Page 22 - Volume 18 Number 9

20 • TWIN & TURBINE SEPTEMBER 2014From The Flight Deck by Kevin R. DingmanCrusty Captainsprocedures and the disciplined use of checklists continue to bring still more safety and reliability to the industry. And now, GPS, communication and the availability of data are significantly improving the ease and accuracy of in-flight decision making.Holy GuacamoleCaptain Bob Hoffman, a good friend of mine, just retired as an airline Captain at the newly extended age of 65; happy birthday and congratulations! With admiration and respect, I consider him to be one of the above Captains from the school of hard knocks. Not to infer that you are old and crusty, my friend; I mean that I consider you an old-school Captain. With that said, however, the mantle of crustiness is very hard to avoid when you’ve flown for over forty years in everything from Convair’s to 757’s at four airlines: Air Wisconsin, Republic, Northwest and Delta. Add to this accomplishment the thousands of hours flying and instructing in GA along the way, and you come up with a mind boggling 43,000 hours total flying time, and increasing. Holy guacamole.Now, Captain Hoffman, my friend, while searching over several epochs of data, I found that the original parchment version of The World Book Encyclopedia, a 45-pound 1975 Webster’s dictionary and a recent Google search, all disclose that your resume of flying experience isIwas fortunate to join the airlines in time to witness the end of an era. The pilots of the last generation began their careers in the 1950’s and 60’s. When I was hired, some of those old-school captains were still around flying 727’s, DC-9’s, L-1011’s, DC-10’s and 747’s. Flying with those “crusty old Captains” was eye opening, a blessing and I’m grateful.In their day, political correctness hadn’t been invented yet; flight attendants were female, single, in dresses, nylons and heels, and they met weight standards. Pilots were equally fit and well groomed. Society was more civilized and manners were taught at home by Mom & Dad, as seen with the Cleavers, Lassie, and My Three Sons. Passengers wore formal business attire throughout the airplane and whether you were a celebrity, a politician, an economy class passenger, or a crewmember, you addressed the Captain as Captain and you meant it. Caviar, cigars and cocktails were in vogue and available onboard. Airplanes were flown, not managed, and Captains were paid the equivalent of one new luxury car per month.Hard KnocksA graphing of airline disasters from the 1940’s until today shows a steady increase in safety and reliability. Improvements through the 1960’s were primarily credited to membership in the school of hard knocks. Pilots saw friends and co-workers killed by the same things that continue to kill us; system failures, weather, stupidity, the ground, bad guys and bad luck. The increasing experience level of pilots and aeronautical engineers, and the passing along of the lessons learnedfrom accidents, made Captains out of pilots. The “there-I-was” discussions facilitated an increase in safety. Pilots were talking to pilots and engineers were listening – they called it hangar-flying.Those were meaningful gatherings that saved lives. Attendees often consumed food and inspiring drink during the discussions, to enhance the sharing of wild ideas we would now label as outside-the-box. Unfortunately, those hangar-flying get-togethers have morphed into something called a “staff meeting.” The meeting is now mandatory, formal, stuffy, and holds only slim hope of yielding significant results, decent food or worthy drink. Some are even accomplished in virtual reality or via teleconference.While pilot training and proficiency continued to advance, there were also large improvements in the reliability of airframes, engines, avionics and environmental systems. Support systems such as ATC, FSS’s, VOR’s, ILS’s and aircraft de-icing also made significant contributions as they matured. Today, pilot training subjects such as CRM (crew resource management), fatigue awareness and the use of advanced simulation, standardized