Insights

Individuals who should not be pilots

Will the FAA's new training program for technically advanced aircraft improve aviation safety? When an air safety expert asked me that question, I tried to think of an answer that would support this excellent endeavor, but I could only say no.

The program will definitely increase flight safety for well-trained pilots who are dedicated to maintaining the proper attitude, knowledge, and proficiency; but unfortunately, there are the untouchables. These individuals exhibit at least one of three traits: they demonstrate unacceptable or marginal awareness; they have unacceptable or marginal judgment, or they demonstrate the ability to use deception during the flight training process.

The untouchables are unsuited for aviation. No matter how hard we try with high-quality training programs and safety awareness measures, they are unable to swallow the medicine. They are and always will be aviation accidents waiting to happen.

The first group represents individuals who obviously have poor judgment or awareness, two intrinsic human traits that flight instructors can seldom if ever modify. During presolo flight training, instructors who understand this fact will explain the situation to such students and tell them that training must be terminated because pilot certification cannot be achieved.

The second group represents those who have marginal judgment or awareness. Unfortunately, many flight instructors fail to recognize these individuals, so they complete the training process and obtain pilot certificates. Why does this occur? Because of headsets, intercom systems, and near-constant in-flight talking by the instructor.

That's the lazy man's way to teach, and it prevents the proper evaluation of awareness and judgment. For example, "I'll tell him now, so that I won't have to talk about it on the ground," "Do you see that jet on final? Remember wake turbulence avoidance," or "If you turn to the base leg now, you'll be way too high."

During the preflight briefing, instructors should discuss every element that will occur during the lesson as dictated by the lesson plan and training syllabus. When students start to practice those tasks, instructors should be quiet and watch for signs of improper awareness or judgment as they evaluate student performance.

In other words, instructors should save their comments and warnings for the postflight briefing and never alert students to potential problems. Instructors should wait to see if their students can recognize problems and resolve them correctly.

When should instructors intervene? Only when flight safety will be compromised, a violation of the federal aviation regulations is imminent, or an air traffic controller is about to run out of patience. No one can truly understand why it's not wise to hit their thumb with a hammer until they actually do it.

The third group uses deception during the training process. Definitions of the five hazardous attitudes--anti-authority, impulsivity, invulnerability, macho, and resignation--are widely published and readily available to student pilots. The deception occurs when a student knowingly has one of those attitudes and suppresses it from the flight instructor. If the instructor is not aware of that situation, it cannot be addressed. After certification, however, the pilot resumes his hazardous attitude, and he becomes a likely candidate for an aviation accident.

Awareness and judgment can be easily evaluated when instructors minimize conversation and place the proper emphasis on the evaluation process. For the sake of flight safety, this is a critical flight instructor responsibility.

Deception, however, is difficult to assess. The only time I've recognized it is when students encounter situations that result in high stress. In that case, students' reactions can be very revealing, because they'll usually exhibit their ingrained traits.

If you ever encounter someone who is complaining because an instructor terminated flight training for the foregoing reasons, you should say, "Don't complain; your instructor probably saved your life and maybe the lives of others."

Ralph Butcher, a retired United Airlines captain, is the chief flight instructor at a California flight school. He has been flying since 1959 and has 25,000 hours in fixed- and rotary-wing aircraft. Visit his Web site.