Safety Officer Teleconference (9)

ANNOUNCEMENTS:

• Walter Kraujalis is the presenter for two upcoming NBAA Workshops next month:

o IS-BAO Operations Manual Workshop, June 16-17, West Palm Beach, FL. Link http://www.nbaa.org/events/pdp/is-bao-flight-operations-manualworkshop/20140616/

o Management Fundamentals for Flight Departments, June 18-19, West Palm Beach, FL. Link: http://www.nbaa.org/events/pdp/management/20140618/

• Please send me a sample of your FRAT form and I’d be happy to post all of them as examples for others.

CAVEAT: It is difficult to get into much detail in writing up these meeting notes as to what exactly was discussed about each issue, so you are encouraged to join in on the next calls. Names are changed in this report for anonymity.

MEETING NOTES:

• Things got started with a question from a caller that mentioned that they were adding a King Air 90 to their fleet of charter aircraft. They normally have jets that are flown with two pilots and were researching the notion of flying the King Air single pilot. He said that they are finding there is conflicting information of the pros and cons of flying single pilot versus 2-pilot crew. He wanted to know what other callers thought. He also wanted to get ideas of how to plan for, and introduce, a single-pilot program. Some of the comments in response include:

o Even though a King Air is certificated for single-pilot, it can be crewed with two pilots any way.

o Most clients wanted to have a 2-pilot crew on their King Air most of the time. The market may demand it be flown 2-pilot.

o Helicopters are single-pilot certified and it is very common to be flown single-pilot.

o It depends upon the mission for the aircraft. Some missions may require the attentiveness from 2 pilots, while other flights may be flown single-pilot.

o Walter Kraujalis commented:

§ Obviously it is OK to fly the King Air single-pilot under Part 135. § IS-BAO standards do not prohibit single-pilot operations. There is an IS-BAO recommendation (not a required standard) to develop and implement single pilot SOPs.

§ Placing a second pilot into what is normally a single-pilot situation is not a good thing. The second pilot must be trained in CRM and then the PIC and SIC should have SOPs working coordinated as a 2-pilot crew. Just placing a second pilot without this training and coordination has a strong likelihood of being a distraction and inconvenience to the PIC and actually creates its own hazard.

§ As with any situation, from a SMS perspective, identify the hazards and associated risks with either operation, flying single-pilot or 2-pilot.

• Another caller mentioned the use of FOQA as a means of monitoring the performance, behavior, and following SOP by a single-pilot. The pilot knowing they are being “watched” will minimize the “cowboy” situation. Comments:

o King Airs normally are not equipped for FOQA. Perhaps a similar device might produce the same results, such as the Appareo device.

o FOQA must be used properly. The information from FOQA must be handled carefully, so as to not be a tool for management to discipline the pilot.

o FOQA can help identify issues that may result in modifying SOPs.

• Another caller brought up the issue of how do you maintain consistency of the SOPs across multiple bases of operation. How to manage that. Comments:

o It takes communication.

o Share pilots among the multiple bases. o Have a regular pilot meeting with pilots from each of the bases to specifically discuss the SOPs.

o One caller commented that they have multiple bases and they never had a problem.

o Pilots from the same company but from different bases could train together in the sim.

• The discussion swung to sim training. Comments:

o One should get FlightSafety and SimuFlite to train your crews to using your own SOPs, and not just theirs. We pay for their services, they should train us as we want.

o Remember, that Part 142 certification may require that the training vendor use the 142-approved training standards.

o One caller said that they have no problem having FlightSafety train them to their own SOPs.

• Another caller mentioned they use contract pilots. He is amazed to hear stories of other operators that do not send their SOPs to the contract pilot in advance. Comments:

o There seems to be an increased use of contract pilots these days, post-recession.

​o One way to mitigate the use of contract pilots is to try to use the same pilots as much as feasible. Send them a copy of your Ops Manual and SOPs in advance. For the first time or two, pay for them to come out a day early to meet the pilot they will be flying with, sit in the aircraft with that pilot to get familiar with the configuration and go through the checklist and to discuss the Ops standards and SOPs.

• That concluded the call. It was 30 minutes in length. Next call is Tuesday, June 10th, at 11:30am Eastern time. Thank you for your participation. Please let other Safety Officers know of the opportunity to join the call or to access these meeting notes.