Every pilot needs to prepare for the unexpected. Engine failures and inflight emergencies have a nasty habit of cropping up at the most inopportune times. However, with the right training and preparation, you can be ready for any hazardous situation that comes your way.It praises Scenario-Based Training, which in and of itself is not a bad thing. I'm a big fan of SBT. In fact, my Flying the Mississippi book is designed to be one big scenario in which to learn and/or practice.
During your initial pilot training, you may recall the layers of learning involved with acquiring and mastering aeronautical skills. You might begin your learning path by memorizing certain facts or details like airspeeds for best rate (Vy) or angle of climb (Vx). You would then need to understand the relationship between these speeds in order to best choose which speed might be applicable for your environment. You would then apply that knowledge by actually choosing to fly at Vx to clear an obstacle on takeoff.
Finally, through correlation of Vx/Vy knowledge with climb performance at high density altitudes, engine cooling, and traffic spotting requirements, a pilot may opt to begin a departure climb at Vx, transition to Vy after obstacles are cleared, maintain Vy until a safe maneuvering altitude is reached, and then transition to cruise climb to improve traffic spotting.
Correlative learning takes place when students are able to apply previously acquired knowledge to solve new problems.
Nonetheless, as much as I like SBT, it is not a one-size-fits-all magic cloak. It is extremely powerful if used when appropriate, and horribly inefficient when jammed into places it doesn't fit. This is a place where it probably doesn't fit.
While the excerpt above sounds pretty and contains 100% of your recommended daily allowance of FAA-approved educational jargon, it doesn't actually address the cause of loss of control accidents in twins. Basically zero accidents are caused by pilots reaching the "correlative" level and not being able to decide whether they should choose Vx or Vy. Those pilots are smoking holes in the ground long before that stage.
In other words, the last thoughts of a pilot about to die from an engine failure on takeoff aren't
Hmm, I think I should choose Vx here due to obstacle clearance requirements. Or was it Vy? I can't really remember exactly the difference between the two. Perhaps I should split the difference and choose a target airspeed between the two. In any case, it is warmer than standard today, but I'm 800 pounds below max gross weight. That means my Vx will be lower than normal. Or higher? That's quite the interesting mathematical challenge here. Let me think about it...
Nope. The last thoughts are going to be a LOT more like
I'm rolling! Why am I rolling!? That roll is making us sink. Why aren't the ailerons leveling us the way they usually do?!? Pull back on the yoke to keep us from sinking so fast!!! Got to pull--[SPLAT]
No scenario-based training is going to help here. What is necessary is a return to memorization. But not the "entry-level" memorization that is the only type the FAA mentions above. This memorization is "mastery-level" memorization, which is a term you won't find in any FAA textbook.
This level of memorization is also different in that it takes place less on a cognitive plane than a physical one. While ELM (Entry-Level Memorization) is concerned with storing and regurgitating facts and figures, MLM (Mastery-Level Memorization) concerns itself with physical responses.
This is by no means a new concept. What I'm calling MLM here has been known for decades as "automaticity". In fact, it's not even new to this blog: I referred to automaticity last year in "Smart people do stupid things in emergencies".
This MLM or automaticity is what it will take to reduce the number of accidents caused by loss of control. Pilots aren't dying because they didn't grok a scenario; they are dying because they didn't have the response to an engine failure so ingrained, so physically memorized, that it was automatic.
So we go full circle, from one form of memorization to another. We go from a mere fact stored in our head to an entire memorized response stored deep in our mental being. One stored so deep it no longer even looks memorized; it simply looks natural. The circle of training goes from the beginner's memorization to understanding to application to correlation... and finally to the master's memorization.
The master's memorization is a way of understanding without having to understand. It has passed through understanding and become being.
That sounds very Zen-like, and it is. It is at that point of mastery that it paradoxically becomes difficult to explain to someone else what you are doing because the skill is no longer a set of discrete steps. It has become one single chunk.
As an example, go and land a plane and think of each step as you're doing it. You'll probably find it extremely awkward and won't make the best landing. It is something you've internalized so much that landing is something you "just do" now. (Or if you're not a pilot yet, try to explain to someone everything you're doing as you drive down the highway.)
That's why SBT won't fix this issue. Pilots of twins have to go beyond the conscious, awkward response into the unconscious memorized response. In other words, not to practice until they get it right, but to practice until they can't get it wrong.
The next post will go into what SBT is really good for. See you next Wednesday!
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The author is an airline pilot, flight instructor, and adjunct college professor teaching aviation ground schools. He holds an ATP certificate with ERJ-145 and DHC-8 type ratings, as well as CFI, CFII, MEI, AGI, and IGI certificates, and is a Master-level participant in the FAA's WINGS program and a former FAASafety Team representative. He is on Facebook as Larry the Flying Guy, has a Larry the Flying Guy YouTube channel, and is on Twitter as @Lairspeed.
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Thanks for sharing this :)
ReplyDeleteReally detailed and well structured article Larry.
Keep up the great work Larrry!