AVIATOR

WHAT HAPPENED 50 YEARS AGO

2011-12-09T16:07:00.000+02:00

December 1961

December 11 – The first American military aircraft are based in Vietnam, as the U.S. Army's 8th and 57th Transportation Companies (Light Helicopter), arrive at Saigon, South Vietnam. They are equipped with 32 H-21C Shawnee transport helicopters.^[9]
December 22 – U.S. Army helicopters engage in their first combat operation in Vietnam as the 8th Transportation Company makes several airlfits of South Vietnamese ground troops to landing zones in South Vietnam south of Saigon.^[10]
December 23 – In Operation Chopper, U.S. Army helicopters airlift 1,000 South Vietnamese paratroopers to attack a suspected Viet Cong headquarters in South Vietnam 10 miles (16 km) west of Saigon.^[10]

^{ΠΕΡΙΣΣΟΤΕΡΕΣ ΠΛΗΡΟΦΟΡΙΕΣ ΕΔΩ.}

WHAT HAPPENED 50 YEARS AGO

2006-11-04T22:57:00.000+02:00

November 1956

EVENTS

November 28 - the Ryan X-13 Vertijet makes its first transition from vertical to horizontal flight

FIRST FLIGHTS

November 11 - Convair XB-58
November 17 - Dassault Mirage III

More details about this aircraft you can find in … HERE

WHAT HAPPENED 50 YEARS AGO

2006-10-04T22:44:00.000+03:00

October 1956

October 11 - a Vickers Valiant of No. 49 Squadron RAF drops Britain's first air-dropped atomic bomb, over Maralinga, South Australia

October 31 - a US Navy R4D Skytrain is the first aircraft to land at the South Pole

More details about this aircraft you can find in … HERE

WHAT HAPPENED 50 YEARS AGO

2006-09-01T22:39:00.000+03:00

September 1956

September 7 - the Bell X-2 research aircraft is flown by Captain Iven C. Kincheloe to a new altitude record of 126,200 ft (38,466 m).
September 24 - the Luftwaffe is re-formed in West Germany
September 27 - Milburn Apt sets a new airspeed record in the Bell X-2, becoming the first person to exceed Mach 3, reaching a speed of 2,094 mph (3,350 km/h) before he lost control of the X-2 and died in the resulting crash

More details about this aircraft you can find in … HERE

WHAT HAPPENED 50 YEARS AGO

2006-08-04T22:52:00.000+03:00

August 1956

First flights

August 1 - Aeritalia G.91

August 6 - Beechcraft Travel Air

More details about this aircraft you can find in … HERE

WHAT HAPPENED 50 YEARS AGO

2006-07-04T22:50:00.000+03:00

July 1956

First flight

July 23 - Dassault Étendard II

More details about this aircraft you can find in … HERE

WHAT HAPPENED 50 YEARS AGO

2006-06-09T22:37:00.000+03:00

June 1956

June 20 - the US Navy commissions its first helicopter carrier, USS Thetis Bay

More details about this aircraft you can find in … HERE

WHAT HAPPENED 50 YEARS AGO

2006-05-08T22:03:00.000+03:00

MAY 1956

GENERAL INFORMATIONS

May 21 - a B-52 Stratofortress drops the US's first air-dropped hydrogen bomb, a 3.75 MT device on Bikini Atoll

FIRST FLIGHTS

Aerfer Sagittario 2
May 26 - Sukhoi Su-9

More details about this aircraft you can find in … HERE

WHAT HAPPENED 50 YEARS AGO

2006-04-16T17:28:00.000+03:00

16 APRIL 1956

FIRST FLY FOR THE F4D Skyray

The Douglas F4D Skyray was a carrier-based fighter built by the Douglas Aircraft Company. Although it was in service for a very short time and never fired a shot in anger, it was notable for being the first carrier-launched plane to hold the world's absolute speed record and was the first Navy fighter capable of exceeding Mach 1 in level flight. It was also distinguished in being used by the only Navy Squadron (VFAW-3) assigned to the North American Air Defense Command. VFAW-3 was permanently based at NAS North Island, San Diego. Its unique and notable looks also played a part in making the Skyray one of the best-remembered early jet fighters. Affectionately known as the "Ford", this aircraft had a spectacular rate and angle of climb and set new time to altitude records.

More details about this aircraft you can find in ….here

WHAT HAPPENED 50 YEARS AGO

2006-03-09T17:26:00.000+02:00

10 March 1956

Lt Cdr Peter Twiss sets a new airspeed record in the Fairey Delta FD.2, also becoming the first person to exceed 1,000 mph. His top speed is 1,132 mph (1,821 km/h).

THE HELLENIC’S ARMY GENERAL STAFF ARMY AVIATION UH-1H MISHAP.

2006-02-21T18:03:00.000+02:00

On 202010FEB2006, during NVG night flight, in the vicinity of ALEXANDRIA Army Aviation Base, S/N 622 helicopter type UH-1H, have a fatal accident, killing all four of the crew member.

The accident took place during a high risk, low altitude aided flight with night vision goggles.

The crew members are:

Captain (AA) KARIPIDIS XRISTOS, pilot in command (2349 flight hours).
WO (AA) KARAMPAS ILIAS, co-pilot (949 flight hours).
SM (AA) ADAM ADAMOPOYLOS, flight engineer.
Srgt (AA) FOTIADIS CONSTANTINE, flight engineer.

The air accident is under investigation.

We hope that Holy Virgin Mary will rest them in peace.

CREW RESOURCE MANAGEMENT (continued)

2006-01-03T15:06:00.000+02:00

SITUATIONAL AWARENESS

We need Situational Awareness in order to improve the Crew Resource Management techniques of the air-crews.

We know that human error is the leading cause of mishaps, so how do well intentioned crews allow human errors to be such a frequent cause factor?
Most often the explanation lies in the loss of situational awareness.
When a crewmember loses situational awareness, it is usually because he has become task saturated and cannot properly divide his attention to all necessary tasks. After an accident has occurred it is important to determine if situational awareness was lost, and why. The purpose of this section of my blog is to enable each individual to evaluate their own level of awareness, to take control of their own performance, and to reduce the likelihood of a human error accident.

Situational awareness is the accurate perception of the critical factors and conditions affecting the immediate environment at a specific time. This includes what has happened in the past and how it affects what is happening in the present; and how it may affect what will happen in the future.

a. The levels of situational awareness is necessarily different depending on whether it pertains to a crew as a whole or to an individual.

b. The following factors hold true:

Every individual has a different level of SA depending upon his/her own perception of reality.

The situational awareness level of the crew is determined by the level of the person in charge of the crew. This is contrary to the belief that the crew's level of awareness is the sum of that of the individual crewmembers.

c. Since the awareness level of the person in charge is paramount, it is the responsibility of the rest of the crew to keep their leader well informed of all aspects of the current situation.

d. Symptoms of Situational Awareness Loss:

(1) Fixation.

(2) Ambiguity ‑ facts don't match perceptions.

(3) Complacency ‑ boredom with situation.

(4) Gut Feeling/Confusion ‑ your subconscious is sending you a signal.

(5) Poor Communications ‑ difficulty in getting point across or understanding.

(6) Failure to meet targets ‑ unexplained failure to accomplish tasks.

(7) Using improper procedures ‑ the leading cause of accidents.

(8) Unresolved discrepancies ‑ problems forgotten or ignored.

(9) No one flying the aircraft ‑ the entire crew is involved in other tasks.

(10) Distraction ‑ one particular detail focused on at the expense of others that are equally important or more important.

e. Maintaining Situational Awareness:

(1) Experience and training ‑ Only through practicing basic skills can one cope with routine situations as well as new and/or unexpected events.

(2) Personal health ‑ A healthy body with all of the senses operating at their optimum can detect subtle changes to every situation and process information effectively.

(3) Assertiveness ‑ There must be a sense of responsibility to speak out when action by another crewmember is questionable or not understood.

(4) Spatial orientation ‑ It is important to know what is going on around you at all times.

f. Regaining Situational Awareness: When one of the clues to loss of situational awareness is recognized by a crewmember, they should immediately verbalize their thoughts to the other crewmembers. This will make the other crewmembers aware of any potential threat to the safety of the crew. Situational awareness is simply a matter of knowing what is going on around you at the time. The free‑flow of information among crewmembers is the single most important action in maintaining situational awareness.

WHAT HAPPENED 50 YEARS AGO

2005-12-24T11:25:00.000+02:00

15-12-1955

The de Havilland Mosquito flies its final operational sortie with the Royal Air Force

WHAT HAPPENED IN AVIATION 50 YEARS AGO

2005-11-10T17:11:00.000+02:00

10 October 1955

Helicopters from USS Saipan play a key role in rescuing people stranded by flooding in Tampico, Mexico

WHAT HAPENED IN AVIATION 50 YEARS AGO

2005-10-26T16:16:00.000+03:00

TO FIND OUT GO TO http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/1955_in_aviation

CREW RESOURCE MANAGEMENT (continued)

2005-10-21T12:56:00.000+03:00

STRESS MANAGEMENT

The growing interest in stress reflects the widespread awareness that stress is related to many physical and mental disorders, and to a large number of accidents in the home and on the job.
Simply recognizing the involvement of stress does not necessarily solve the problem.
We must try to understand how to cope with it.

For these reason, the aviator must have an understanding of Stress Management in order to improve his Human-Crew Resource Management techniques, He must also understands it’s relationship to decision making.

Stress and Decision Making

What does stress have to do with making decisions?

Stress is one of the greatest factors affecting our ability to make logical decisions.
It causes us to have “tunnel vision” or “a narrow focus”.
In its most dangerous form it is called panic during which we may even lose control of our motor coordination.

Decision making, or rather the lack thereof, is one of the leading causes of stress.
The simple commitment to undertake a complex task, whether self‑imposed or forced on us by others, can cause a great deal of mental stress that can lead to all of the problems mentioned above.
Such pressure is one of the leading causes of workload in the workplace and can cause us to fail to allocate the necessary attention to the task of doing our job efficiently.

What is Stress?

Stress is the term we use to describe the body's nonspecific response to demands placed upon it, for example, could be an unexpected mechanical problem while flying an aircraft, driving a vehicle, losing your wallet, or cutting your finger.
Our bodies will respond to these and all other demands in three stages:

First, there will be an alarm reaction; then resistance; and finally if the demand continues, exhaustion.

This three‑stage response is part of our primitive biological coping mechanism which prepared our ancestors for flight.

Alarm Reaction: In the alarm stage, the body recognizes the stressor and prepares for flight by activating a part of the brain which stimulates the pituitary gland to release hormones, which trigger the adrenal gland to pour out adrenaline. Adrenaline increases heartbeat and rate of breathing, raises blood sugar levels, increases perspiration, dilates the pupils, and slows digestion. If the alarm results in fear, the body reacts with low blood pressure resulting in a pale face. The process results in a huge burst of energy, greater muscular strength, and better hearing and vision. You may recall experiencing an alarm reaction the first time you performed a night autorotation.

The short term solution to an immediate problem the production of adrenaline causes a greater level of alertness (to a certain point) which provides a greater ability to find a solution.

The long term results are not harmful unless they are very severe and lasting.

These two types of stress should be kept in mind.

Resistance: In the resistance stage, the body repairs any damage caused by the stress and may adapt to some stresses such as extreme cold, hard physical labor, or worries. Fortunately, most physical and emotional stressors are of brief duration and our bodies cope with the physiological demands of the stress. During our lifetime, we go through the first two stages many times. We need these response mechanisms to react to the many demands and threats of daily living.

Exhaustion: However, if the stress continues (for example, if you were placed in a survival situation, after a crash, or with an enemy close at your heels), the body will remain in a constant state of readiness for flight. It will be unable to keep up with the demands, leading to the final stage of exhaustion.

The effects that personality has relative to a person’s reaction to stress.

The Effects of Personality:

There is no question that personality influences the way we react to stress. Some people have personality styles that may contribute to stress‑related disorders. They may feel so fearful of making mistakes, of being criticized, of doing less than a perfect job, that they will withdraw from challenging situations or avoid confrontation. This may result in feeling frustrated, incompetent, or in the worst case result in an accident.

Cardiologists have described two personality behavior types which have been linked with certain diseases.

Type A behavior has been seen as a major contributor to coronary heart disease and is characterized by a competitive, aggressive, achievement‑oriented, time‑dominated view of life.
Type A people are usually unaware that their behavior creates problems for others or is detrimental to their health, since this behavior is condoned and applauded by our achievement‑oriented society.

Type B individuals have a behavior exactly different from Type A and have found a comfortable, more relaxed pace. Type B’s work more slowly and thoughtfully, which can permit greater creativity. They allow themselves the leisure to develop more fully as people, and have a number of outside interests, activities, and friendships. Many Type B people have plenty of drive and achievements, but time is scheduled with a calendar, not a stopwatch.

Time and Stress

The urgency of time drives most of us. Multiple tasks must be performed simultaneously to complete them all. Demands often exceed the time available and overloading means that stress response is aroused, possibly to dangerous levels. This is of crucial concern to those who operate complex machinery where one person must often make all of the decisions and perform all of the tasks.

A frequent reaction to time pressure is juggling, attempting to cram several activities into insufficient time. The human brain seems to lack the capacity to perform many simultaneous conscious operations efficiently because one task may interfere with another.

Stress and performance

Stress has a cumulative effect; some degree of stress can be of assistance in certain situations, and stressors which persist over a long period can severely affect our performance and health.
· Moderate levels of stress can have a positive effect on performance.
· Performance will peak at some optimum level of stress and then decline as stress continues to increase.
· Complex or unfamiliar tasks require a higher level of attention than simple or well learned tasks.
· Similarly the performance of these complex and unfamiliar tasks are adversely affected by increasing levels of stress.

The relationship between stress and performance has been verified in numerous experiments.
· At very low levels of stress, motivation and attention are minimal and performance is poor.
· As the level of stress increases so do the levels of attention, motivation, and performance.
· However, at very high levels of stress, panic may occur and performance deteriorates dramatically.

Coping with Stress

Up to this point, we have focused upon what stress is, and how it can affect us. Now, we turn out attention to how we might best cope with stress. By learning the goals and principles of coping, you can use stress constructively to promote good health, self‑development, and operational safety.

· Stress is the product of an entire lifestyle. It is not just the product of an occasional crisis. Consequently, each person must learn to monitor personal stress levels and find ways to relieve excessive pressures and stressors. Health can be protected by using constructive coping responses to balance stress. For example, you can simply take a five‑minute break and relax.

· Behaviors consistent with good health and low stress are:

Minimize or stopping activities detrimental to your health such as smoking or drinking to excess.

Increase health enhancing behaviors such as relaxing at regular intervals and engaging in physical fitness activities.

Use self‑regulation and self‑control information such as appropriate time management and thought stopping (deliberately stopping yourself from thinking negatively).

Accept responsibility for your own health, by developing a stress reduction program.

· Additional methods for reducing stress in the workplace include working on how the job is approached. The most effective of these methods are:

Discuss problems among co‑workers.

Review procedures for accomplishing difficult tasks.

Perform detailed planning before undertaking a task.

Delegate responsibility for part of the workload to others.

Anticipate situations that could cause problems.

Learn to manage priorities.

Stress can be either good or bad. By being aware of the mechanics and causes of stress in our lives we can understand our own personal reactions to stress. By undertaking steps to reduce stress in our lives, stress can be controlled from having a detrimental effect on our performance and health.

COME BACK.....

2005-10-20T20:25:00.000+03:00

Hi there !
I was not lost in the apeiron, just a little bit lazy.
We will continue our contact
.... All in green...
Ready for take - off .

CREW RESOURCE MANAGEMENT (Continoued...)

2005-06-11T00:18:00.000+03:00

JUDGMENT

All the aviators and the crew members must apply the principles of Judgment in order to enhance the Crew Resource Management techniques of the crews assigned to the company they work for.

Judgment and Decision Making:

A popular belief is that judgment is good "common sense" as applied to making decisions, especially correct decisions. "Sense" relates to an intense awareness, realization, and understanding of all the factors involved in making a decision. Sense is generally applied to a person’s ability in any given situation.

Judgment is not an end in itself. In making decisions one must consider all relevant intrapersonal, equipment, operational (the mission or the purpose of the air-mission), and environmental factors which may influence the decision ‑ making process. Judgment is, therefore, a process which produces a thoughtful, considered response (i.e., action/inaction) to that decision.
From this comes a definition of judgment:

Judgement is the process of recognizing and analyzing all available information about oneself, your equipment, the operating environment, and the purpose of the air-mission. This is followed by the rational evaluation of alternatives to implement a timely decision for the situation which assures safety.

Judgment thus, involves one's attitudes toward risk ‑ taking and one's ability to evaluate risks and make decisions based upon his/her knowledge, skill, and experience. A judgmental decision always involves a problem or choice, an unknown element, and usually a time constraint and stress.

As mentioned, judgment is affected by attitude.

Let's take a look at five hazardous thought patterns (attitudes) and see how they can affect judgment and the decision‑making process.

Hazardous Thought (attitudes) Patterns:

ANTI‑AUTHORITY: "Don't tell me!"

This attitude is found in people who do not like anyone telling them what to do. In a sense they are saying, "No one can tell me what to do". They may either be resentful of having someone tell him/her what to do or may just regard rules, regulations, and procedures as silly or unnecessary.

ANTIDOTE:

"Follow the rules: They are usually right."

IMPULSIVITY: "Do something ‑‑ quickly!"

This is the attitude of people who frequently feel the need to do something, anything, immediately. They do not stop to think about what they are about to do; they do not select the best alternative ‑‑ they do the first thing that comes to mind.

ANTIDOTE:

"Not so fast. Think first."

INVULNERABILITY: "It won't happen to me!"

Many people feel that accidents happen to others but never to them. They know accidents can happen, and they know that anyone can be affected; but they never really feel or believe that they will be involved. Individuals who think this way are more likely to take chances and accept unwise risks, thinking all the time, "It won't happen to me!"

ANTIDOTE:

"It could happen to me."

MACHO: "I can do it!"

People who are always trying to prove that they are better than anyone else think, "I can do it!" They "prove" themselves by taking risks and by trying to impress others. While this pattern is thought to be a male characteristic, women are equally susceptible.

ANTIDOTE:

"Taking chances is foolish."

RESIGNATION: “What’s the use?”

People who think, “What’s the use?” do not see themselves as making a great deal of difference in what happens to them. When things go well, they think, “That’s good luck.” When things go badly, they attribute it to bad luck or feel that someone is “out to get them.” They leave the action to others, for better or worse. Sometimes, such individuals will even go along with unreasonable requests just to be a “nice guy.”

ANTIDOTE:

"I’m not helpless. I can make a difference."

CREW RESOURSE MANAGEMENT (Continoued...)

2005-06-08T18:23:00.000+03:00

FEEDBACK

Feedback is the return of information to the sender and is most often used to check for accuracy of the original information. We often confuse feedback with critique and evaluation. Critique is a critical review or discussion while evaluation fixes the value or worth of something.

The principles of feedback , when they be applied, give the person receiving it the ability to hear in the most objective and least distorted way possible. They are :

POSITIVE: Feedback is more effective when it focuses on what is being done well, rather than what was done wrong. Crewmembers should let each other know when they are doing well. Be timely, be specific, and tell the individual how his/her performance enhanced mission accomplishment. Positive feedback lets the person know what they should continue to do.

NEGATIVE: Negative feedback focuses on the problems that one or more crewmembers perceive. It is important to provide both positive and negative feedback. Negative feedback lets the person know what they should start or stop doing.

APPLYING FEEDBACK PRINCIPLES:

BE DESCRIPTIVE..... NOT EVALUATIVE:

BE WELL INTENDED..... NOT HURTFUL

BE SPECIFIC..... NOT GENERAL

BE WELL TIMED..... NOT DELAYED OR PUBLIC

BE CONFIRMED....NOT ASSUMED

CREW RESOURSE MANACEMENT

2005-06-06T22:08:00.000+03:00

An Aviator (pilot) will be able to understand Crew Resource Management (CRM) principles and explain the concepts and responcibilities of assertiveness and effective communications, to identify also hazardous situations and specific tools to maintain situational awareness in the aviation environment.

The necessity of CRM

Mishap information indicates that approximately 80% of all accidents are the result of human error. And further, that this human error is the result of both, a lack of technical and situational awareness training.

CRM, is the effective use of all available resources: hardware and software, in an effort to achieve a safe and effective outcome.

The pilot must be able for clear and concise communications and must be able to recognize and state problemw and solutions associated with sending and receiving messages. That means he must have COMMUNICATION SKILLS.

Communication skills are easy to improve through proper training. We simply have to say exactly what we mean and actively listen to others.

COMMUNICATION IS IMPORTANT

Psychologists say we spend an estimated 80% of our awake time communicating in some way. However, in a normal environment, only 30% is understood as the sender expected. The large majority of human error mishaps are caused by a failure of effective communications.

SENDING THE MESSAGE

We communicate our thoughts to others by 3 main methods

VERBALLY.
BY TONE.
BY BODY LANGUAGE.

Psychologists have determined that there are 6 steps that must occur for information to be properly transmitted, and received and then acknowledged, these are:

IDEA
ENCODE
TRANSMIT
RECEIVE
DECODE
IDEA

Solutions to sending problems

BE CONCISE

SAY EXACTLY what you mean.
(do not assume that that what you say will be correctly interpreted).

USE STANDARD phraseology.
(this eliminates confusing, shortens the message and is familiar to every member of the crew).

REQUIRE FEEDBACK.
(immediately ensures message was received). Good examples are altimeter settings and traffic alerts.

RECEIVING THE MESSAGE.

LISTENING SKILLS are just as important as sending the proper message. Active listening is an essential skill to ensure effective communications. Listening is made more difficult by the fact that we can think much faster than we normally talk. We talk at 125 words/minute and we think at 500-1000 words per minute. While the other person is talking we often prepare our own answer, think of ways to debate the speaker, try to predict, or worst of all, daydream about something else!!

Solutions to receiving problems

ACTIVE LISTENING which consisted of:

ASK QUESTIONS

PARAPHRASE or TRANSLATE the message (aloud if needed) TO MAKE IT MORE CLEAR.

ACKNOWLEDGE THE MESSAGE.

HOLD YOUR ARGUMENTS AND/OR CRITICISM.
STOP TALKING and LISTEN.