Accident Report

The one thing we all have in common is the freedom of choice. This stems from the reason that there is always more than one option. Having a choice between two good and possibly favourable options is sometimes difficult, but not crucial as the outcome would not be detrimental, but at worst less favourable than the best option.

It is when we are faced with more than one option where one is according to the rules and regulations, norms and values, whilst the other, contrary to the mentioned references that consequence becomes negotiated. Yes, normally acting outside the prescribed and proven correct required behaviour, leaves the outcome to chance. History has shown that when we are left to the whims of chance, we are initially lured into a false sense of security, but inevitably, the table turns. It is not if, but rather only a question when our ‘luck’ runs out.

Around 350 BC, Aristotle in his Treatise on Political Ethics, noted man’s strange behaviour when making choices. He noted that even when we know clearly the difference between right and wrong, or good and bad and with enough knowledge of the possible risk or negative outcome to action contrary to the norm, standard operating procedure (SOP), we elect to operate outside the clear and accepted way. He noted this as ‘lust.’ As I understand this is the lust for power, money, excitement, sex, perceived saving of time and at times just to be ‘otherwise.’

OK, so what ramification does this imply? Well, firstly we must make peace with the fact that we are not superhuman and that wrong behaviour leads to us bleeding, mentally, physically and usually financially. It is simply a case of cause and effect. If you operate outside the Law, the Law will creep up and catch up. This is when you hit the mountain after so many years of scud running, so many years of cutting corners, bad fuel planning, risky behaviour that you thought made you macho and attractive to others. Well, sorry, you can only impress the uninformed, the uneducated, the unsophisticated and the ignorant. No, you cannot cheat nature or your makeup, or for that matter, the informed.

We know the score, ‘mountains many - humans’ nil.’ Remember, your machine and the environment out there do not respect you. Respect is initiated at the self-level. Only if you have proven self-respect, then we can trust you to respect others and trust you to respect nature. So how do I know that you respect yourself? Simply by your behaviour. Only if you give yourself the best chance of survival and the best chance of success, respect becomes evident. These are only achieved by applying the proven truths of life, the accepted and verified SOPs, the accepted norms and values. If you want to change the SOP, there is a process. Give it to those who are schooled to train aviators, trained to do accident analyses and investigation, trained to expand the flight envelope, trained to handle whatever you think is possible. Finally, you know by now that all the rules have been written in pure aviator’s blood. Sorry, yours is not required anymore; we only need your honesty, integrity, professionalism and adherence to our code of alignment with the SOP.

The previous paragraphs discussed Choice, but Habit in to the contrary. Habit leaves you no choice. Many will now have their hands up and say that this is not true. Well, let us explore this fundamental human design feature. The first human behaviour to explore is how our learning process works. The aspirant pilots, SPL and young qualified pilots must especially pay attention now. The first time we enter a new area of learning, we must firstly attain knowledge and then the skills to apply this knowledge. Think back to when you first had the urge to get involved in flying. I grew up in Stellenbosch and the only aircraft I ever saw were those that passed on the horizon. When I became interested in flying, I was literally consciously and subconsciously unaware. In plain English, I was so uninformed that I did not even know that which I did not know! When I started communicating my desire to a person with knowledge about the flying game, he informed me, much to my distress, that which I did not know. It was a huge amount; in fact, it was everything. This is the ‘making aware of the conscious mind’ and as we read subject information, hear the SOPs and study; we are enlightening the conscious mind.

Through learning and practice of new information (for example the difficult sums involved in navigation, radio aids etc. for mock exams), we build longer term memory through repetition. During the repetition of new knowledge through learning and practising our mock exams such as the difficult sums involved in navigation, radio aids and instruments, we also are busy building long term memory. This has an influence on the conscious as well as subconscious mind. When we repeatedly exercise to hone our skills, such as landings, lookout, applying SOPs diligently and practice good processes, we are forming good habits. This resides in the subconscious, leaving the conscious more space to perform other tasks. Therefore, a habit is something that we do without a rational conscious process in order to decide what to do, prior to doing it. Habit means we just do it. Here’s the thing; the subconscious mind cannot discriminate between right or wrong, good or bad, acceptable and unacceptable. The subconscious can only form referencing to the inputs it receives. So, when practicing an SOP in a non-efficient way or for that matter any skill not according to best practice, the continual reinforcement of this wrong behaviour will be habit forming.

I believe that when you do the ‘wrong’ thing more than three times, that habit forming has begun. Let me give you an example. Through all the airplane and helicopter tests that I conduct, the one thing that is common to most tests is the non-existence of ‘lookout.’ “Perform a 360° hover, or spot turn to the left” I would say. Immediately and without hesitation the candidate would commence with the turn. I then stop and repeat the request and by the third time the candidate is completely annoyed, frustrated and thinks me to be senile and confused, or just a pain in the ‘butt.’ I then remind the pilot that lookout procedure is crucial to safety, especially as the tail and main rotor strike makes out up to 60% of helicopter accidents. Pilots who taxi aircraft into something, fly into other aircraft and so on, contribute to many unhappy endings, which makes ‘lookout’ a fundamental requirement for the safe application of any air vehicle, whether on the ground or in the air.

“However, perhaps you are one of those people who do not look out before you turn your car”, I would say and the response would normally be the test candidate questioning whether I am out of my mind. Naturally they look out; it is inconceivable that one would not lookout before turning a car. Really? “However, Uncle Charlie, the airport is clear, the air is clear, I cannot hear anyone else talking...”, is the normal response. For this I have the following question; “So when will you then do a ‘lookout’?” One response I received about a while ago shocked me; “When it is necessary.” Wow, how does this one compute? The trigger to the necessity of anything you need to do if not through habit, is to get information through your senses. So, the necessity to ‘lookout’ is preceded by the actual function of looking out! Awareness is not a natural state of mind, it is an achieved result.

This applies to everything we do as pilots. Start to shortcut the pre-flight and nothing bad happens and before you know, you have adapted to the new, shorter version, fully suckered into the false belief that there will be no consequence as there have not been any in the past...until now. We build habits over the course of years and the only truth is this: When you do what is wrong, it is not a question of ‘if ’ this will lead to a less desirable outcome, it is rather ‘when.’ We do scud running and always get away with it. We do VFR on top and always find a hole to descend at our destination to stay VFR as we are not Instrument rated or current. We always push on below the bad weather and we always know or find out where the gap in the mountain or valley is where we can go through to our destination. In other words, we always consult the clever negotiator of fate, the one who is a good cheater, the one who does it ‘my way’ and sells it as gospel. We got away with stopping the tachometer, with doing an inferior servicing, inferior planning, inferior, inferior and inferior…

Don’t get me wrong, I am not the one who has never done anything wrong, not even close. I probably have more t-shirts than the average pilot when it comes to those t-shirts that you do not want. That I am alive to tell the truth, is grace or luck, but not because I have outperformed the odds. So, I am not preaching here, I am merely confessing and reminding that one should just stop and look in the mirror. Ask that person you see in the mirror to be honest with you, just for this one time and acknowledge the skeletons in your cupboard. Once acknowledged, the corrective action of weaning yourself off the old bad habits and developing new, good habits can begin.

Correcting the wrong is never easy, but once you acknowledge the correct way and practise it to habit level, it is easy to follow through. No, the outcome is never guaranteed, but good habits will always give you a better chance at a successful outcome. That my friend, you can never dispute! Until next time, happy landings and chopper pilots...keep the revs up and ‘lookout!’