Tag Archives: preflight inspection

Passenger Safety Briefing

Aviation,

The standard Cessna normal procedures checklist contains a step in the “Before Starting Engine” section that reads Seats, Belts, Shoulder Harnesses – ADJUST and LOCK. However, the checklist in our club 172G reads Passenger Briefing – COMPLETE. When I read this step, my instructor would jokingly say “yes, I have my briefs”. A student never carries passengers (and the CFI is not a passenger) so what action is a student supposed to perform at this step? A recent article in the Aviation Safety Magazine prompted me to research this further.

FAR 91.103 addresses preflight actions that every pilot is expected to perform. That does call for any briefing for passengers. However, 91.107 requires that pilots brief passengers during preflight on how to fasten and unfasten seat belts and shoulder harnesses and ensure that is followed before an aircraft can be moved on the surface. Not to leave out the pilot, 91.105 calls for all flight crewmembers (eg. pilot and CFI in a trainer) to wear a seat belt while at their stations (front seats at the controls in a trainer) and to also wear a shoulder harness during takeoff and landing.

While the bare minimum requirement is to ensure everybody is buckled up and that is sufficient as long as one is a student, there are additional briefings one can give. It will become important as soon as a student graduates and starts carrying passengers. So going through the motions even as a student will help get one into the habit.

S-A-F-E-T-Y

S

  • Seat belts fastened for taxi, takeoff and landing
  • Shoulder harness fastened for takeoff, landing
  • Seat position adjusted and locked in place

A

  • Air vents, environmental controls, cabin heat, their location and operation.
  • Action in case of passenger discomfort. Make sure there are barf bags available

F

  • Flight path – review the route with the passengers, how long it will take. If staying overnight, share contact information, details of accommodation, transportation etc.
  • Fire extinguisher – location and how to operate, who is going to operate in an emergency

E

  • Exit – how to open the doors and windows
  • Emergency evacuation plan
  • Emergency/survival kit location and contents
  • Equipment – supplemental oxygen usage

T

  • Toys – silence phones and other devices
  • Talking – maintain silence when pilot is communicating on the radio
  • Traffic – scanning, spotting, notifying pilot

Y

  • Your questions?

 

 

Staying Alive in the Plane with SOPs

Aviation, , , , ,

Attended an FAA Safety seminar at the San Carlos Flight Center, presented by Jason Miller of the finer points. Jason has been evangelizing safety standards for GA pilots since the accident rates in this community is almost 500x the accident rate of commercial airline pilots. He credits the success to the rigorous use of standard operating procedures (SOP) by commercial airline pilots. Some learnings from the seminar:

  • Review Part 91 accident reports and codify learnings into an SOP. GA community does not have a standardized way to disseminate the learnings across the community unlike commercial airlines.
  • Do a “final walk around” after all the passengers are buckled up and before starting the engine, as a redundant check against the preflight inspection. It is possible that during the preflight inspection the state of the aircraft may have been disturbed and the final walk around guards against that. On my very first demo flight, I failed to close the oil tank door on the cowling after checking the oil level. We didn’t notice it until after starting the engine and we were ready to taxi out of the hangar.
  • Abort takeoff if 70% of the rotation speed (Vr) has not been reached by the time you reach midpoint on the runway. While landing, if all the wheels haven’t touched down by the time you reach midpoint on the runway, immediately initiate a go-around. These will help eliminate preventable accidents.
  • Distinguish between a “do” list and a “check” list. It is OK to run a “do” list when you are on the ground and have no other distractions. You have the freedom to read off items on the “do” list and execute them. While in the air, perform a “flow” list followed by “check” list. The idea is to mentally define a visual flow over the dashboard and scan them. Then scan the “check” list to ensure everything was covered.
  • “Stay ahead of the aircraft”. Have a game plan for each stage of your flight. Run through the actions as you hit each stage of the flight and free up time to focus on flying the plane up to the next stage. Planning the actions after hitting the stage will leave less “downtime” to fly the plane and increase anxiety.
  • Pre-takeoff briefing. Have a game plan before you get to takeoff for the flight. Strike up an agreement with your CFI or co-pilot on emergency preparedness, what you will accomplish on this flight, route, roles and responsibilities etc.