Matt Whiting wrote:
Dudley Henriques wrote:
Dallas wrote:
On Mon, 1 Oct 2007 02:58:02 +0000 (UTC), Paul Tomblin wrote:

Three years ago, the DE who passed me on my private and instrument
tickets
died in a stupid accident.

Sorry, but you've peaked my curiosity a bit. I'm wondering how a DE,
who
should in theory be very familiar with aviation safety, could died in a
stupid accident.

Can you tell us what happened?


Happens frequently. I'm working with an accident right now that
involves a highly experienced demonstration pilot who suddenly and for
no apparent reason began a Split S at an altitude below that required
for a recovery.
Any pilot, no matter how experienced, can suffer a "brain fart" for
lack of a better term. The study on how to prevent this from happening
both to myself and to others has occupied a great of my time for the
last fifty years or so.


What are your preliminary conclusions as to how to prevent this?
Obviously, ruling out the "stupid acts" is fairly easy, but I also
wonder about the pilots who really and truly seem very careful and
meticulous yet someone succumb to an apparent moment of weakness.

Matt

Gen Des Barker of the South African Air Force (and ex demonstration and
test pilot) has done an in-depth work on these issues in his book "Zero
Error Margin" where all that has been learned on this subject has been
accumulated in print.
The subject itself is so hefty I wouldn't even try getting into it with
a Usenet post.
Basically what we have discovered in our situation is that although most
display pilots fare well in following set procedures, regulations, and
rules, the breakdown comes at the local level and in many accidents can
be coupled with the psychological circumstances prevailing during an
incident as those circumstances are affecting the individual display pilot.
This is just a pedantic way of saying that what's going on in a pilot's
mental and emotional processes as a display is being flown can under
specific conditions, be a killer.
The fact that we accept these conditions as being present and a danger
doesn't really help us much in solving the issue. The reason for this is
that each pilot will have a specific tolerance for situational
awareness, cockpit over task, and distraction.
In other words, you can take a highly trained professional pilot, fully
checked out on a specific type of aircraft, and with a proven over time
ability to fly a specific demonstration, and that pilot can on a
specific day at a specific instant, make a fatal error.
Again, we realize this can occur, but the actual solution alludes us.
Where we are right now is in making sure we educate the community so
they are collectively aware that this danger lurks out there waiting.
By educating the community to the problem rather than trying to find a
specific "fix" that we believe doesn't exist, we hope to better the
safety record.
Each pilot in other words, is being encouraged and REMINDED, to be in a
constant state of self evaluation as to the ability to perform at any
given time and place.
It ain't much......but it helps!

--
Dudley Henriques