When the chips are down and there is no way but to pull, the ejection handle in a combat jet, has helped save so many lives around the world, that Michael C. “Mike” Bennett had to tell this gripping story of survival. It is Mike’s labour of love that has resulted in what is known as “Project Get Out and Walk“.
Project Get Out and Walk – A Story of Perseverance
Ah! Piloting in the arms of Bacchus
Drinking occasionally or regularly by the pilots, but restricting it to couple of small pegs, remains a matter of individual choice and social acceptance. But aviation safety and alcohol do not go together. In an interesting instance at Heathrow Airport, a Delta Airline pilot forgot what his destination was! His blood alcohol levels were found to be more than four times above the permissible levels. Continue reading
Increasing Safety or Risking Lives – Airport Body Scanners
All this while, it has been the cabin- or the check-in luggage which is x-rayed as part of the airport security. But the Transportation Security Administration (TSA) of USA intends to undertake whole body scanning of public traveling by air. The intent of using low density x-rays, delivered at high speed, both in front and back of the person, is to detect hidden weapons or explosives. This is in lieu of patting, a practice not appreciated by many. Continue reading
Lost Sleep – Compromised Safety
One of the often neglected but vital predisposing physiological factors in aviation is sleep, rather lack of sleep. The commercial pilots are governed by their duty schedule and the military aviators have the uncertainties of the operational deployment to blame for the loss of sleep. Although there may be regulations and guidelines, including FDTL to ensure adequate sleep and rest for the aircrew, adequacy of sleep remains largely self reported. So also, it is largely affected or influenced by individual pilot’s personal and professional commitments. Here, it is pertinent to know that changing sleep pattern over a period of time is known to induce cumulative fatigue and sleep debt. This, though subtle or covert, have broader implications for aviation safety. Continue reading
Boeing and the Checklist
In 1930s, Boeing was successful in offering their Model 299 to the US Army Air Corps, winning against Martin’s Model 146 and Douglas’ DB-1 aircraft. On the fateful day of 30 October 1935, the aircraft stalled during climb after take off. The test flight crew consisted of Major Ployer Hill and Lieutenant Donald Putt, as pilot and co-pilot, respectively. The others on board were Boeing’s Chief Test Pilot Leslie Tower; CW Benton, a Boeing technician; and Henry Igo, representative of Pratt and Whitney, the engine manufacturer. The pilot and chief test pilot perished later due to the injuries sustained.
The investigation into the cause of the accident found that the captain did not release the elevator lock prior to take off, resulting in a fatal stall. This was attributed to ‘Pilot Error‘.
This tragic loss of life resulted in development of the first checklists for the pilot to ensure that they sequentially follow each step in each vital phase of flight: take-off, in-flight, pre- and post-landing. Read on the complete history of this fascinating birth of checklist as the first vital step to prevent human error in aviation.
Acknowledgement: This entry appears courtesy website “Flight Service History” dedicated to the history of the FAA Fight Service Station. Grateful thanks to my friend Mahesh for providing this link. Image courtesy Wikimedia Commons
