Aviation Book Recommendations

[Rez O. Lewshun]

Tony Kerns Triology: Redefining Airmanship, The Rogue Pilot and Flight Discipline

 

[Lostdog65]

Rez...no offense...but Tony Kern's name leaves a bad taste is some people's mouth's. His book is good. But he tends to think that aviation accidents can be brought down to 0 per 1000 hrs of flight time.

The only way to do that is to stop flying.

"TK421...why aren't you at your post?"

Eric

 

[snowman]

What is the name of the book written by an sr-71 driver that is chock full of anecdotes? I have read a few stories online and would like to pick up a copy.
Sound Familiar? Maybe it was just some internet lore... There is one that goes, "Flying over la on with center, asked for fl600. center asks how do you plan to get to 600 and the pilot responds, "Descend".
Man that cracks me up!
let me know where I could find such book.
thanks
snowman

 

[LJDRVR]

War on Error

Rez...no offense...but Tony Kern's name leaves a bad taste is some people's mouth's. His book is good. But he tends to think that aviation accidents can be brought down to 0 per 1000 hrs of flight time.

The only way to do that is to stop flying.

Hey Eric,

I've read all four of Tony's book's and seen him speak three times, and I don't seem to recall him ever saying anything like that.

If you read his books carefully, what he did say is that a traditional safety or CRM program will never fix the problem of human error, that we ourselves need to untangle personal error by fighting a private battle against it. Tony and several 50-pound brain folks are currently developing and advocating a new vision of human error, with a 50-70% reduction in the frequency of errors. In other words, we need to move beyond sixth generation CRM in a fundamental shift where instead of trapping errors, we quit making most of them. A fair amount of training and personal hard work is needed to make this happen. Dr. Kern suggests:

• People take intentional and preemptive actions to attack personal error precursors

• People understand why they make errors-and how to prevent them.

• People realize the limits of the "system" and rely on themselves and peers to prevent errors

• Safety and training are fine tuned to build on new depth of knowledge-individual expertise on error becomes a force multiplier.

In LOSA data culled from three major airlines, procedural non-compliance resulted in over 50% of the flight crew errors made. Although CRM has taken a bite out of the total number of accidents, what it hasn't done is bring down the 80/20% ratio. (80% percent of all accidints being caused by error) CRM isn't broken, but we need to adjust it's focus towards ourselves and personal discipline. Non of us are in danger of crashing because of some bullheaded ex-WWII fighter pilot taking stupid chances with our airliner. Yet generation 6 CRM still focuses on rehashing UAL at Troutdale. When are we going to start taking flight discipline seriously and demanding accountability for our action? Wasn't it Cicero who said "To err is human, but to persevere in error is only the act of a fool." ?

If you get the chance to take a look at what Dr. Kern is up to these days, I would highly recommend it. Within the next ten years, you're going to start hearing about in in the industry.

"All the greatest battles are waged within."

Ill get off my soapbox now, gotta spread the gospel.

Take Care,

LJDRVR

 

[Lostdog65]

No...Tony doesn't say those things in his books or his speeches. Those were things he said to the USFS aviation community when he hired on there. He backed up his logic with what he'd written in his books. Basically, he inferred that what we did in the aerial firefighting business was too dangerous. He didn't know the industry and when shown what we did came away pasty-faced and scared. He still didn't understand the amount of training and risk management we went through to do the aerial firefighting job and that we weren't cowboys out there but professionals.

His conclusions in his books is correct. Unfortunately, some people see anyone who doesn't fly straight and level, on a flight plan, above 3500 feet, as a rogue pilot.

My 2 cents. Not arguing the quality of what Tony had to say in his books.

Eric

 

[skidbuggy]

"The Left Seat" by Robert Serling

 

[727gm]

Some more:
Transocean: The Story of an Unusual Airline (Richard Thruelsen)
Tiger Tales (LeVerne J. Moldrem)
Voices of My Peers: Clipper Memories (Eugene Dunning)
D@mn Serious Business (Ching Willows)
The Big Show (Pierre Clostermann)
Chickenhawk (Robert Mason)
Skygods: The Fall of Pan Am (Robert Gandt)
Rocket Fighter (Mano Ziegler)
Comets and Concordes (Peter Duffy)
Air Disaster Vols. 1-4 (Macarthur Job) - outstanding!
A Life in Gliding (Dick Georgeson)
My Secret War (Richard Drury)
Captain Lodi Speaking (Marius Lodeesen)

 

[crxpilot]

Flying Low - Roger Crow

Northern Flights - Gerard Bruder

 

[Catbert]

Stick and Rudder by [SIZE=-1]Wolfgang Langewiesche
-Why a plane flys and how you make it happen (no math involved)

Blind Trust by Jack Nance
-Why some planes fall out of the sky
[/SIZE]