Proficient Pilot: Airmanship

Dictionaries provide incomplete definitions. Merriam-Webster, for example, defines airmanship as “skill in piloting or navigating aircraft.” Its definition of seamanship is similarly disappointing.

I was recently reminded of my decades-long search for a satisfying definition of airmanship when reading William Langewiesche’s article, “What Really Brought Down the Boeing 737 MAX?” in the September 18, 2019, edition of The New York Times Magazine. In it, Langewiesche asserts that the crew of Lion Air Flight 610 “was weak in an essential quality known as airmanship.” I was hoping as I continued reading that he would define this term and satisfy my desire for the quintessential definition. No such luck. He did, however, conclude that “the two downed airplanes [were] textbook failure[s] of airmanship.” (The other 737 MAX accident involved Ethiopian Airlines Flight 302.)

The FAA attempts to define airmanship on the first page of its Airplane Flying Handbook, wherein it states that airmanship is “a sound acquaintance with the principles of flight; the ability to operate an airplane with competence and precision both in the air and on the ground; and the exercise of sound judgment that results in optimal operational safety and efficiency.” Frankly, this definition leaves much to be desired and seems little more than an incomplete list of desirable traits.

Hoping that one or more of my friends might be familiar with a better definition, I sent out a batch of emails asking if any of them might have some thoughts about the subject. Although none could provide a comprehensive definition, several offered thoughts worthy of our attention. Rabbi Don Weber, for example, says that “airmanship is making the aircraft do what you want it to do without making it seem as though you are doing anything at all.” Mark Oberman says that it is “a measure of how well knowledge, experience, judgment, and safety are integrated.”

Tony Bill suggests that “airmanship is the innate ability—born of experience and/or instinct—to keep an aircraft aloft and then place it on the ground as safely as possible.” Bruce Douglas adds that “it is the ability to operate an aircraft as safely as possible in the face of unexpected and deleterious changes in aircraft or environmental circumstances.” Other offerings include mention of “stick and rudder,” “attitude flying,” “judgment,” “taildraggers,” and so forth.

Rod Machado, a master of original thought, says that “we tend to be specific in attempting to define airmanship, and that this is a trap.” He doesn’t believe that “airmanship” should be limited to listing a combination of specific behaviors. Rather, he offers, “Airmanship is a general term that requires a general definition.” This explains why Rod defines airmanship as “an assessment of a pilot’s behavior compared to the assessor’s ideal of what that behavior should be during a given set of circumstances.”

In his letter to the editor of The New York Times Magazine, Chesley “Sully” Sullenberger responds to Langewiesche’s article. In that letter he says that airmanship is “the absolute mastery of the aircraft and the situation at all times.”

I doubt if very many pilots have had absolute mastery of either their aircraft or their situation at all times, but it certainly is a goal to which pilots should aspire.

In the final analysis, there might not be a perfect definition of airmanship, although I recently was sent a good one. Brian Souter, a pilot in New Zealand, told me that the International Civil Aviation Organization, an agency of the United Nations, has proposed the following: “Airmanship—the consistent use of good judgment and well-developed knowledge, skills, and attitudes to accomplish flight objectives.”

I wonder. Is it possible to teach something—airmanship—that is so difficult to define?

Rob Haynes thinks that perhaps we should concentrate on attempting to define an airman (or airwoman) instead of airmanship. He paraphrases the literary offerings of the late, great author Ernest Gann: “An airman has a passion for flight; he laces his devotion with humility; he understands that rudder pedals are for more than steering his aircraft on the ground; he does not need bells or buzzers to know that his wings are soon to stall; he does not become dismayed at the annoyance of an engine failure; and he sets down his aircraft with the tender loving care that it deserves.”

Web: barryschiff.com