So it’s been a little while…My last posting here was at the end of February, when we all knew something was up, but weren’t quite sure how bad it would be. While I don’t think anyone is currently living the 2020 they had in mind 6 months ago, I consider myself one of the lucky ones. I have not, to my knowledge, been infected with the virus, and have maintained a steady income stream while some in society are on the edge of losing everything. COVID has indeed changed just about everything.
Where does that leave us on our quest to make aviation operations and training safer and more intentional? There is still a need for safe and reliable air transport in this country and, while some parts of the industry have seen significant declines, there are other areas that are still in full swing. On the other side of this virus, whenever that is, there will be a great opportunity for rethinking, renewing, and rebuilding the industry.
Until that time, we would be wise to open our minds to the subtle lessons learned along the way, in order to come back safer and stronger than ever. Here are a few things I have observed in recent months.
Some people will simply not rest until they have exploited every loophole and found every shortcut. As I said in an earlier post, people will simply build an eleven foot ladder to get over a ten foot wall. Disclaimer: This is not a scientific paper on the benefits of mask wearing during a pandemic. Whether or not it can be proven that masks prevent the spread of disease completely, I think most of the public has come to agree that wearing a mask MIGHT help and certainly can’t hurt. When a company I am familiar with instituted a mandatory mask policy in their training department, there were some who took that seriously, and others who found loopholes in order to avoid wearing a mask. “The policy says it is mandatory indoors. We are in the helicopter…outdoors…no mask required!” This kind of misses the intent of the indoor policy…enclosed spaces and all. By the same token, one could probably safely remove their mask inside a 15,000 square foot hangar with the hangar door open. Instead, the policy becomes mandatory mask wearing at any time in any facility because it is easier to issue a blanket directive than rely on individuals to do the right thing using common sense. Just as society needs ways to encourage people to comply with the intent of virus mitigation guidelines, the aviation industry needs to focus on the intent of regulations.
Another thing I noticed was the tendency for some entities (companies, countries, etc.) to want to push the throttle forward rather than slow down during these times. Some companies (an airline I am familiar with, for example) really throttled back their training and stopped hiring new pilots. They realized there would be a downturn and took advantage of the time buffer for recurrent training created by FAA exemption 2020-0291. A different company put their feet square on the accelerator pedal, ramped up hiring all of the pilots NOT being hired by the airlines, and increased aircraft transitions. I think it might be too early to tell which is the winning strategy, since it is not clear just what the path of this virus may be, but I want to point out something about the second company here. At no point was there any consideration of the decrease in quality of training due to virus control measures. Training time was lost in the decontamination process affecting training aircraft and simulators. Ground schools were pushed online, where the amount of information retention became difficult to judge. The increased transitions put pressure on instructors to prioritize quantity over quality. Pilots were simply more distracted in training and took longer to master simple tasks due to mental exhaustion. I will say again that I don’t know which company made the right call in the long run. I do, however, believe that company “B” could have done what they did more intentionally, by considering some of these other factors.
So, where do we go from here? For my part, I will be using this time to sharpen my knowledge and experience in the hopes of providing my clients with safe, efficient, and intentional ways to meet challenges. I will be especially interested in learning new ways to make online/distance learning more effective. As pilots and industry leaders, we must focus on making good choices by using intentional and well though out policies and standard procedures. When a situation arises that calls for non-standard actions, we need to act deliberately and within the intent of the original policy or procedure.