Welcome back to Crew Briefing. For those of you who don’t remember, you are getting this because you signed up for this newsletter sometime over the last five years. (I mean, hey, last time I sent out a newsletter to my entire list it was B.C.1)
My name is Kris Pierson, and I am the author of Pilots In Command: Your Best Trip, Every Trip.
Still don’t remember?
I don’t blame you. But I want to keep you engaged and reading about things I think are important — especially at this point in time in the history of modern aviation.
Why it Matters:
Pilot Professional Development (PPD) needs to remain a focus for all pilots. We have seen several aviation safety incidents (and I cannot say how many may have likely gone “unseen” from the media scrutiny) that were close calls. Some folks are studying to see if the skills we train, enhance, and emphasize in PPD had definitive bearing on preventing these close calls from being disasters.
Cases in Point:
ASA1282 - 05 Jan 2024: We have yet to hear the finer details of how the crew of Alaska 1282 handled the rapid decompression of their B737-MAX9 as it was climbing out of PDX. We do know that in roughly 14 minutes they safely got all souls aboard their disabled aircraft safely back to the gate at PDX. But how did they not lose all comprehension of what to do as the flight deck door literally got blown open by the decomp? How did they remain focused on flying the airplane first without even knowing that a fuselage plug was missing and falling down to the earth below?
AAL106 - 13 Jan 2023: Just over a year ago an American Airlines B777 mistakenly crossed an active runway as a Delta 737 was starting their takeoff roll. Quick actions by the ATC specialists called the Delta flight to reject their takeoff, and the Delta crew thankfully did and avoided collision. The investigation is ongoing, but all transcripts and data have been released to the public2. Was it just a bad day? Was the AAL crew distracted by late paperwork? Were there other contributing factors? For sure there are, and all these things and more will end up in the final report.
Bottom Line:
My intent is not to diagnose, Monday Morning QB, or otherwise critique aviation incidents with this newsletter. Rather, I want to highlight why the skills and resources offered by continued Pilot Professional Development are important — especially as we learn from these incidents, from our colleagues, and from our own experiences.
I would love for you to join me.
If you aren’t interested, that’s fine. Thanks for reading!
— Kris
PS… A couple things happened since you last heard from this newsletter that I want you to know about:
Pilots In Command is now in its Third Edition! There is a new workbook for it as well. Check it out here. (For the workbook, scroll down to “Instructor Resources”)
I was asked to host a webinar last year about PPD and my book. You can earn FAA Wings Credit for watching it. Head over here to see it.
B.C. = “Before Covid”
You can find it here. Excellent reading material, particularly the interview transcripts. https://data.ntsb.gov/Docket?ProjectID=106577