dr. bill rhodes: warning signs in pilots

WARNING SIGNS IN PILOTSWhat Scares the Experts

Some Initial Findings from AERI

Bill RhodesCopyright, Aerworthy Consulting, LLC

September 2009

Airmanship Education and Research Initiative (AERI)

AERI’s Sponsors Avemco Insurance Company Cirrus Aircraft Corporation Advanced Aviation Simulators, Inc. Independence Aviation, LLC. Research Boston Corp. University of Minnesota, Minneapolis University of Illinois, Champaign-Urbana

An Informal Survey

■ … of a group of aviation enthusiasts■ Facts■ Predictions

What is scary?

A Telling Tale

■ I began asking around about what scares experts■ Patterns emerged (we’ll see some soon)■ Then, eerily, some individuals I knew emerged

■ Even more eerily…

The Experts: Hands-on Experience ■ Mature, highly experienced (OK, mostly old) pilots ■ Insurance—Underwriters and Claims ■ Experienced CFI’s ■ Accident Investigators

Expert Pilots--Observed

■ Experimental Design (Partial) - Simulator work - Confidence-inspiring reactions

■ Results - More patterns - Positive reactions

■ Limitations: Sample size

What to do… or Who to be? ■ Doing is important - Industry teaches what to do - Often, pilots know what to do, and fail to do it

■ The sort of person one is matters a lot - Common knowledge among GA insiders

■ But… - Little or no theory of airmanship - No convenient language

■ Working these issues…

So, What Scares Experts?

HTS1: Take risks

■ But doesn’t flying always involve risk?■ A question of calibration ■ Risk-management■ Self-Assessment

HTS2: Know it all

■ Resist advice and instruction - Hurry through instruction - Don’t study; don’t listen - Blame airplane, sim, instructor

■ Brag a lot - Status Consciousness - If I had a dime for every time I’ve heard “pilot” and “ego” in the same sentence …

HTS3: Plan on the unrealistic/barely realistic ■ Lack of awareness of risk ■ Full (or beyond) exploitation of airplane’s capabilities ■ Full (or beyond) exploitation of own capabilities

HTS4: Be in a hurry

■ Gotta get moving■ Gotta get there■ Gotta speed through training■ Got no time for the real business of flying

HTS5: Be extremely confident in piloting skills

■ We need confidence, of course…■ The trick seems to be in knowing how confident to be■ And in being realistic about ourselves and what we attempt

HTS6: Advance very quickly

■ Upgrade quickly to high-performance equipment ■ Race through instruction/ratings

HTS7: Show off

■ Pilots and their airplanes really are doing something remarkable

■ “Pushing it”

HTS8: Ignore the Book(s) and the Mentors

■ Performance■ Avionics and Accessories■ Weather■ Human factors

“Scary Pilot” Syndrome■ Lack of Skills? No!■ Lack of Humility? YES! ■ CFI’s can easily work to develop skills■ But a scary character is a challenge

So…Who should a pilot try to be?

■ Well, not scary! ■ What are the qualities we trust? ■ Not sure yet, but looks like:

- Self-Knowledge - Self-Mastery - Caring about what’s really important - Giving aviation the time and devotion it (and families) deserve