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for several hours, it’s easy to forget what happened during the pref light, engine start, taxi, takeoff, cruise, descent, ap- proach, go-around, taxi, parking, shut down, towing to the hangar (and in the words of Yul Brynner in “The King and I”) etcetera, etcetera, etcetera. Now imagine trying to remember all of that stuff after three or four legs, over three or four days in a row, month after month, year after year – for decades. We can’t remember it all so we should write it down as it oc- curs. As an F-16 instructor, check pilot and maintenance test pilot, I flew with a kneeboard and kept notes next to the mission profile to remind myself of what to discuss during the debrief. And at my carrier, I print a document showing the date, the to-from, and the takeoff and landing time of each leg over the span of the trip. I then record important events, questions and errors next to each leg of the trip. We can do something similar in our GA airplanes.
In the Duke, I use a pre-printed flight planning form with room for the ATIS, copying a clearance, frequencies, log- ging time/fuel and the inevitable errors of omission and commission. We nor- mally have some low-workload time dur- ing cruise to reflect and record issues. Once we reach TOC (top of climb) and have finished the cruise checklist, set the power, talked to the passengers and savored a crew meal, we can take out our pen and our debrief log (millennials and millennial wannabes can use the notepad icon on your phone or iPad) and list the errors we’ve made and questions that arose. During the descent, approach and taxi we need to make mental notes to be recorded similarly once at the FBO, hangar, hotel or office. If you have no anomalies or lessons to record then you either weren’t paying attention, were too embarrassed to admit them or you think that you’re the best pilot you ever saw. Here are a few things you may want to include in the debrief diary for those of us that aren’t Gordo Cooper:
• Issues or events occurring with fueling, weight and balance, deicing or towing;
• ATC clearances changes, surprises and issues;
• Forgotten or improperly applied checklist steps;
• Procedural confusion with air– craft systems including the FMS and autopilot;
• Errors in navigation, altitude, the arrival procedure or the approach;
• Ground movement issues includ-
ing confusion, missed turns or
near incursions;
• Avionics, mechanical and weather
problems.
A thorough debrief is the best way to
ensure hard experience is turned into lessons learned – especially if we review a list of our personal lessons from previous flights. For myself, I’ve begun transfer- ring and compiling these recorded issues from each flight into a single source “There I Was” diary. A quick review of the compilation before a flight reminds me of previous issues, questions and errors. And not surprisingly, just the thought of the diary becoming longer with each flight is a motivator to be more diligent in procedural and checklist compliance so as to prevent adding yet another lesson- learned to the diary. I recommend you make it a practice to pull out your own record of the above debrief suggestions as part of your pre-flight routine.
A Regular Review
Making an error of omission or com– mission is frustrating and you’re not the only one that does it. Despite memory mnemonics, litanies and checklists, we all make them. But we can combat the occasional sword of Damocles and Ernie’s assertion that we are hunted by fate, with a regular review of our debrief items. A several-hour, Fighter Weapons School, self-deprecation is certainly overkill, but we should at least conduct a regular review of our list of experiences to ensure that we remember. Millennials can record lessons with electronics; we geriatric, old-school types will use an ink pen. Either way, give it some thought. After all, no one wants to be a squirming hatch blower or find a bomb-crater on their golf course. Happy New Year my friends.
Kevin Dingman has been flying for more than 40 years. He’s an ATP typed in the B737 and DC9 with 23,000 hours in his logbook. A retired Air Force m jor, he flew the F-16 and later performed as an USAF Civil Air Patrol Liaison Officer. He flies volunteer missions for the Christian organiz tion Wings of Mercy, is employed by a major airline, and owns and operates a Beechcraft Duke.Contact Kevin at dinger10d@gmail.com.
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January 2019 Twin & Turbine • 31 TWIN & TURBINE • 31