The What: In complex aircraft, it is difficult at times to read checklist items and perform them all while concentrating on flying the aircraft safely and efficiently.
The Why: Holding the checklist takes away at least one hand, reading the checklist takes yours eyes away from important instruments and from looking outside, and concentrating on the checklist tasks distracts your concentration from other essential duties.
Testing the Who: While most of the 5 people I talked to had a strong interest in finding a way to improve checklist usage, none of them felt that there was a need to improve it. They all said something along the lines of "Anything that can help you manage your workload when you are flying alone is great, but I wouldn't consider this to be a need within the flying community. I would be willing to give it a test run."
Testing the What: One of the people I interviewed, Kelsey Mulloy, mentioned that after several years of flying the checklist becomes a part of your routine and is just an afterthought. She did say it could help, but that there is not as great of a need as I initially thought there to be. Nobody said that they had any issues currently, but that something that could help them would peak their interest.
Testing the Why: Much like testing the what, most of the people I interviewed mentioned that it has become such a part of their routine that they didn't feel it was as distracting as it used to be. Perhaps my "Who" could be transferred to new general aviation pilots who could use help with cockpit management to increase safety.
Below are the links to my interviews with flight instructors, commercial pilots, and student pilots.
1. Jeff Wolfe, Chief Flight Instructor
https://soundcloud.com/user-240906264/interview-1
2-3.Jordan, Airline Pilot and Andy, Aspiring Flight Instructor
https://soundcloud.com/user-240906264/interview
4.Kelsey Mulloy, Flight Instructor
https://soundcloud.com/user-240906264/new-recording-2
5.Sebastian, Commercial Pilot
https://soundcloud.com/user-240906264/new-recording
Tyler,
ReplyDeleteI have never flown a plane, but I have sat in the cockpit while flying in a four passenger airplane. I noticed that the pilot was talking a lot and going through a lot of things rather than focusing on flying. I was a little nervous. But seeing in your interviews that the pilots said that it just became part of their routine makes sense. I think that you have a good idea and I am glad that you got some helpful insight into what the need really is.
Hey Tyler. You seem to know much more about flying than I would. But what stands out to me is that they must be extremely experienced in order to fly in the first place. However, being distracted while flying a plane does not seem very safe and I agree that measures should be taken to ensure pilots are conducting a safe trip, whether alone or not.
ReplyDeleteTyler,
ReplyDeleteMy experience in air crafts is very little, and I have never flown an air craft for that matter; however, I feel that your knowledge of flight was very good. I would agree that flying a plane while being distracted could be a dangerous thing, and I think that your idea could really improve the safety of passengers and crew aboard future air crafts.
Hi Tyler,
ReplyDeleteAt first thought, an app that could help with this checklist seemed like a no-brainer to me. I don't know much about flying, but something that could help you complete this checklist without taking your eyes away from what you need to do seems like a great idea. However, as your first interviewee mentioned, the purpose of these checklists is to make the pilot aware of what they need to do, and an audio checklist could make the pilot less aware of the things he or she needs to complete.
Tyler,
ReplyDeleteI have no experience with flying, but I can imagine that the checklist would help keep them from being distracted. An audio checklist, in my opinion, would help keep pilots focused and prevent them from doing something that would endanger their passengers. As Carter said, I think that whether or not they are alone, it is important to keep these pilots focused and ensure that they are able to perform their duties without any issues.