Capt. Ken's comments - November

To excel in an aviation career, one must run ahead of the pack.
Superior knowledge and flying skills eventually lead to better jobs, more pay and recognition. However, in many ways, a pilot must put in his time to achieve these higher levels. One way to do this includes reading advanced literature on aviation topics.
The following two book reviews are examples of texts that are available that will raise knowledge levels to new highs and place readers ahead of their peers.

METEOROLOGY (3rd edition) by R Underdown and J Standen $49.99US
Just one of a selection of books from the Ground Studies For Pilots series, this 271 page book takes the Weather Ways student a quantum leap higher.
Meteorology prepares commercial oriented pilots for their license examinations by explaining all aspects of aviation meteorology that affect pilot decision-making and aircraft performance. The chapters are in depth studies of atmospherics and multiple choice tests at the end of each section to confirm knowledge. After 35 years of professional aviation and a continuing interest and investigation into weather phenomenon, I had anticipated “acing” the challenges - not so!
Instead, there was challenge after challenge as my knowledge was expanded. Moreover, many questions that have brewed in my mind for years were answered with scientific surety. This isn’t an easy read as a great deal of information is covered on a wide variety of aviation weather and it took me a couple of months to digest the information.
Of course, it doesn’t help that I am a “crispy critter” and learned most of my weather before terms like Metars were a part of aviator’s vocabulary. Since I understand COPA membership averages around my age group, there may be a few others who could benefit from this educational read.

HUMAN PERFORMANCE AND LIMITATIONS IN AVIATION (3rd edition) by R Campbell and M. Bagshaw $29.99 US
To excel in professional aviation in multi crew cockpits one needs to understand a great deal about our fellow man, his limitations and his abilities to learn and adapt. This book provides this information - in depth.
I felt qualified to write one of my wife’s psychology papers after reading nearly 200 pages. Indirectly, the topics cover a lot of aspects related to Cockpit Resource Management (CRM) - for instance, segments on communications between aircrew.

Examples which have led to accidents include these exchanges:
1) Captain: “Take Off Power” - First Officer reduced power to idle.
2) Captain: “Feather Four” - First Officer, “All at once!”
3) Captain: “Feather One” - First Officer “Which one?”
4) Captain: “Cheer Up!” - First Officer raises the gear…

Many of the topics are quite enlightening and explain and quantify much that we have observed during our lives. Some of it is rather heavy reading. However, for the would-be professional pilot or those moving up through the ranks, some of this knowledge can be very beneficial.
Some of the chapter titles will provide an insight on the content; Health and Hygiene, Human Information Processing, Error and Reliability, Avoiding and Managing Errors, The Basics of Flight Physiology, The Sensory System, Human Overload and Underload, Advanced Cockpit Automation and lastly Personality.
In a nutshell, the authors cover virtually every topic that can affect the performance of pilots, and they do it well.
To order either book contact Iowa State Press at 2121 State Ave., Ames IA 50014-8300 Tel.: 800-862-6657 Their website is www.iowastatepress.com 

Ken is a COPA director who lives in Victoria, BC. He provides services internationally in advanced training, expert witness, flight test and aircraft sales. He has logged 15,000 hours on 375 types of fixed wing and rotary aircraft. Soaring his Diamond Xtreme is what he does for pleasure.