Many balls in the air

Hi!

Finally we're finished with all the ATPL theory studies. As usual we first had our school final tests on the same day, four subjects and around 6 hours total time. In reality it took around half the time to finish the tests. On the same evening me and a few more repeated the feat on the online-based Swedish Transport Agency (Transportstyrelsen) exams. A few other classmates finished 1-3 exams on the same day and left the rest to a later day. Another few waited with all of the Transport Agency exams. Since we get the results from the school exams a short time after we're finished we can do the "real" exams on the very same day or whenever we want. Since it costs 740 kr for each try on the real exams, one better be confident in one's preparatory studies.

Anyway, I passed all exams immediately, and so I will (probably) never ever again need to study "captain theory", which it's called since it's actually the theory studies that are mandatory in order to get promoted to captain, but in practice all first officers (co-pilots) have already completed it. It may indeed seem, and I agree that it is, strange that in order to become a pilot, for a short period of time (the length of each of the exams) you'll need to have quite detailed knowledge in a wide variety of subjects and then as an operative pilot you'll never be directly tested in that knowledge again. Of course the important parts of each subject will be needed, or at least useful, in my everyday work, but I'd say that it's quite a small part of the whole theory. I'll never again need to know the frequency band of GPS or weather radar signals, how to calculate great circle tracks on a polar stereographic map, the name and characteristics of high altitude fog clouds or which ICAO annex (chapter in the book of international aviation regulations) that tells me about air traffic services.

This period will contain CRM and MCC: crew resource management and multi crew cooperation. Yes, I also think those two phrases mean the same thing, but in aviation we make up as many and as complicated labels as possible for everything, so that non-pilots think we are more competent than we really are. I guess that's how it works in most technical professions however... Anyway, for us CRM means two full days of a theory course that discusses the importance of efficient usage of the knowledge and capacity of the both pilots in a modern cockpit. MCC then consists of as much as 52 hours of simulator training spread out over 7 weeks, during which we will fly for four hours and two students at a time, acting as captain half of the time switching after the first two hours.

The CRM theory course was supervised by a first officer at SAS and was really interesting and instructive. It was a practical course giving us lots of useful tips on how to be friends with the captain, how to cooperate efficiently and about consequences when cooperation doesn't work well. Since the main reason there must be (at least) two pilots in all commercial airliners is the active monitoring of each other's actions in order to avoid dangerous errors being made, almost all pilot errors could be blamed on flawed crew cooperation.

During normal operation, one of the pilots is the pilot flying (PF) and the other is the pilot monitoring (PM). It should be decided before each flight who has which role and it has nothing to do with the rankings as captain and first officer. Usually pilots take turns acting as pilot flying every other flight. Acting pilot flying means that your main duty is to manually steer the airplane at take-off and landing, and control the autopilot when it's engaged. Acting pilot monitoring means that you'll monitor the actions of the pilot flying, help him with any tasks he orders you to (lowering or raising flaps/gear etc.) and communicate with air traffic control.

Consequently, if the pilot monitoring detect any action or circumstance that seems in error or that the pilot flying doesn't seem to know it, he must tell what he sees. If the pilot flying doesn't answer or doesn't seem to handle it, the pilot monitoring must take control of the airplane and correct the situation himself. It can look like this (this time the captain is pilot flying and the first officer is pilot monitoring), start look from 4:49:
http://youtu.be/rAstLZHjOi0?t=4m49s

Here's an example of poor CRM, where the captain overloads the first officer with tasks:

Last week when most of us had just finished their Transport Agency exams, half of the class went on a study visit to Sturup/Malmö Airport, specifically to the airport tower, ATCC and Entry Point North, the only (?) school for air traffic controllers in Sweden. I had already been to Ljungbyhed tower and Kristianstad tower, so I already knew roughly how they work, but it was nice to see the fantastic view they have at a comparatively large airport such as Sturup. And to see some larger aircrafts take off and land. ATCC means air traffic control center and is a place where air traffic controllers direct air traffic on radar screens over large areas. There are two ATCC in Sweden, one in Malmö handling the traffic in roughly the southern third of Sweden's area and another in Stockholm (Arlanda) handling the more sparsely populated parts of Sweden in addition to the Stockholm region. The whole study visit and especially the visit to ATCC was well worth the time. Having seen how air traffic controllers work definitely helps understanding their situation as a pilot in any case there is a disagreement on the frequency. And it's important to remember that we are completely dependent on they doing their job in order for us to fly our passengers safely to their destination.

Finally I've now started my night flying, having completed one hour of touch and go landings at Ängelholm airport, and one hour and a half of navigating around western Skåne. Approaching Malmö airport with a full approach light system, as well as seeing Malmö at night and Copenhagen in the distance was thrilling! I still have 2 hours of night flying practice to go, then I'll earn the qualification to fly at night privately at any time.

Photos:

My final exam results, I can't say I'm disappointed! The only thing that feels strange is that my worst result was in Principles of Flight, meaning Aerodynamics, which basically is physics which I should know quite well after having studied it for three years before coming to Ljungbyhed.

Malmö by night. Since the photo is taken with a mobile phone camera in the dark it's difficult to see any recognizable objects. However the Öresund bridge and Turning torso building was cool to see at night as well!

The view from the outside platform of Malmö Airport tower.