AirwaysNews Special: Life in the Sky—It Ain’t What it Used to Be. Or is it?
IT’S OUT!!
Finally in Print: There I Wuz! Adventures From 3 Decades in the Sky—Volume 2!
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Click Here for the kindle ebook version!
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And now . . .
I am in love with a feisty French woman named, Fifi.
She is fickle, and many other lovestruck pilots clamor for her attention. Somehow, despite our ups and downs, we have stayed together for over 20 years.
Fifi is the Airbus A321 family of aircraft.
Her critics facetiously call her a “flying computer.”
Many readers of my capnaux.com blog believe that, with her sophisticated fly-by-wire system, Fifi flies herself, and I am just a passenger.
I disagree.
But, is this truly flying?
Some would say that, with all the computers and button pushing, the romance and adventure has been sucked out of flying.
Some would be right. And, some would be wrong . . . .
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Life itself is an adventure, and life in the sky, exponentially so—regardless of your metal.
However, as an industry, we have been inexorably moving toward a future dominated more by automation and less by fundamental flying skills. And, with the advent of drones and 2015’s Germanwings 9525 tragedy, however, some people are even clamoring for pilotless cockpits. I believe that pie in the sky is, at least for civilian airliners, still a century away (think, “Welcome aboard our fully automated airline. Nothing can go wrong click! go wrong click! go wrong.”) Even so, amazing advances in technology have brought our accident rates down to an all-time low.
We have recently found, however, that this high tech environment is its own double-edged sword. As pilots depend more and more on their automated machines, their basic stick and rudder skills have degraded. Moreover, as we have recently learned from our dramatic video interview series with Qantas Airlines Captain Richard de Crespigny—whose A380 suffered an engine explosion that damaged all systems save the O2 masks—today’s airline pilot must not only keep those basic skills honed, but must also strive to understand their increasingly complex aircraft.
In our interview, Captain de Crespigny said,”If you want to go to a high tech aircraft that is run by computers, there is a responsibility to understand the underlying systems. Because, when those systems fail—and they do fail—it’s up to the pilot now to recover an aircraft that is very complex and much more sophisticated. So these new, very complicated aircraft need highly skilled people who can get to the core, understand the core, and that means when these computers fail, they can reverse-engineer these machines and treat it just like a flying lawn mower, and work out how to get the machine down onto the ground.” (See, Black Swan Event: The Captain de Crespigny Story, this volume. Video links in the Ebook Bonus Material section.)
Many pilots pine for the “good old days” when we all drove “flying lawn mowers.” When ATC didn’t have an iron grip on our flight path, where we could fly autonomously—without so much as a radio—anywhere we chose, and when the FAA didn’t tie down our precious birds with bureaucratic red tape. Even so, that Nostalgic Nirvana still exists in pockets around the world, from the Alaska bush to the Australian Outback.
Looking back on my career, I feel especially blessed to have lived in a historical sweet spot—somewhere between too dangerous and too boring—where survival by one’s seat-of-the-pants and stick-and-rudder skills were more important than programming a flight computer, where flying the plane trumped managing the plane.
Hudson River visual to KLGA. Jumpseater Mac got some great snaps!
However, just as the characters in my novel, The Last Bush Pilots, we seem to be nearing the end of an era of freedom and adventure in the sky. We are becoming the bear cubs orphaned and caged by the inexorable march of bureaucratic red tape we call Progress.
Recently, I’ve taken my first timid dip back into GA (General Aviation). Flying my good buddy Cap’n David’s gorgeous Cessna 310, it’s been like getting back in touch with one’s roots, coming full circle back to that first family of lawn mowers that launched me into the sky. To my surprise, I’ve found it to be an almost daunting challenge. Multitasking is critical in any cockpit, and in a plane that lacks auto trim and auto thrust (basically anything not Airbus), the multitasking increases. Throw in the managing of cowl flaps, manifold pressure, props and fuel into the mix, as well as going back to the instrument pilot’s “basic scan”of six flight instruments, and this spoiled, highfalutin Fifi Cap’n is suddenly quite humbled.
Lawn mower, perhaps. But a damned sophisticated one at that.
That is not to say David’s Cessna doesn’t have its own impressive level of high-tech. I have been especially impressed with the center stack of Garmin Communication and Navigation radio gear that, in many ways, are even more advanced than Fifi herself. Add to that Cap’n David’s integration of his iPad’s ForeFlight app, which sports a GPS moving map and real-time integrated weather displays. To do that on Fifi, we’d have to tap into the onboard wifi with our Company iPad and visit a site such as flightaware.com.
But FAA red tape has banned us from doing just that.
What I’ve found in 30-plus years of flying is that—whether talking GA or airliners—stick and rudder skills and basic knowledge of aircraft systems are critical to today’s, and yesterday’s pilots. Regardless of size or sophistication, the pilot or pilots must always Aviate, Navigate, and Communicate. In short, fly the plane.
And therein lies the adventure.
Whether you’re talking gliders, Cessnas, Boeings or Airbuses, a pilot is a pilot, and the goal of getting to Point B is by no means guaranteed.
Weather, mechanical failure, and any number of issues can be thrown at the Captain, who must use his or her ingenuity, experience and CRM (Crew Resource Management) to get out of said pickle.
And, as seasoned Chief Pilot Dusty Tucker says to cheechacko (greenhorn) bush pilot DC in The Last Bush Pilots, “The adventure’s still out there, son. You just gotta go find it.”
Just this week, my First Officer and I found it in the form of the amazing conjunction of Venus and Jupiter from FL 390 (39,000’), where the thin atmosphere and black sky afforded a spectacular front row seat.
I submit to you that, no matter how much red tape and automation can be thrown at your airplane, life in the sky is by nature an adventure—whether you’re talking Cessna or Airbus.
The morning moon, highlighted by a pink contrail.
Stay adventurous, my friends!
JOIN US!
at Aviation Universe Sunday, July 19th at 11am
Hanging with Richard, Lora, Wilbur and Orville at Aviation Universe!
For a Pre-Oshkosh Bash and Book Release Party for
There I Wuz! Adventures From 3 Decades in the Sky Volume 2
I’ll be there to chat with you and fellow aviation enthusiasts. I’ll be talking about Volume 2, as well as my upcoming novel,
Jihadi Hijacking!
We had a blast last year, so don’t miss us this year!
Address: 13 West Main St, Shop #6, Bensenville, IL 60106
Phone: 630-350-7913 Toll Free: 855-252-8864 (855-25AVUNI)
Visit aviationuniverse.us for more details!
Team Aux L-R: Tech Supervisor John “Otto Pilot” K, Cap’n Aux, and Producer/Den Mother Mary Ann “Bunny” L!
As I mention in my last Word on the Ramp video, Team Aux will be YOUR EYES AND EARS on the ground in Oshkosh—contact me and let me know what personality/event/display/plane you’d like me to visit for you, and we will!
Two Blog Buddies I plan to catch up with:
Jessica Cox, the world’s only licensed pilot with no arms, and our venerable hero, Captain Richard de Crespigny!
Is there anyone/anything else on YOUR OSH 15 agenda? And, are YOU going to be there? If so, let’s meet up! If I have a signed copy of one of my books available, it’s yours!
Let me know at: eric@capnaux.com !
Related Cap’n Aux Links
- All AirwaysNews articles by Cap’n Aux http://airwaysnews.com/blog/?s=auxier
- There I Wuz! More Adventures in the Sky http://capnaux.com/there-i-wuz-adventures-from-3-decades-in-the-sky-vol-2/
- Piloty Stuff! http://capnaux.com/piloty-stuff/
- Black Swan Event Part 1 http://capnaux.com/black-swan-event-the-captain-de-crespigny-story-pt-1/
- Black Swan Event Part 2 http://capnaux.com/black-swan-event-part-2/
- Jessica Cox: A Pilot in Command! http://capnaux.com/?s=jessica+cox&WP55T3S7XJS1=7H5W8K52HX
- The Magic of Oshkosh http://capnaux.com/the-magic-of-oshkosh/
- Books by Cap’n Aux http://amazon.com/author/ericauxier
- Best of Cap’n Aux 2014 http://capnaux.com/top-10-best-of-capn-aux-2014/
- Word on the Ramp Videos vimeo.com/album/3162370
- All Cap’n Aux Videos vimeo.com/capnaux
— — — —
Taxiing for Takeoff
Departing 7/16
Who’s the Cap’n of YOUR Flight?
— — — —
Now Boarding
Oshkosh 2015!
