AOPA Pilot Magazine - April 2015 - 14

WAYPOINTS

Russ is my co-pilot

BY THOMAS B. HAINES
Editor in Chief

Putting the right-seater to work-in a useful way

EDITOR IN CHIEF

Tom Haines
recently added
a CJ type rating
to his pilot
certificate.

14 | AOPA PILOT April 2015

LAST MONTH I wrote about some of the resources
available to a pilot flying by himself or with only nonpilot passengers ("Waypoints: Not So Alone," March
2015 AOPA Pilot). One might assume that two pilots
onboard are better than one, but many of us have seen
examples where two heads are not necessarily better
than one. I frequently fly with other pilots and more
than once we've both become focused on one thing
and have thus missed other things. I wrote about an
altitude bust last year where two experienced pilots
didn't fare so well.
As I discovered during a recent type-rating experience, the trick to successful use of another pilot in
the cockpit is effective crew resource management, or
CRM. The notion of CRM has been around for more
than 35 years, although it was originally referred to
as cockpit resource management. A NASA researcher
coined the phrase in 1979 after studying a number of
airliner accidents where the crew did not work effectively together. At times, especially immediately after
World War II-when many captains earned their
stripes while getting shot at-co-pilots dared not
question the authority of the left-seaters. That culture continued on in the postwar civil aviation world.
Co-pilots were referred to as cargo, ballast, and flak
bait if they dared question the decision of the captain.
That began to change in the 1970s after accidents
such as United Airlines Flight 173, where a captain
ignored hints from crewmembers that they were
about to run out of fuel while in a holding pattern
troubleshooting a landing-gear problem. Similarly,
the world's worst airline disaster-the collision of two
Boeing 747s at Tenerife in 1977-and the more recent
Air France 447 accident both demonstrated poor use
of CRM. Official reports are not yet out regarding the
San Francisco Asiana Airlines accident and several
in Southeast Asia, but there is speculation that CRM
failed in those situations as well.
While simple in concept-the captain inviting
input, feedback, and challenge from other crewmembers, including the cabin crew-effective execution of
CRM is difficult. For one thing, effective CRM requires
a clear understanding of roles and responsibilities during changing phases of flight.
I was challenged during the Cessna CJ type rating
course at ProFlight to properly engage my co-pilot.
Russ Albertson is a highly experienced ex-airline and

corporate pilot with many type ratings and thousands
of flight hours. He works part time for ProFlight as a
suffering co-pilot, helping newbie turbine pilots like
me come up to speed on jet operations. However, in
order to pass the FAA checkride for a type rating, the
PIC (that would be me in this case) must demonstrate
that he is in charge and directing the co-pilot, not just
being led by the experienced right-seater.
Effectively leading a crew requires the use of orchestrated pretakeoff and pre-approach briefings that lay out
who is going to do what during normal and emergency
situations. And, of course, in the simulator, emergency
procedures are the norm, it seems. Ditto for weather to
minimums. Interesting how simulator manufacturers
brag about the quality of their visuals. They are stunning during those very rare situations when you get to
"fly" in visual conditions. Most of the time you're in the
soup to ILS minimums; the occasional circling approach
with the ability to at least peer through the gloom at a
minimum descent altitude is a real treat.
Albertson knows the CJ, its systems, checklists,
and sim procedures by heart. But in order to satisfy
the examiner that I knew what to ask for, he couldn't
engage until I requested his assistance in the right way.
Who knew that such a simple phrase from me as "Go
around. Flaps 15" would take so much mental processing to speak? For days I walked around muttering
that phrase and "Leaving MDA. Set missed approach
altitude"-both key phrases at critical moments that
would set Albertson in motion to help me. But when
first in the sim and using all available brain power to
fly the procedure, I couldn't seem to utter the words.
"Get it right, and you get a hug," he would
encourage.
A well-executed procedure with proper callouts
would yield, "Brought tears to my eyes" from the
right seat.
My command of "Gear down" at glideslope intercept might result in a euphoric "I live for this!" from
Albertson, whose irreverent sense of humor helped
ease my stress level.
Engaging a co-pilot is a lot of work, but when working as a team, two can truly be better than one. AOPA
EMAIL thomas.haines@aopa.org

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AOPA Pilot Magazine - April 2015

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