– Steve Hitchen
Aircraft are made up of systems; various bits of equipment that make the aeroplane fly and perform the way we want it to. As pilots, our job is to understand how each one of those systems work, be it the fuel system, undercarriage extension or the emergency exits. Not so many years ago, a Cherokee Six suffered fuel starvation near Melbourne and the pilot carried out a forced landing. But there was fuel on board; the pilot just didn't know how to find it. And for me, the most critical take-away from the ATSB report into the crash of VH-TDQ is that the pilot wasn't aware of how to use the emergency exit when the flaps were down. Whilst recommendations of modification and removing seats is fine, Cessna was obviously aware of the problem and designed a work-around, that worked if you knew to use it. To me, it highlights the responsibility of every pilot to know and understand the systems on their aeroplane no matter how complex and how rarely the system needs to be activated. Understanding what is on your aeroplane and how it functions can one day pull you back from the dragon's jaws. If you are not totally up to speed with what you're flying, it opens you up to getting a nasty shock one day. Investigators said the emergency exit procedure for the Cessna 206 was overly complex and not intuitive. Neither is the fuel system on a Cherokee Six, but that has never generated a safety notice.
No matter what colour you paint it or which direction you try to spin it, putting a high-voltage powerline only 0.28 nm off the end of a runway is not safe, especially for trainee pilots. But this is exactly what Ausnet is asking Melton Air Services to accept when the Western Renewables Link powerline carves its way through the landscape from western Victoria to Melbourne. Ausnet has produced an Environmental Effects Statement that insists the impacts on Melton Airport are "moderate" and the threat caused by the powerline can be mitigated by briefing pilots and marking poles and wires. The EES is rather silent on the fact that the powerline will require a 5.2% glideslope and climb gradient to hurdle safely. With the recommended gradient for training at 3.3%, this represents an impact that by the standards of the EES should be either Major or Unacceptable–not Moderate–because it could force the flight training operation to close. Melton Air Services points out that a gradient such as this breaches their own safety management system, which is in place to make sure operations are not hazardous to trainee pilots who need large operating envelopes. Demanding students fly a 5.2% gradient will instill in them a final approach picture that will be inappropriate for just about any other airport. And on climb-out, they'll need to fly by climb angle, not climb speed, which again produces an incorrect (arguably dangerous) procedure for any other airport. That Ausnet believes this can be offset with powerline markers and pilot briefings is worrying to say the least.
I am deeply entrenched in research into cockpit automation at the moment for an upcoming feature in Australian Flying, and one thing that has come to the fore is that the aviation industry is starting to suspect that automation may be a wolf in sheep's clothing. Intended to reduce workload and increase safety, researchers have instead discovered that automation is actually a major cause of catastrophic accidents. To be fair, it's the way pilots are using the automation that is the problem. Autopilots have been around for decades even in the most rudimentary form, but today they are much more sophisticated than ever and being fitted to GA and recreational aeroplanes in greater numbers. Manufacturers do their best to produce operating manuals telling us which buttons to push, but when the interface between the human pilot and automation software is still not well understood, how can a simple manual be expected to anticipate every deviation from standard procedures? Perplexing experts and regulators is the obvious and perhaps unavoidable introduction of Artificial Intelligence. AI is the great buzzword of technology at the moment and is in equal measure frightening and exciting. But, is it safe enough to fly an aeroplane on its own? Can an aircraft pre-flight itself? Will regulators ever feel completely comfortable with aircraft that fly with no human intervention? If you think this is a lot of questions to ask, it's because there are a lot of unknowns still to be addressed, and right now is the time to address them.
May your gauges always be in the green,
Hitch