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Emergency Decision Making in Aviation
The briefing by Mike Shama provides crucial tips for managing emergencies through the framework of RCDI (Recognize, Control, Diagnose, Initiate). Key actions include recognizing symptoms, controlling the aircraft, diagnosing the issue, and initiating a safe landing. Emphasis is placed on avoiding rushed decisions, utilizing available resources, and double-checking critical controls during emergency situations.
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Emergency Decision Making in Aviation
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- 2. AIM The aim ofthis briefing is to provide some useful tips to handling emergencies as well as to outline the dangers of not employing good EDM
- 3. CONTENTS • RCDI • Decisionto Land • Diagnose. Double Check. Do.
- 4. Losing a CriticalSystem • Sitting at 1000ft in OGE Hover while cameraman is filming street riots • You feel a large jolt through the controls from the hydraulic system, attitude changes and you start to quickly descend. • What actions do you take? What does the POH say? What should you do first? • The following tips will help improve your decision making process
- 5. RCDI • Firstly: DONOT RUSH • A rushed poor decision can make your situation far worse • The following acronym will help order your actions: • R – Recognise • C – Control • D – Diagnose • I – Initiate
- 6. Recognise • What hashappened? • Do I know? Maybe? Don't guess or make quick assumptions • Are there Passengers or other Crew? • Warn them verbally with the symptoms, not diagnosis • "Control Malfunction", "Torque Split"
- 7. • Contain thesituation • Move the controls to keep the heli out of danger • Achieve a safe flight configuration • Best IAS for SE flight? • Speed for best endurance? • Below max for hydraulic out IAS? Control
- 8. Diagnose • Now theheli is under control let's understand what is going wrong • Use Flight Reference Cards (FRCs) - Emergencies Section, if there is time and they are available for that aircraft • If they are not available, examine the situation and figure out what went wrong, which systems have failed, and why • Use your crew resources and inform pax
- 9. Initiate • What now?What are we going to do? • Look for somewhere to land or divert to • Radio call: Does it need to be a distress call? • Pan or Mayday? • Have I remembered my instructor's advice? • AVIATE • NAVIGATE • COMMUNICATE
- 10. Decision to Land •What do the various terms generally mean? • Land Immediately • Continued flight may be more hazardous than ditching or landing in terrain normally considered unsuitable • Land As Soon As Possible • Land at the nearest site at which a safe landing can be made • Land As Soon As Practical • Extended flight not recommended. Landing site and flight duration are at the discretion of aircraft commander
- 11. Remember • If youare moving critical controls in an emergency you need to make sure you operate the correct ones. • Numerous examples of good engines being shutdown, or working system shut-off • Whether single pilot or multi-crew: • D – DIAGNOSE • D – DOUBLE CHECK • D – DO • Stop, think, check, and make sure
- 12. SUMMARY • Don't Rush:Think RCDI • Recognise the symptoms and Warn the crew/pax • Control and contain the aircraft: Get into a safe flight configuration if possible • Diagnose. Use FRCs • Aviate, Navigate, Communicate • DDD: Identify and confirm all critical controls and switches before taking action • Initiate: Tell somebody. Land safely
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Editor's Notes
- #7 Improper Judgment: Not being able to judge whether pilot is near IMC Overconfidence: statistical sampling of pilots reveals most pilots think they possess greater flying skill, are less likely to take risks in flight, and are less likely than their peers to experience an accident. Most VFR pilots believe they are less likely than others to experience a VFR-into-IMC accident and believe they are more capable than others at avoiding and successfully flying out of IMC. Pressure on the Pilot: Bosses, money, job security, passengers? Decision Making: Imagine -> 100% chance of R80 loss (Land now/Divert now/Delay or cancel flight = loss of revenue, cost increases, impact on contract), or 80% chance of R100 loss (Small chance of making it through, but a high chance of losing it all, of crashing and dying) Poor pre-flight preparation: Many examples of pilots who failed to get any sort of official weather briefing before departing Night or mountainous terrain: Reduced visual references, smaller margin for error, must be properly trained Expectation of Success: Pilots take off without a back-up plan, automatically assuming they'll successfully complete the flight. Without a Plan B, they have no other course, literally, other than to continue on, developing a kind of tunnel vision that seems to lock up the brain as conditions deteriorate. It’s like driving a car with the fuel on E often … you get used to pushing the envelope
- #11 Control: Fly the aircraft. Refocus the scan inside the cockpit to the primary flight instruments – airspeed, altitude, and attitude Climb: As soon as the aircraft is under control by reference to the instruments, a controlled climb should be initiated. Inadvertent IMC encounters often occur at low altitudes where rising terrain poses a serious threat. The pilot should initiate a straight ahead controlled climb to an altitude that will provide obstruction clearance in the area of operation. Always review Maximum Elevation Figures (MEF) on VFR charts prior to departure. Course: After the aircraft is in a controlled climb, the pilot can elect to turn to a new heading if known obstacles are ahead and/or divert to a different location with better known or forecast weather conditions. Communicate: After the pilot has control of the aircraft, initiated a climb, and on course, they should communicate with ATC regarding their intentions and need for assistance. Careful preflight planning will allow a pilot to focus their attention on maintaining control of the aircraft and reduce the distraction of having to formulate a complete plan in the midst of a dangerous situation. Pilots must be prepared to deal with (recognize & accept) such inadvertent IMC encounters whenever they occur in a reliably disciplined and practiced manner