This taking a calculated and balanced Risk while on your Command Course is part of the “teaching” and
learning process. I personally encourage my Trainees to “take a risk”; to try something new, novel or unusual or
something rarely encountered during Line flying.
I also point out to my Trainees that if they make a mistake to treat it as a powerful learning experience, not as a
failure. It is only ever a failure if you don’t learn from the experience. Besides, it is better to make a mistake
during Training rather than on a Check.
You must accept that you might fail; then, if you do your best and still don't win, at least you can be satisfied
that you've tried. If you don't accept failure as a possibility, you don't set high goals, and you don't branch out,
you don't try – you don't take the risk. (Rosalynn Carter)

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You've got to take the initiative and play your game...confidence makes the difference. (Chris Evert)
One of the reasons people stop learning is that they become less and less willing to risk failure. John W.
Gardner
Discuss this with your Trainer as each individual Trainer will have different views on this.
Push Yourself
After all you want to get the best possible training and push yourself towards high opportunity, but not unduly
stuff up or be overly conservative by retreating backwards to low opportunity.
Life isn't worth living unless you're willing to take some big chances and go for broke. (Eliot Wiggington)
During your training you also will have to do some Command Course Risk Assessment and Management and so
Balance The “Command Training” Risk. (Maybe walking a tightrope over a huge chasm is a better analogy!?)
Nobody said it would be easy!

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The Three Tests
Most of your decisions will have to made under stress and pressure, with incomplete information and with little
time available. They will quite often NOT be clear-cut and obvious. You need to get used to the fact that your life
as a Captain will not be black and white – you will have to frequently operate in the grey areas. And those grey
areas might be more black than white or more white than black or just a middle grey.
Often there will be more than one correct answer. Some might be more correct than others, but that doesn’t
mean that it is wrong. Often you will need to choose the “correct” decision based on the particular
circumstances that you find yourself under, your previous experience and basic, bog standard airmanship and
common sense.
Sometimes you will face situations that no one has experienced before and for which there are no guidelines,
rules or regulations. You will have to make it up as you go along.
It can be difficult to formulate a decision in these “grey areas”. If all else fails subject yourself to the “Three
Tests”.
Test 1 – Responsible Person
The first Test is to ask yourself “Am I being a responsible person?”
It may surprise you to learn that the general population consistently rates airline pilots as very trustworthy
people (along with doctors). Used car salesmen and politicians score quite low in this department!
So people, and society in general, have high expectations that you know what you’re doing and if something
does go wrong that you can successfully and safely get their backsides on the ground in one piece. They do NOT
expect you to be irresponsible, negligent, untrustworthy, shoddy and to gamble with their lives.
If you can answer this question with “Yes, I know the possible risks, I have assessed them and I believe that I
am being responsible in the conduct of my duties” then it’s probably the correct decision.
Test 2 – Duty Of Care
The second Test is closely related to the first. Ask yourself “Am I carrying out my Duty Of Care?”
(If you don't know what Duty Of Care is, read a bit about it here.)
You have the lives of possibly several hundred people and a multi-million dollar piece of aviation equipment in
your hands. People (and society) expect you to complete your job with an appropriate level of care. You have got
to look after those people who have trusted their lives to you and that expensive bit of aerospace technology
that your company has entrusted to you.
If you answer this question with “Yes, I am behaving responsibly, I am avoiding possible harm, incidents and
accidents and I am flying safely” then it’s probably the correct decision.
Test 3 – Newspaper Test
The third and final Test is the “Newspaper Test”
Ask yourself "Will I pass the Newspaper Test?"

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If you make that decision (and the outcome goes badly due to the risks involved) what would tomorrow’s
frontline headline in the local newspaper say if a reporter found out? Would it be favourable or unfavourable?
(Note: newspapers rarely report “good news”, so anything that makes it to the papers will likely be “bad news”.)
E.g. “Cowboy Captain Takes Unnecessary Risk”, “Airline Captain Takes Off In Defective Aircraft And Crashes” or
“Fatigued Captain Gambles With Passengers Lives”.
If you answer this question with “Yes, I did the best I could possibly do and I think if I had to give an interview to
a newspaper reporter, then they would acknowledge that effort” then it’s probably the correct decision.
Summary
When you’re faced with a difficult, rarely experienced situation and are struggling with which one of several
possible decisions you should take, ask yourself some tough questions and take the Three Tests;
“Am I being a responsible person?”
“Am I carrying out my Duty Of Care?”
“Will I pass the Newspaper Test?”
Whether you like it or not, the systemic “organizational” or “corporate” issues will rarely be blamed – it will be
you, the Captain, the final goalkeeper in the aviation defence network.
So make safe, considered and correct decisions.

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The Grey Areas
I’m lucky enough that I get to “facilitate” Command Training workshops for candidates that will very shortly
begin their Command Course.
Black & White

White
One of the common themes that often comes out of these free-flowing “discussions” when tossing about
possible Command scenarios is that some of the potential Commanders want a definite answer to a particular
problem. It is usually phrased something like...”What does the Company want us to do in this
situation?”...or...”What does the Training Captain want me to do?”
There are two issues that this response raises;
Command candidates who persist in this type of “First Officer” type of thinking have completely missed the
point about BE THE CAPTAIN.
CAPTAIN It’s not about what THEY want to see, it’s all about what YOU,
YOU as the Captain, are
happy to do.
The other issue, and the one that this article will be focussing on, is that often there is no definitive, perfect,
unambiguous, explicit, distinct Black and White answer.
Various Shades Of Grey
Sometimes you will be fortunate and be presented with a problem that has a clearly defined answer. The
answer is usually contained within your FCOMs, NPs/SOPs, Company Policy and Procedures or some other
publication (easy – do it the way the publication prescribes) or the answer is so obvious that you don’t even
need to think about it (e.g. multiple micro burst and predictive windshear warnings just prior to take off on a
wet and slippery runway with 30 Knots of crosswind). The decision making process is relatively easy in these
cases – there is a Black and White answer.
However, it has been my experience that these types of clear-cut Black and White decisions/outcomes are
quite rare in aviation. For the vast majority of your aviation time you will actually be operating in the “Grey
Areas” between the extremes of the Black and White. Sometimes you will be in the almost Black or almost
White areas and coming up with the correct decision shouldn’t be too hard. But often you will be stuck in the
“Middle Grey” area where the situation is not Black, but also not White.
Get used to operating in this Middle Grey Area, as you will spend much of your time as a Commander coping in
this zone. In this Grey Area, you will often be faced with VUCA situations (Volatile, Uncertain, Complex,
Ambiguous). Often you will have to deal with a situation that is not catered for in any of your publications or that
you or anyone in your team have ever experienced before.
In this Grey Area you often have to “make it up as you go”. You have to measure and combine equal parts of
Leadership, common sense, airmanship and rat cunning, mix thoroughly and serve promptly while still warm
and fresh.
Be Yourself – BE THE CAPTAIN
Often for a complex situation there are several correct answers; some more correct than others, but that

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doesn’t mean that any of them are wrong.
In these Grey Areas YOU as the Captain have to make a considered decision and that decision has to be one
that YOU are happy with – not what your Company or your Training Captain is happy with (although if you are
prepared, knowledgeable and use appropriate Leadership, Command and CRM skills it will be extremely likely
that all three opinions, yours, your Company’s and your Training Captain’s will be the same or very similar). Be
yourself - not someone who you are not.
So be prepared for these Grey Areas. Be prepared for the VUCA situations. And make correct and considered
decisions while you BE THE CAPTAIN.
CAPTAIN
SKYbrary – A Good Resource

I noticed a few months back an interesting web site called SKYbrary.
It’s primarily a EuroControl site with an emphasis on both ATC and aircraft operational matters.
It has three main sections – Operational Issues, Enhancing Safety Portal and Safety Regulations Portal.
Once you get into the site (which is in a Wiki format) you can access such things as;
Home Page
Operational Issues
Enhancing Safety
Safety Regulations
Accident & Serious Incident Reports
Aircraft Types
Book Reviews
Author’s Articles
Forum
Bookshelf
ICAO FSIX (a link to ICAO’s Flight Safety Information Exchange)
Its’ real strength is the depth and volume of relevant articles that you can either view or download. In the
BOOKSHELF section there are hundreds of articles, which include a number of accident and incident reports
from the AAIB (UK), AIBN (Norway), BEA (France), BFU (Germany & Switzerland), NTSB (US) and TSB (Canada)
and others.
Articles can be viewed either on-line or as printable documents so that you can print out a hard copy if required.
New stuff is continually added so it’s probably best that you head on over there and just browse around.
You never know, you might find something useful that will help you as a Commander – you’ll definitely find
something worthwhile to help you as a pilot.

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FlightCog.com
Here’s another great link for you to spend your copious amounts of spare time (?) in preparation for your
Command.
FlightCog.com (Flight Cognition) - Where Research Meets Operations - is the personal effort of Captain Brian T.
Wilson to further the education of training professionals in the area of applied cognitive psychology.
Now don’t get put off by these big words (applied cognitive psychology – and I know that most pilots go
running in the opposite direction, with their fingers in their ears, screaming “Not listening. Not listening...”
when confronted by words that begin with “psych...”). If you are prepared to have a positive learning attitude
you can gain a lot from web sites such as this.
The primary target audience for the FlightCog web site is the aviation trainer; Captain Wilson is endeavouring to
educate the training professionals so they use “how pilots’ think” and “how pilots’ learn” so that the
trainer is better at their job of transferring knowledge and the trainee is as a direct result better trained, better
educated, more knowledgeable and a better and safer pilot.
But don’t think that you can’t learn from the essays in the FlightCog web site just because you are not the
target audience. EVERY aviation professional can learn from these essays.
The focus is heavily on Situational Awareness and Decision Making (important Command subjects that we
have touched on previously here at Airline Command).
It is very much an on-going personal project of Captain Wilson (who is freely giving back to the entire aviation
community), so check back regularly for new essays and articles (I’ll put it in as a “button” link on the right of
the main Airline Command home page for easy access).
So check out FlightCog and learn something new. You know you really want to!

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The Limits Of Expertise
Have you ever been sitting in your nice comfortable study (at groundspeed
zero), reading an accident report and ever wondered “Why did the pilots do
that?” Have you ever thought “I wouldn’t do that!” or do you think “That could
have been me. I hope that if ever I am in a similar situation that I will
perform better (and no accident will result)”?
Often accident investigators apportion accident causes (blame?) to flight crew

with the 20/20 benefit of hindsight. They know that an accident has occurred
and minutely go through all the CVR, FDR, ATC tapes, conduct interviews and
examine reams of paperwork to deconstruct the events leading up to the
accident to try to determine why it occurred.
But if an average sample of the airline pilot population (YOU for instance)
were placed in exactly the same circumstances, would there be any different
result?
Did the pilots in the accident aircraft behave irresponsibly, irrationally or were they incompetent? Of course not!
They are human beings, just like you and me, subject to certain cognitive, skill and psychological limitations like
every other human.
And that is the premise that the authors (R. Key Dismukes, Benjamin A. Berman and Loukia D. Loukopoulos) of
The Limits Of Expertise: Rethinking Pilot Error and the Causes of Airline Accidents put forward.
They want to know “Why do highly skilled professional pilots make errors, with consequences sometimes
fatal to themselves and their passengers? How should we think of the role of these errors in accidents
when we seek to prevent future accidents?”
Tough questions indeed; questions that the aviation profession have been attempting to answer satisfactorily
since the first flight.
In The Limits Of Expertise, 19 major accidents in US air carrier operations from 1991 to 2000 in which crew
errors played a central role are examined. Each accident has its own chapter, in which an Introduction serves
to summarise the circumstances and the accident, followed by a discussion of Significant Events and Issues
(primarily from a Human Factors perspective) and finishing with a Concluding Discussion.
If you are going to read this book (and it’s a very good read) you really need to do so with a mirror handy. There
is no way that you can read about the circumstances facing these accident crews without seeing yourself
reflected along with your own personal limitations. I was continually thinking to myself “What would I do?
Would I perform better or would I have succumbed to the errors and faults of the accident crews?”
Common Accident Themes are reviewed in the final chapter and the authors suggest that there are 6
common threads between all or most of the accidents;
Inadvertent slips and oversights while performing highly practised tasks under normal conditions.
Inadequate execution of highly practised normal or standard operating procedures.
Inadequate execution of non-normal procedures under challenging conditions.
Inadequate response to rare situations.
Judgement in ambiguous situations that hindsight proves wrong.
Deviation from explicit guidance or standard operating procedures.
Usually it is a combination of several factors rather than just a single factor (i.e. thunderstorms, gusty
crosswinds, runway change, missed callout, unstable approach) that precipitates the accident.

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There are also several challenging demands on the crews’ tasks; typically surprise, high workload, ambiguous
and confusing information, stress, limited time and fatigue. All these factors combine to reduce spare mental
working capacity and decrease monitoring and crew cross-checking effectiveness.
I found it interesting that they discussed the “tactical” situation and decision making (short-term, immediate,
fragmentary information, reactive) with the “strategic” (longer-term, big picture, SA, proactive).
In their discussion you could imagine the crews totally immersed in the action and task being overwhelmed and
with rapidly eroded mental capacity resorting to the tactical decision making (Let’s continue with the
approach) instead of taking a Mental Step Back and taking a strategic view (Maybe we should hold or divert).
Chapter 19, American 1420 - Pressing the Approach, really rammed home this tactical versus strategic
anomaly. I could see myself in the mirror getting sucked into exactly the same circumstances as this accident
crew.
The problem is that, under high workload conditions, fatigue, and stress crews may fall into a reactive
mode in which they respond only to moment-to-moment demands of the situation and lose sight of the
strategic issues.
The incidences of unstable approaches was quite high in these 19 accidents (36%). Is it any wonder that
airlines these days are advocating stringent stabilised approach criteria.
The Limits Of Expertise diverges from the norm and attacks the accident problem from a different
perspective; not what went wrong but why crews made the errors that they did. And more importantly, what
factors influenced those errors.
Read The Limits Of Expertise, take a long hard look at yourself and armed with this knowledge you will
become a better and safer pilot.
A definite “must read” book.
My personal feeling is that this book will become an aviation “classic”.
Check also this PDF "The Limits Of Expertise" presentation that examines and summarises some of the books
contents.
Command Jigsaw Puzzle – Putting It All Together

Life is a Puzzle – Solve it.
A jigsaw puzzle can be a metaphor – a concrete way to explain the abstract concept of putting all the various
skills, knowledge, traits and requirements of Command.
In this slightly philosophical discussion of your Command journey we will use this jigsaw puzzle analogy to help
you to put all the pieces together as you progress towards your destination of Command.
And all the Command pieces are not separate; they are synergistic and inter-related. Part of your job as the
Captain is arrange all the pieces in an eye pleasing manner so that your Command is holistic and effective.
The Puzzle Pieces

We all have the individual pieces of the Command puzzle.
The pieces might be TEM, SA, Communication, Leadership, CRM, Workload Management, Monitoring,

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Knowledge, Aircraft Handling, Preparation etc.
Your individual pieces might be available or missing, big or small, they might be complete or partly formed, the
picture on the pieces may be clear or blurry and out of focus. The individual pieces may fit together perfectly,
imperfectly or not at all, they may be polished and well used or dusty and rarely used.
Generally your pieces will become available, big, complete and clear with experience.
Your Command Jigsaw Puzzle might be a 10 piece puzzle of a fuzzy, toy plane, drawn with crayon, with some
dusty bits missing that you “force” together with a hammer and someone else who is more experienced might
have am immaculate complete 1,000 piece puzzle of a perfect, polished A380/Dreamliner in high resolution
photo quality, that fits together effortlessly.
Every piece is linked and relies on everything else. Nothing in Command happens in isolation.
For example, to be an effective Commander;

Requires sound Decision Making.
Decision Making requires effective Risk Management.
Risk Management requires good TEM.
TEM requires superior SA.
SA requires high-quality Monitoring.
Monitoring requires excellent Workload Management.
And all these qualities need to be mixed and blended with an overall level of good Communication, CRM and
Leadership.
It is like all the pieces are continuously rotating and spiralling and sometimes their positions and sizes are
changing depending on what is your priority and their importance at the time. Some pieces are more relevant at
a particular time and at other times the same piece is not very important.
Your individual Command “Style” or the way you do the “business of Command” is how you fit your own
individual jigsaw puzzle pieces that you currently possess together to get from A to B safely, legally and
efficiently.
The Big Picture

The puzzle is easier to solve if you’ve got the box-top picture - the "Big Picture". It’s like having a map, a plan, a
goal to work towards. It guides you and allows comparison to see how close you are getting; going from the

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unknown to the known. It allows you to see links, the pieces that go together, that are similar coloured or
portions of images on the pieces.
You have all these apparently random jumbled pieces and by looking at the box-top picture you can see what
you’re working towards. Imagine how much more difficult it would be if you had no completed picture to use.
You have to piece it together blind, like life and you never know what is around the corner.
There are a few more surprises built into the concept of how this particular Command Jigsaw Puzzle is
designed, which you will only discover as you play on (both with each individual puzzle and the total sum of all
your Command experiences). You will eventually get more and more expert, become more and more a better
Commander.
Looking at the heap of jumbled pieces is like having your Command spread out before you. Now you’ve got to
piece it together as best you can. What will you learn while you put this puzzle together? You don’t know the
final picture, there always an element of surprise, and you don’t always know what comes next.
Sometimes you will need to detach yourself from the immediate, "tactical" issues and take a "Mental Step
Back" to focus on the broader, more "strategic" issues...to take in the "Big Picture" that sometimes gets lost in
the trivia, the lesser important minutiae. You need to open your view out to perceive the sometimes more
important peripheral issues.
Like a Jigsaw Puzzle, you don’t know beforehand what you will learn and experience as your life and your
Command unfolds.
New information and experiences change the shape, size, pattern and image of your individual pieces and how
they inter-connect.
The pieces are dynamic and forever morphing.
But It’s Hard

Nobody ever said Command would be easy.
As you play the great game of Command, the Jigsaw Puzzle, whatever you do with it or not do, has some kind of
relevance or significance as to how you project your Command presence at that moment and how you will work
out your Command style in the future.
You may be confused and you may find the puzzle very difficult, however the more of the puzzle you complete
the easier it becomes. There are less possible choices, holes and spaces and the connection progressively
becomes easier to see and make. You may struggle initially with your “place” in the grand scheme of
Command, but with each experience gained the puzzle will become easier.
Your Command will become more comfortable, effortless and straightforward.
A small puzzle with a few pieces may be easy, uncomplicated, with little challenge and you may get bored with
it, but it is best to start small and gradually work your way up as that is how you gain expertise (with safety and
by minimising the risk) – from the small to the large, the simple to the complex, the concrete to the abstract.
This is why you undergo “Command Training”. If you had all the pieces perfectly arranged you would require no
training at all.
A larger puzzle provides more complexity, but is more time intensive and interesting and provides a greater
sense of achievement when you solve the puzzle.
The bigger puzzle requires more pieces (obviously) which relate to more skills and strategies that you will

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eventually require. It presents more challenges. You get out of it what you are prepared to put in. If you get
overwhelmed or it seems too complicated then maybe you need to simplify and use a smaller puzzle. What did
that box-top picture of my Command look like again? What was the “Big Picture”?
Maybe you need to eat smaller pieces rather than choke on the bigger pieces.
Maybe it looks complicated at first, but if you start out by completing small goals (finding the corners and then
the edges) then perhaps it will begin to make more sense and become easier.
What’s Your Attitude?

What is your attitude towards the puzzle?
Is it – this is way too complicated; and you therefore don’t even attempt it. Or is it – this is a real challenge, but
I can do this; and you get fulfilment when you achieve your goal. Do you enjoy playing and solving the puzzle or
do you only enjoy it when the puzzle is finally completed? (Process versus Outcome, Journey versus
Destination).
When you finish an easy puzzle you’re probably ready for the next level up; a harder one. Continual
improvement is required to be the best you can be. This is why well structured training courses begin with the
basics, go onto the intermediate and then progress towards the advanced.
Often you won’t have all the pieces, some may be missing – but that shouldn’t stop you from completing the
puzzle as best you can with the pieces available to you. Sometimes you’ve just to play with the hand that has
been dealt to you. There’s no point in whinging and whining – that’s just the way Command is.
Sometimes pieces are easy to find and easy to fit together and other times pieces are hard to find in amongst
the jumble and are hard to fit together (do you “force” pieces together?)
Look at the whole picture first, then try to piece the individual pieces together (“Big Picture”). Is your “Big
Picture” the right one? Have you made assumptions or biases that will make solving the puzzle difficult or
possibly even impossible? Do you try to force or manipulate the pieces together to fit your “private
hallucination”, your personal assumptions?
You will be confronted with Command puzzle pieces that you have to assemble into the “Big Picture”.
Start with the “Big Picture”, and see where the pieces fit within that framework. You don’t have to change a
piece, or fix it, or mask it, you simply have to remove interference to allow that piece to fit more easily and
beautifully into the whole. This is harder to do. It requires that you forget your programmed tendencies. The
pieces are actually malleable and flexible and provided your mind is malleable and flexible all the pieces will
eventually fit together – you’ve just got to allow that to happen. Suspend assumptions, biases, prejudices, pre-
conceptions.
You might have pieces that don’t belong in that particular puzzle. You’ve got to recognise and set aside those
pieces. Otherwise you’ll never get them to fit in the current puzzle. What has worked before may not necessarily
work now.
When you don’t have the box-top picture you have to be creative and rely on intuition. You have to try and find
the easy pieces that fit together (and these will usually be the corners and the edges) to make a framework or
reference that the rest of the puzzle can fit into. What Command qualities are you comfortable with, areas that
you have a high level of confidence in? You can then work inwards to produce glimpses of the unknown picture.
And these glimpses will either confirm that you are on the right track or that you will have to start looking for
another “picture” to complete this particular puzzle.
But I’ve Got Missing Pieces

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The ultimate Command jigsaw puzzle is one where there is no box-top picture and many pieces are missing.
Do you really need all the pieces to infer what the picture looks like? Can you mentally fill in the blanks, deduce
what the missing piece looks like from clues in its’ surrounding neighbours? Can you rearrange the pieces to
make a sensible picture? Or will there always be too many crucial pieces missing, too many holes?
You may have to radically change your point of view. If the world doesn’t fit into your viewpoint, perhaps it is
your viewpoint that needs to alter to suit the world. Maybe you need to simplify the puzzle (KISS). Maybe you
need to ask yourself “Am I using the correct puzzle?”
Focus on one small task or area at a time…be that the border, sorting colours, or just putting a recognisable
object together. The small to the big.
Make sure that you select the “right” puzzle to suit the particular situation – otherwise you may never solve it.
There IS an overall design and purpose, but there are MANY pieces – hundreds or even thousands – and your
Command task is to make sense of seeming chaos. It often looks like chaos, and yet it is not. There are many
Command ways of solving the same Command puzzle.
How you choose to solve your Command puzzle is completely up to you as an individual. You get to run the
show your way.
Putting It All Together

Everyone is different.
You are an individual.
There are many ways of achieving the same Command outcome.
And you get to display your Command prowess in your own distinctive, individual, unique, inimitable way. You
get to run the show your way – with all your strengths and weaknesses, with all your available Command puzzle
pieces.
Everything fits together and your effectiveness as a Commander is dependent on how well developed your
Command puzzle pieces are and how effectively you are able to arrange the pieces to form a clear coherent
Command picture.
So work on developing your Command puzzle pieces and work on fitting all the pieces together proficiently.
Be the best Captain you can be...with the Command jigsaw puzzle pieces that you currently
possess.
Tactical Or Strategic Command?
Tactical – More immediate, short-term in the present-time, focussed, “Small Picture”. Tends to be more
reactive and Level 1 (Notice) and 2 (Understand) SA.
Strategic – More holistic, longer-term in the future, global, “Big Picture”. Tends to be more proactive and Level
3 (Think Ahead) SA.
Which type of Command do you practise?
Both Tactical and Strategic Command types have a place in your Command toolbox.
Time critical, high risk, immediate threats require a more tactical type of Command and decision making. Often

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you will just need to get out of the immediate problem area – the longer-term implications can wait until you are
safe and can build or buy time.
But, ultimately you should always have an eye on the strategic aspects of your task. This is what Command is
really all about. First Officers tend to think more tactically, but you as the Captain need to think more
strategically.
“The Fog Of War”

Many Captains and their crews will operate solely tactically.
They are often in a high workload environment under stress, with minimal time available. Information is trickling
in, bit by bit, separate, disorganised and disjointed. In these types of situations you may struggle reactively to
link the related pieces together, to notice (Level 1 SA), determine and understand (Level 2 SA) the relationship
between these separate puzzle pieces. You haven’t got the time or spare brain power to analysis what is
occurring; you’re too busy dealing with the pressing problems.
You are operating “in the moment”; in small time scales and reacting to each new piece of information that
comes your way. You are “immersed in the action”. Sometimes it can be like you are surrounded by a thick fog
which restricts your vision – “the fog of war”.
Clarity
Good Captains ensure that they and their crews operate tactically (when required), but also that they operate
strategically.
By thinking strategically you can see the holistic “Big Picture” as you and your crew link all the individual puzzle
pieces together, understand their implications and think ahead (Level 3 SA) to project a proactive satisfactory
outcome to the problem, situation or task.
You may need to “take a mental step back” and mentally detach yourself from the small scale, immediate
hassles so that you can open up your view to observe the “Big Picture”.
Often what is the most obvious, attention-getting information is not the most important thing you should be
concentrating on (e.g. an ECAM/EICAS is a powerful way to get your attention as it involves noise, colours,
checklists and you are trained to complete the actions – but flying the aircraft may be the most important
action to be completed at that time).
Workload
Usually you are reduced to thinking tactically when your workload is high, you are task saturated, fatigued,
stressed and time-compressed. In these situations you will try to ease your cognitive workload by load-shedding
which can cause tunnel vision and may result in you focussing on the wrong things.
This is when you start to make mistakes and errors, your monitoring and cross checking begins to plummet,
risk increases and safety decreases and your SA diminishes (rapidly!)
You need to recognise that your increased workload is affecting your quality of Command and you then need to
do something about it by delegating, prioritising or slowing the pace and tempo by “buying” time. Only then can
you begin to start considering the strategic “Big Picture”.
How Vs Should

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When you think tactically you are in a “HOW can I do this?” mode of thinking.
When you take a mental step back and look strategically at the “Big Picture” you are in a “SHOULD I do this?”
mode of thinking.
An Example
You are faced with thunderstorms affecting the destination airfield, with ATC advising you that several
windshear warnings have been activated. The runway is wet, with strong, gusty crosswinds. You elect to set the
most favourable flap setting for windshear for your aircraft type and increase your approach speed to cater for
the gusty winds and review the windshear and predictive windshear warning memory actions if these warnings
are activated by your on-board equipment. You request several weather deviations to avoid the most serious
weather returns from your on-board weather radar as you get the cabin ready early for the possibly turbulent
approach. As you begin your approach, the fast moving thunderstorm’s winds change direction, so you request
a runway change to the more into wind runway.
In this not-so-fictious scenario, you are reacting to each separate bit of information as it arrives – get the cabin
ready early, set the most favourable flap setting, dodge weather, notice that the wind has changed, request a
runway change, prepare for possible windshear on approach.
You are reacting to HOW you will accomplish the landing in the poor weather. You are thinking tactically.
Perhaps you need to be recognising that things are stacking up against you by looking at the “Big Picture” – the
winds are changing because the thunderstorm is fast moving, gust fronts and microbursts may be involved, the
runway may be slippery and coupled with high crosswind may result in directional control problems (what if you
get some lifting shear in the flare and land long?).
This is perhaps when you should be thinking strategically and ask yourself “SHOULD I hold until the
thunderstorm passes, or SHOULD I divert to my alternate?”
Thinking tactically has its place in any Command situation, but ensure that you occasionally look at the “Big
Picture” so that you can update and think strategically.
SKYbrary – OGHFA
We’ve already looked at the main SKYbrary web site before.
It just keeps getting better!
While looking around the SKYbrary web site recently I discovered a fairly recent addition – the OGHFA
Portal.
The WHAT?! Maybe this SKYbrary extract will explain...
The Operators Guide to Human Factors in Aviation (OGHFA) is a project of the Flight Safety Foundation
European Advisory Committee.

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OGHFA is an extensive compendium of human factors information focused on further advancing

commercial aviation safety.
And in the SKYbrary OGHFA Introduction...
The main objective of the OGHFA is to create a strong bridge between theory and practice that is context-
sensitive, concrete, practical and easy to access.
The ultimate goal of the OGHFA is to trigger dynamic interactions between knowledge and experience
that will improve problem solving, critical thinking and judgment as a means of preventing errors and their
associated accidents, incidents and inefficiencies. With the information in the OGHFA, you can identify
human factors “traps” and those situations that make it more likely that you will either fail to perform at
your best or contribute to somebody else “having a bad day.” By reading and using this Guide you will:
Improve your understanding of the consequences of your behavior and condition
Appreciate the safety and efficiency benefits of effective interactions among the humans in the aviation
system
Better understand the importance to safety and efficiency of effective interactions with your tools, work
rules and work environment
Learn techniques to optimize your performance and help maximize the performance of any groups in
which you participate, thus enhancing safety
Learn how to spot human factors problems, whether with yourself or someone else, before they result in
an incident or accident
Prevent problems before they develop rather than having to react to them and correct them under
pressure.
In this particular OGHFA area on the SKYbrary site you will find Briefing Notes on Human Factors areas such
as;
Personal Influences
Environmental Influences
Crew Actions and Behaviours
Organisational Influences
Informational Influences
There are Briefing Notes (BNs) on SA, TEM, Workload Management, Error Management, Decision Making...you
know all that stuff that we’re interested in for you to become a better Captain.
While the BNs are interesting, the real strength is the section right under them – Situational Examples.
Here situations are outlined and throughout the example you are asked “What would you do now?” as the
situation unfolds and develops. These Situational Examples build on the BNs to introduce a practical and
operational perspective.
Some of the examples I can recognise as actual accidents/incidents and I guess that these accidents/incidents
have been chosen as real-life “lessons to be learnt” and to highlight the operational aspects of aviating.
The SKYbrary site is continually expanding and is well worth regularly visiting to check out the new stuff. And
the OGHFA Portal is a great Command resource.

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Visual Approaches (Part 1)
This article is purely my own personal thoughts.
It has been fermenting quietly below the surface since Brad posted this item some time ago on the Airline
Command Google Groups Discussion forum (have a read to get the gist of what all this is about).
It has been given further impetus after various “incidents” concerning visual approaches in the airline
environment have occurred. It was finally brought to the boil after I discussed visual approaches with various
First Officers that I have flown with lately on line flights...many completely divergent to my view of a visual
approach.
This article discusses visual approaches primarily from an airline perspective, and in my own particular case,
from an international airline, controlled airspace, high traffic, multi-crew, wide-body, glass cockpit aircraft
perspective.
It is direct (brutally direct in some parts) and some people may not particularly like some of my opinions or
conclusions – tough! It is mean to be in-your-face to knock pilots out of their comfortable complacency and to
generate some thoughtful discussion.
And it's something that you as a Commander you need to have a long hard think about.
Be a pilot or a passenger – it’s your choice.
What’s This Rant All About?
The answer to the question “Are Visual Approaches A Threat?” is the main intent of this article.
However the bulk of this article discusses the justifications for my answer. Along the way we will look at other
aspects of visual approaches, but the core, fundamental intent of this paper is to determine if visual
approaches are indeed a threat and therefore unsafe.
If so, we should not be doing them.
Are Visual Approaches A Threat?
“Are Visual Approaches A Threat?”
I’ve asked this question to numerous F/Os that I’ve been flying with and a few Captains as well recently. Almost
unequivocally the answer has been “YES!”
Well if visual approaches are such a threat (i.e. increased risk with commensurate decrease in safety), why do
we continue doing them?
Why aren’t visual approaches banned and replaced with full precision or non precision approaches?
If a visual approach is so fraught with danger, why is it the very first type of approach an ab initio pilot learns
(visual circuits)? If visual approaches are so dangerous why don’t new pilots start off by flying radar vectored
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Usually the immediate response to the question is “YES!”, followed by an imperceptible pause with a qualifying
“But...” added afterwards. The responder then usually goes into a “Yes. But...” clarification and explanation of
how they are uncurrent or the crews that they fly with are uncurrent, or they haven’t flown a visual approach for
years, or a visual approach is not appropriate in our airline operation.
I contend that visual approaches as an approach type to get the aircraft onto the runway are safe.
“Are Visual Approaches A Threat?” I answer “NO!”
In fact, I consider a visual approach to be safer in most cases than ATC vectoring you all over the sky to
intercept a localiser and glideslope.
So if visual approaches are not a threat (as I contend), what’s the problem?
Stay tuned for Part 2...and think about how you would respond to the question "Are visual approaches a
threat?" (maybe I've got it completely wrong!)
This is Part 2 of this Visual Approach article.
In Part 1 we asked the question “Are Visual Approaches A Threat?” My own conclusion is that visual
approaches as an approach type are safe and appropriate in most conditions; they are NOT a threat.
Read Part 1 here. Read on to find out what the threat really is.
We Are The Threat
In Part 1 most pilots that I asked the question “Are visual approaches a threat?” answered with “YES! But...”
The real threat/problem is alluded to in the “YES! But...” part of the answer. The most common qualifier that
follows the “But...” part of their answer is currency (or more accurately a lack of currency).
I argue that it is we, the pilots, who are the threat.
Many of us are incapable of flying a competent, safe manually flown visual approach, judging angles, glidepath,
rates of closure, centreline tracking, configuration and energy management, selecting (and holding) attitudes.
Either that, or they probably actually can do this but are not confident enough to try these basic skills.
Do you recall all these basic aviation skills? Are you able to apply them? When was the last time you applied

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them?
Visual approaches are Piloting Skills 101. It is what you learn from your very first flight. Being able to fly a visual
approach is a basic, fundamental piloting skill – but I think some of us pilots have forgotten how to do it; and do
it competently and safely.
We are breeding a generation of pilots who can’t manually fly aircraft. They might be really good Play
Station/Nintendo gamers and be able to operate the aircraft slickly using the aircraft’s automatics, FMGS and
computers, but ask them to look out of a window and manually fly the aircraft and that’s where the threat, risk
and compromised safety occurs.
Sure they sit at the pointy end of the aircraft and have wings pinned to their chests, but they are just along for
the ride when they are forced into some form of manual flight.
We have a generation of passengers, not pilots.
We are the threat.
Why Can’t We Fly Visual Approaches Correctly?
In an international airline operation visual approaches are often a rarity (but not as rare you think, as we will
see in Part 3).
As a result we don’t get to fly too many visual approaches. With the lack of practise and currency our manual
handling skills deteriorate, degenerate, atrophy and erode.
With degraded skills comes the very real increased possibly of making a mistake and by extension decreasing
safety. Or you really do make a mistake during an actual visual approach.
We then become under-confident in our abilities to safely execute a visual approach.
The ultimate result is that we don’t even attempt them.

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It becomes a circular self-fulfilling prophesy.
And it’s not only the more junior, less experienced pilots. First Officers will occasionally ask to do a visual
approach when they are PF and the Captain declines because;
“I don’t get paid for this”,
“I’m too old for this”,
“It’s not worth the risk”,
“I don’t trust you (unlikely that they will say this one out loud)”, or
“...Insert your own lame excuse here...”
First Officers then learn from their Captains that visual approaches really are a “threat”.
“The greater danger for most of us lies not in setting our aim too high and falling short; but in setting our aim
too low, and achieving our mark.” – Michelangelo
Do you aspire to self-induced mediocrity?
As I said it becomes a perpetuating self-fulfilling prophesy.
Part 3 is here...and think about how you would respond to the question "Are visual approaches a threat?"
(maybe I've got it completely wrong!)

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This is Part 3 of this Visual Approach article.
In Part 2 we looked at what the threat really is - it is us, the pilots.
Read on to find out what to do about it.
What To Do About It?
If your own personal opinion is that visual approaches are indeed a threat, then you just have to always refuse
or decline any offer of a visual approach. Pretty easy really. (I just hope that I’m never a passenger on one of
your flights – especially if you attempt a visual approach when something bad has happened, you need to get
on the ground in a hurry and you cock it up when it really counts.)
But what about those pilots who would like to re-acquire, improve and refine their manual handling skills? What
can they do about it?
Things To Consider BEFORE Your Visual Approach
Request A Visual Approach
Most places that international airlines operate into, the local ATC will NEVER voluntarily offer a visual approach.
Sometimes they legally are not permitted to offer visual approaches.
However, you can always request a visual approach, even if ATC is not permitted to offer you one. ATC will either
deny the request (nothing lost) or approve it (great, some manual handling skills practise). You might be

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surprised at the number of airfields that you can actually execute a visual approach.
Sometimes a visual approach does not even occur to ATC as a possible approach option. ATC sometimes falls
into the same narrow mind-set (and never think outside the box) that we pilots slip into.
Generally, if you never ask for it, you will never get it.
Choose Your Battles Wisely
Just because a visual approach is available does not mean that you should always execute one.
Some visual approaches are easy, simple and have a wide margin for error. Others are hard, complex, require
above average handling skills and have little margin for error. If you haven’t done a visual approach for some
time or are not totally confident in your handling skills, then perhaps you should decline the hard visual
approach and bide your time and wait for a better day when an easier visual approach presents itself.
If you, or your crew, are fatigued perhaps a visual approach is not a smart idea.
If you are a First Officer make sure you have a good working rapport with your Captain before you blurt out that
you want to do a visual approach. Some Captains are...how do I put this diplomatically?...dinosaurs, old farts,
only worried about their pension/retirement/Ferrari/fourth marriage. For this type of Captain a visual approach
is too hard, too risky or just not worth the hassle. Ensure that you scope out the Captain if you’ve never flown
with him before and try to work out if he is keen/motivated or bored/indifferent before bringing up the subject
of a visual approach. If your Captain declines your request for a visual approach – well just get on with your job
and don’t rock the boat (too much).
If the airfield has problematic ATC instructions, close parallel runways, significant terrain on the approach path
or heavy traffic, then maybe you should consider a visual approach another day.
If the aircraft has significant defects, MEL items or your crew tasks and workload are excessive, then defer to
another day.
If the approach is at night or the sun is in your eyes and the windscreen is covered in bugs, the visibility is
marginal or you have never operated into this airfield before, then maybe a visual approach is not the best
option.
This a risk versus reward decision. If the costs outweigh the benefits, if safety is adversely compromised, then
swallow your pride and try again when the aviation gods are on your side.
Make sure that you choose your visual approach battles wisely and only attempt them when things are stacked
in your favour; not against you.
Terrain Separation
When cleared for a visual approach you are responsible to maintain adequate terrain separation for the entire
approach path from the time you are cleared for the visual approach (which may be during the descent at some
distance from the airfield). If terrain is a significant factor at a particular airfield, it may require that you fly a
“tight”, curved, modified flight path to avoid the significant terrain or a specific type of circuit (e.g. only right
hand circuits).
Each airfield will have different requirements and local knowledge is especially invaluable in these “difficult”
airfields.
Only request or accept a visual approach at night if you are 100% certain of where the terrain is located, where
it is in relation to your flight path, the visibility is very good and you are very familiar with that particular airfield.

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Traffic Separation
If ATC clear you for a visual approach and you accept, you are now totally responsible for your own traffic
separation. If you are number two, you are responsible for positively acquiring and maintaining an adequate
visual traffic separation and wake turbulence separation with the preceding aircraft.
If you are cleared for a visual approach to a parallel runway you are responsible for ensuring you aim at the
correct runway (sometimes a problem at SFO) and not flying through the extended centreline from a base turn
position and maintaining finals tracking of the extended centreline.
The “rules” may be slightly different depending on which country you conducting the visual approach in. For
example in the USA if preceding traffic is not sighted, ATC may still clear an aircraft for a visual approach. In this
case, ATC retain responsibility for traffic and wake vortex separation. If preceding traffic is sighted, and a call to
ATC made to that effect, the crew are then responsible for traffic and wake vortex separation.
At some airports ATC may "expect" or desire that you execute a visual approach so that they can reduce the
traffic separation and so squeeze more aircraft onto the runway in a given time. SYD does this (although you
are expected to follow the ILS pretty closely) and LAX does this also (I haven't operated into LAX for a number of
years, but from what I recall you'd better be looking out and actively scanning and aquiring the preceding traffic
and at the same time ensuring you line up on the correct of four runways). Are you ready for this?
Missed Approach
For whatever reason if you ever have to execute a missed approach from a visual approach, how would you do
it? What lateral flight path would you take? What altitude would you climb to?
This is always a perennial problem. Everybody (pilots and ATC) seem to have different, conflicting
interpretations about this.
Some pilots (and possibly ATC) just assume that the published ILS or instrument approach missed approach is
the correct missed approach procedure to follow for a visual approach. But you’re not flying the published
approach.
What you assume and what ATC assume may be entirely different. Perhaps there is some local ATC procedure.
If you’re not sure ask – before you have to do a missed approach.
If you can't think of what to do and you have to execute a missed approach, climb ahead on runway heading to
1,500 AAL and contact the Tower ASAP. Be prepared for a left visual circuit (or as dictated by the particular
terrain, airspace and local procedures) or a specific track and altitude to slot you back into the approach
stream. Realise that the Tower will probably working quite hard at this stage as they have to contact
Approach/Departures and arrange something non standard and unexpected.
Local knowledge is important, so maybe you should contact ATC (remember that thing called a telephone?) well
before the approach and find out.
Stabilised Approach Criteria
Just because you are executing a visual approach doesn’t mean that you fly the aircraft wherever or however
you want to. Most airlines these days have very strict Stabilised Approach Criteria, that apply to both instrument
and visual approaches.
Ensure that you are extremely aware of these Stabilised Approach Criteria and configure and fly the aircraft to
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Airspace Requirements
Some airfields have tight or oddly shaped Control Zones. Sometimes their Control Zone does not extend
vertically very high. All these things limit where you can manoeuvre the aircraft while doing your visual approach
(both laterally and vertically). For example Taipei has parallel runways and just to the East another military
runway. Imagine the chaos you would cause if you elected to fly over this other close by airfield on a downwind
or base leg!
Others will have the approach path overflying the departures path.
To find some guidance have a look on the published instrument approach charts. If there is a circling approach
restriction (i.e. no circling to the East, or outside of 4 nm), then that is something to consider when planning
your flight path for the visual approach. It might not apply to your visual approach, but consider why that circling
restriction is in there and use some common sense and airmanship.
Again local knowledge and prior planning is required.
Plan it – Brief It
Plan how you’re going to fly this visual approach.
Will you do a straight in approach, join on a left/right base, a left/right downwind, upwind? Is there other traffic
that you need to follow or be aware of? When will I start to configure, slow down, turn base? Will I initially use
the autopilot and auto thrust (and if so when will I disconnect them) or will I adopt the Rambo visual approach
and do everything manually (remember to choose your battles wisely)?
What actions are required by the PF and PM as laid down in your company’s SOPs, NPs, FCTM, FCOMs. When
was the last time you read about the procedures required to fly a visual approach?
Spend a bit of time briefing how you will fly the visual approach (e.g. left downwind, with such and such a flap
set, at XXX airspeed at 1,500 feet). You are sharing your mental model and communicating your intent with the
other crew members. They are not mind readers.
The other pilot can now more effectively monitor you and the progress of the visual approach.
Even if you don’t intend to conduct a visual approach, practise thinking to yourself how you would manoeuvre
the aircraft if you were cleared for a visual approach on every approach that you conduct. Start exercising your
visual approach brain muscle and get it into shape for the time you actually complete a visual approach.
This is one of my pet peeves – pilots who have forgotten to think like pilots. Pilots who can’t fly aircraft. Are you
one of them?
Excess Energy
Most visual approaches (in an international airline environment) are granted during the descent after you have
everything set up for an instrument approach. The first thing that pops into my head when I hear “Cleared for a
visual approach” or ask for a visual approach is EXCESS ENERGY.
Generally a visual approach will chop off a whole bunch of track miles (sometimes up to 15 nm which is an
excess of 4,500 feet on a 3 degree profile). You will now very likely be both too high on the vertical profile and
be too fast – both are an excess of energy – energy that you have to now dissipate somehow.
Speedbrake, putting flap out, extending the L/G are all methods of getting rid of this excess energy. Sometimes
you may have to configure the aircraft slightly non standard (e.g. extend the L/G early or out of "normal"
sequence).

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You may have to build some extra track miles into your flight path by extending downwind or flying a wider than
normal downwind.
Remember you are now flying a visual approach and you can manoeuvre the aircraft (within reason) anywhere
you like. This excess energy also poses some problems that you will have to solve to comply with the Stabilised
Approach Criteria.
This is pure piloting. This is where the art of aviation trumps the science. Looking out the window and using
your skill and judgement.
I can’t tell you how to solve this problem as each visual approach has its own unique vertical, lateral and
longitudinal flight path characteristics. That’s what pilots sit in front of aircraft for – you do remember how to fly
an aircraft don’t you?!! You still have that skill and judgement don’t you?
Stay tuned for Part 4...and think about how you would respond to the question "Are visual approaches a
threat?" (maybe I've got it completely wrong!)
This is Part 4 of this Visual Approach saga.
In Part 2 we looked at what the threat really is - it is us, the pilots.
In Part 3 we looked at What To Do About It (regaining our visual approach skills and aviation brain).
Read this final instalment to get a quick summary and overview of Visual Approaches.
Summary
Are Visual Approaches a threat?
I contend that they are not; visual approaches are a safe approach type – provided common sense, airmanship,
good manual handling skills and sound pilot judgement is used.
It is we pilots who potentially are the threat.
In some cases, we have allowed our manual handling skills and our aviation brain and thinking skills to atrophy
and deteriorate through a lack of practise and under-confidence. This leads to a circular self-fulfilling prophesy
that reinforces (incorrectly) that Visual Approaches are a threat.

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Have I got it completely wrong? Are Visual Approaches really a threat in our airline operation?
In some specific instances, yes they are. This is part of your job as a pilot to assess the potential risk and then
make a sound judgement and decision about whether or not you will execute the Visual Approach. Risk versus
reward. Cost versus benefit.
Try telling a GA pilot that we (supposedly higher experienced) airline pilots won’t fly a Visual Approach because
of the increased threat they pose and he will probably fall to the ground in a apoplexic fit of laughter or stare at
you confused and disbelieving.
At the end of the day we are still pilots and (supposedly) in the man/machine interface we are still in charge.
You pull back, the trees get smaller.

Master your instrument. Master the music. And then forget all that bullshit and just play. Charlie-Parker
Making the simple complicated is commonplace; making the complicated awesomely simple...that’s creativity.
Charles Mingus
Perhaps if you can’t fly a Visual Approach you should trade in your wings and go sit in the passenger cabin.
Think about how you would respond to the question "Are visual approaches a threat?" (maybe I've got it
completely wrong!) Let the COMMENTS begin!
Good Captain, Bad Captain

Here are two interesting links from Sam (a Captain for a small regional airline based in the Midwest of USA),
who posts regularly at Blogging At FL250 (Rants and Reflections from a Regional Airline Pilot).
The first post is Good Captain, Bad Captain. This first post was written as a First Officer. Here he explains six of
his personal criteria for the requirements to a Good Captain and details some attributes of a Bad Captain.
In the second post Good Captain, Bad Captain Revisited, he looks again at the same theme, but this time from
the point of view as a Captain.
It’s interesting the slightly different take he has between being a First Officer and as a Captain. You really do
see the world slightly differently (something some First Officers don’t get).
I also particularly like the way Sam reviews his Command performance, identifies weak areas in his operation
and then tries to eliminate them. Once you get your four bars it’s easy to slacken off – nobody is watching or
assessing you anymore. Self improvement is the only way you will ever improve as a Captain.
Make sure you read the comments at the bottom of the posts as well. Some good insights there as well.
I like the way Sam and some of his readers categorise Command skills into two broad types; either Good
Captain qualities or Bad Captain qualities. You should be watching, modelling and learning from your current
Captains. Use the good qualities and reject the bad stuff. Don’t waste your apprenticeship.
Both posts are very good reading and should give you some food for thought as you progress towards your own
four bars

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Cabin Crew Communication – Flight 1549

We are probably all aware of the circumstances and the outcome of the birdstrike and double engine failure
that happened to US Airways Flight 1549.
What you probably are NOT aware of, is what was going through the minds of the Cabin Attendants (and
passengers) in that brief flight.
Watch this interview between David Learmount (Operationally Speaking blog) and two of the Cabin
Attendants, Donna Dent and Sheila Dail, as they recount their experience.
Note the restricted cockpit-cabin communication that took place. The first indication that something was amiss
was that it was so quiet. The Captain making a PA to “Brace” was the main form of cockpit-cabin
communication that took place airborne. (I would hazard a guess that the two cockpit crew were pretty busy
during the three and half minutes after the birdstrike!)
Would you have had the presence of mind to make that PA? How would you have communicated your
intentions and plan to the Cabin Crew and the passengers? Would you have included the word “ditching”
somewhere to give the Cabin Crew pre-warning? How would you have managed your time and workload during
this stressful event?
One of the commonly neglected forms of communication that Captains/cockpit crew make is between the
cockpit and the cabin (and passengers). Think about it now, in the safety and comfort of your
home/study/computer terminal/coffee shop. How would you exchange the maximum amount of essential,
concise, succinct and neccessary information to the rest of your crew in a limited time frame?
The crew had only 208 seconds to analyse, decide and act. I think they (both cockpit and cabin crew) did an
extremely fantastic job.
Have look at Captain Sullenberger's interview as well.
Remember the age old agage of "Aviate, Navigate, Communicate, Manage"?
Remember Rule ONE of aviation ALWAYS FLY THE AIRCRAFT?

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Page |2

Who is AIRLINE COMMAND For? .............................................................................................................................................. 8

Who Else Can Use AIRLINE COMMAND............................................................................................................................... 10

Disclaimer - Necessary Legal(?), Check My Six, Stuff.................................................................................................... 12

How To Use AIRLINE COMMAND ........................................................................................................................................... 13

Who The Bloody Hell Am I? ....................................................................................................................................................... 14

Links To Aviation & Command Resources ......................................................................................................................... 16

Airline Command - Google Groups Discussion Area ..................................................................................................... 18

The Individual As Aircraft Commander ............................................................................................................................... 19

Self Concept (Part 1) ................................................................................................................................................................. 20

Johari Window - Your Four Selves (Part 2) .................................................................................................................. 22

Self Awareness (Part 3)........................................................................................................................................................... 25

Positive Thinking Vs Positive Knowing .......................................................................................................................... 27

Bullshit Antenna ......................................................................................................................................................................... 29

Emotional Rollercoaster ......................................................................................................................................................... 32

Mistakes And Criticism (Part 1) ......................................................................................................................................... 34

Mistakes And Criticism (Part 2) ......................................................................................................................................... 37

Mistakes And Criticism (Part 3) ......................................................................................................................................... 40

Airmanship (Part 1) .................................................................................................................................................................. 44

Airmanship (Part 2) .................................................................................................................................................................. 47

Airmanship (Part 3) .................................................................................................................................................................. 49

Preparation (P7) ......................................................................................................................................................................... 53

SA Enhancement - Quick & Dirty........................................................................................................................................ 56

Two Cases of Reverse Mind Set (RTO & Go Around) ............................................................................................... 58

The Difference Between THE Captain & AN F/O ....................................................................................................... 59

Skill Envelope ............................................................................................................................................................................... 61

Command Preparation (Part 1) .......................................................................................................................................... 63

Last Updated: 25-02-2010 Latest website article: 21-February-2010

Command Preparation (Part 2) .......................................................................................................................................... 66

Command Preparation (Part 3) .......................................................................................................................................... 69

How To Be Above Average - The Zulu Principle ........................................................................................................ 71

SA – Your Crystal Ball............................................................................................................................................................... 72

Control The Controllable – Your “Circle Of Influence” ............................................................................................ 73

Photographic Situational Awareness (SA) .................................................................................................................... 76

Satisficing – Decision Making............................................................................................................................................... 77

Self Directed Learning (SDL) ................................................................................................................................................ 80

The Leader Of The Band ......................................................................................................................................................... 82

The Lumberjacks & The Wrong Forest ........................................................................................................................... 85

Keep A “Command” Journal .................................................................................................................................................. 88

Your Comfort, Learning & Anxiety Zones ...................................................................................................................... 89

Don’t Waste Your Apprenticeship ..................................................................................................................................... 93

YOU Run The Show YOUR Way ........................................................................................................................................... 94

Take A Mental Step Back ........................................................................................................................................................ 95

Command Rules (Part 1) ........................................................................................................................................................ 96

Command Rules (Part 2) ........................................................................................................................................................ 97

Command “Experience” .......................................................................................................................................................... 99

Situational Awareness (SA) Part 1 ................................................................................................................................. 101

Situational Awareness (SA) Part 2 ................................................................................................................................. 105

What Is Monitoring? .............................................................................................................................................................. 107

Aviate, Navigate, Communicate & Manage................................................................................................................. 114

Workload Management (Part 1)...................................................................................................................................... 115

Workload Management (Part 2)...................................................................................................................................... 118

Last Updated: 25-02-2010 Latest website article: 21-February-2010

TEM (Part 1 - Overview)...................................................................................................................................................... 120

TEM (Part 2 - The Layers) .................................................................................................................................................. 125

TEM (Part 3 - Putting It All Together) .......................................................................................................................... 132

Have A Think About Leadership ........................................................................................................................................... 136

Can I Be A Leader? .................................................................................................................................................................. 137

Learning Leadership.............................................................................................................................................................. 138

Authority and Leadership ................................................................................................................................................... 139

Be a Leader, Not a Manager ............................................................................................................................................... 140

Aviation Leadership ............................................................................................................................................................... 141

http://nwlink.com/~donclark/leader/leader.htmlEarning Respect ......................................................... 142