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Here is a place where we can capture some of the hard-won air safety experiences of our colleagues. This forum sets out to shares some of the most important lessons learnt by experienced pilots in the aircraft or in the simulator...

The following stories are presented as they came - without any grading of importance or identification.

Contributions can be placed here for the benefits of others... it could save someone else from an accident or incident! Your email input is invited.

Landing after a thunderstorm

In 1997 I was landing an A310 in Manila following the passage of a thunderstorm.  The airport was open and visibility was good. It was still raining but the main downpour had passed.  Just as I was touching down I was shocked to see that the runway was awash with with standing water and serious bird bathing.  We had real difficulty stopping the aircraft within the confines of the runway, as we skipped from one bird bath to the next.

Here's a similar situation with worse consequences...

Loss of control - Runway covered with standing water

1998 - A UPS flight crew trying to land at Houston's Ellington Field during night-IFR conditions. Tropical Storm Frances was whipping up wind and rain and some of that excess water may have contributed to the Boeing 767-34AF ending up on the grass next to the runway.  The aircraft was seriously damaged in the process.  The "autoland" approach and landing were uneventful, but the pilots say there was standing water and minimal braking action on the ungrooved runway.

Lessons for us all
Give the runway time to drain after heavy rain, especially if the drainage is doubtful. Build up a knowledge as far as possible of those runways that are grooved or porous surface.

Tip
On final after rain a glossy appearance of the runway surface is a give away of the presence of  standing water. A well  drained runway should be matt colour when wet... this will even show in the landing lights at night below 200 feet.

Be prepared for a Go-around

On a line check flight we were making an approach in a strong tail wind.  I was high on slope and having a lot of difficulty getting the speed back and getting back on slope.  At about 700 ft. AGL I was thinking I would have to go around, when the tailwind shear effect finished and we sort of fell back into the slot - for a good short final and landing.

Walking back to the terminal with the check pilot, I casually remarked that I was just about to go-around before the approach came right. To this, the check pilot remarked: "I was just about to tap you on the shoulder and tell you to go-round."... which would have been end of check!

Lesson learnt
If a check pilot tapped you on the shoulder and said go-around, how could you ever convince him later that this was what you were about to do - even if the timing between the two of you was a matter of seconds?  This prompted thought on how to keep your crew in the loop, check flight or not.

Handling abnormal Flight Situations

A very good CRM point made on voicing thoughts and intentions to the rest of the crew prior to a Go-around...

Further to that I was given this tip recently during a LOFT ~ When an abnormal situation has occurred, it is often helpful for the Captain to give a mini summary of the situation together with his intentions - and also ask the crew for any other views that they might have. Often the other crew might not speak up for fear of making a fool of themselves, but they might have some helpful ideas to bring to the situation.

Someone always watching the shop

We were conducting asymmetric base training in a B727 at Avalon airport, Victoria, Australia.  Just after V1 the instructor pulled a throttle and we started an engine out rotate and climb.  At just this moment the Tower called and alerted us to a B747 in the circuit and passing over our climb out path at 1500 feet - ahead and passing left to right.

We all fell into the trap of looking out for the B747, and in so doing a forward input was made on the controls.  As we were all looking upwards, no one was cognisant of the flight path. Next moment the Tower called and asked "confirm your operations are normal".  As I looked downwards, I was horrified to see that we had descended to tree level.  The day was saved and a safe climb out was recovered... thanks to the tower.

Lesson learnt
We know that someone should always be watching the shop - but it takes a lot of discipline when something unusual happens.   This is compounded by negative sim training, where both pilots focus on the problem for training purposes.

Tip
When an emergency or abnormal situation occurs, make sure someone is exclusively "watching the shop".

Priorities on the line

As a Line Training Captain one of the most satisfying jobs is assisting a First Officer to transition to Captain. Airline training programs vary between operators, but in this airline they used the system of having the trainee normally fly with the same Training Captain for 100 hours of line flying development. This was a very satisfying and challenging training experience and often life time friendships were made this way.

One example of a very good training scenario was in the case of departure out of home base on a track of 340 deg with an Air Traffic Control (ATC) instruction to temporarily hold 3000 feet altitude on initial climb. In such a situation I would ask the trainee – what is your most important priority now?

Usually the trainee would look around the cockpit for something forgotten – are the flaps up?, is the after takeoff. check list complete?, Do we need anti-icing (winter), etc. All good operational considerations – but not the main thing at that time. Often I had trainees "give up" at this stage for lack of ideas. Well, what about the fact that we were on at 3000 ft level on a track for a mountain 14 miles ahead reaching to 3400 feet?

Ok, a new ATC clearance should fix the problem… but what if ATC became distracted, say with an emergency somewhere else.  Now the final responsibility for the safety and disposition of the aircraft rests with the flight crew, and the Captain in particular.

Lesson learnt
Put in its most basic terms, the two main priorities for a pilot are to get from A to B without hitting the ground and without hitting another aircraft - or put another way: Traffic and Terrain ~ situational awareness.