[Jeroen]

Originally Posted by hdus001

I've heard from an instructor-friend how he once caught a student cheating - the student was meant to do a cross-country solo flight, which involves planning and navigating using paper charts to a remote airfield, but the student instead flew out to the training area and just flew around in that area for a whole hour (obviously wasn't confident enough to plan/navigate a cross country flight by themselves). Got caught out when the instructor also happened to go to the training area in another plane with a different student and saw this familiar looking aircraft Apparently several of the overseas students did that regularly!

yes, it happens. Actually, your CFI is supposed to check your flight planning and preparations before you set of as a student pilot on your cross country solo flight. As long as you are still a student pilot, he is responsible. (At least under FAA rules).

My CFI always insisted on students making a full stop at the destination airport, park the plane on the ramp, get out, get coffee, call him on mobile phone, talk through how it went and review the return flight. Unless he saw clear evidence that you could do these cross country flights with reasonable confidence, he would never let you go just like that.

What just baffles me, is that people are cheating with this sort of stuff. It really shows you have the wrong mentality and the wrong attitude to flying.

Its very easy to cheat when working on your IFR certification, especially, as many people do, you train with a buddy. Before you can take your IFR check ride you need to have flown a considerable numbers “under the hood” as they say. So purely on instruments. In practice this means you will put on some special googles that restrict your outside vision. You will need to have a safety pilot next to you. Technically, the safety pilot is the pilot in command. Under FAA rules both pilots can actually log the hours in your log book.

I build my IFR hours like this with a buddy of mine, who was also building IFR hours. It is a very effective way of doing so. You share the rental cost of the plane and help each other out as safety pilot.

But nobody other than yourself and your buddy have a clue as to what happens in the cockpit. Do you keep the goggles on, what actions does the safety pilot perform etc.

My CFI hooked as up, telling us, you guys need to fly together You have the same attitude, some experience, neither of you will do anything stupid, you will make a great pair helping each other through IFR training. Worked out really well for both of us!.

We enjoyed it and we flew well over the minimum required hours for the check ride. Just to build experience and confidence. It is just beyond me, why people think they can cheat on this sort of stuff. It is literally "life and death”. Sounds dramatic, but it really is.

Jeroen

[BoneCollector]

PIA suspended from operating to Europe by the European Union Air Safety Agency (EASA).

Link

Document from EASA.

[Jeroen]

Originally Posted by BoneCollector

PIA suspended from operating to Europe by the European Union Air Safety Agency (EASA).

When you read the letter carefully it becomes very obvious that there were quite a few other concerns too, all related to aviation and oversight.

This whole certification issue was just enough to tip the scale so to speak.

Jeroen

[BoneCollector]

Close to heels of EASA banning PIA, US also bans PIA.

US ban

[Jeroen]

IATA has just published this Safety Bulleting regarding Unstable Approaches during Reduced Operations.

https://www.ifalpa.org/media/3550/20...operations.pdf

Whereas it is probably not triggered by the PIA crash alone, it does have an interesting final paragraph:

It is important to highlight that the decision to execute a go-around is not, in any way, an indication of poor flight crew performance but rather prudent decision-making. There should be a clear non-punitive go-around policy.

it is a very polite way of addressing the various cultural aspect that impact pilot’s behaviour.

I was taught a go around is a safety manoeuvre. If the approach isn’t stable go around. If the approach looks stable, but you just don’t feel comfortable, go around.

During my very first check ride I actually performed a go around. I took my check ride in a Cessna C150 and it was extremely windy that day. Luckily, the wind came from dead ahead on the runway we were using. But it meant lots of turbulence and a very, very bumpy ride. We had been in the air for an hour, the FAA examiner had me doing all sort of manoeuvres, as they do on these check rides, obviously. He announced, ok next plan your flight back to the field, land and park the plane. Which is their way of announcing the check flight is coming to an end.

On final I just don’t felt comfortable, I also had cramp in my right hand/arm. Technically we were still ‘stable”, but I decided to go around, loosen up a bit and try again.

The FAA guy kept quiet, when I parked the plane and shut down the engine he asked: why did you go around? I told him. Good call he said, you passed, congratulations! The rest is history as they say.

On this thread and on some of the other aviation threads we often discuss pilots’ behaviour and what influences them. Pilots are not super human. They are subject to the same weaknesses as any other human. Some of it can be overcome by training, but the most important aspect is attitude and being aware how susceptible you are.

I am still getting regular updates from the FAA on all sorts of their publications. This one arrived this morning in my mailbox. an interesting article about bias and what it does to you as a pilot.

https://medium.com/faa/just-a-bit-biased-d3cacdb9330b

[Sutripta]

Interesting read.

https://www.aljazeera.com/indepth/fe...071955129.html

Sutripta

[Jeroen]

Originally Posted by Sutripta

Interesting read.

Scary seems a more appropriate term!

Jeroen

[TSIboy]

Link to the final investigation report of the accident that was released recently

http://avherald.com/files/(PUBLIC%20...3%20AP-BLD.pdf

[arijitkanrar]

Originally Posted by TSIboy

Link to the final investigation report of the accident that was released recently

http://avherald.com/files/(PUBLIC%20...3%20AP-BLD.pdf

For those who find it to go through the technical aspects of these reports, there is a YouTube by a pilot who recreates these flights and explains what happened in a engaging and beautiful way.
He always bases his videos on the actual investigation reports and adds his perspectives as an active airline pilot and training captain.
For this particular incident, he just released a video last Saturday.
Here is the video. The video is truly enraging to watch. And the worst part? You see people like the captain in all walks of life. Careless and bossy with absolutely no regard to the outcomes of their actions. Hearthbreaking when the actions leaves to tragic loss of lives.

https://youtu.be/TOOKYR5ZJbQ?si=Lqz6P0W9cRiVQv2-

(PS: Mentour Pilot is a great channel. Do check out his other videos. Petr's content has reached a point where it surpasses the quality of many established media houses)