GCD said:
It's technique and procedure at a lot of carriers to set the heading bug to the runway heading as soon as it is assigned or advised on the ATIS. The runway checks then should include scanning instruments for the proper heading alignment on all heading indicators and heading bugs.
No person is perfect or makes a perfect plan.
You're right. There are many good plans, yet no perfect ones. Nobody's perfect either, and yet our imperfections vary.
The goal, however, remains the same...safety. Uneventful flights. We're given many aids, procedures, rules, agencies, standards, and information at our disposal to try and mitigate and/or overcome failures, distractions, complacency, fatigue, and ignorance to achieve this. Despite them, we don't always.
But that doesn't change the fact that ultimately, it's up to us...the pilots. No matter what the atmosphere or level of technology/equipment/information at our disposal, being the "final authority" means we can stop the Show entirely if we decide we don't like what's happening or our level of support. Everyone entrusting us with thier lives expects this. It's what a guy sitting in his farmhouse off the end of a runway expects. These are completely reasonable expectations.
Imperfect people we may be, but continually striving for perfection while performing our Lives-at-stake task is the foundation of being a professional.
Plans, SOP's, etc. are essentially defensive measures....designed by imperfect people as well. Things like T/O Config and Gear horns are last-ditch defenses engineered to wake-up someone asleep at his post. Since we aren't clones with identical, inherent succeptabilities or weaknesses and no One-sized-SOP-fits-all, it's advisable to at least mentally supplement them with those targeting our own personal weaknesses and/or holes found in whichever SOP's you're working with.
Defensive measures only work if you are PROactive in applying them. Being proactive equates to vigilance, and professionalism demands that if we aren't supplied them, we seek out, find, and use whatever tools we personally need to maintain it. Different things work for different people.
Working in an Third Worldly environment where frequently you can't count on anything (signage, lights, good/unobstructed runways, ATC, NOTAMS, uncontaminated fuel, a common language, security, good wx info, etc.) only brings into sharper focus how important vigilance is. But Third or First world environment differences don't change "Flying is flying" basics. Vigilance is a Basic.
I find myself reverting to the most basic of basic things at certain trip-points that occur every flight, regardless of location or conditions, as a defence against the hassles, distractions, and sub-standard conditions myself and the other crew might find ourselves immersed in. These are the 2 points/things I do...not that anyone else might give a rat's a$$...
Before asking for the Engine Start checklist I silently admonish myself with the old expression to "Screw your flying head on". I actually get a mental picture of unscrewing my head and threading on a new one (no kidding, it kind of looks like the inflatable autopilot's from the movie Airplane).
I may have been told this expression in the past after screwing up. Or maybe I read it somewhere. I honestly can't remember but for some odd reason that one expression/cliche' has stuck with me, and for me it goes a long way to banish...at least in my conciousness...all the outside-world stuff/distractions/hassles/worries leading up to when we're ready to begin spinning things. Gaining that attitude helps me adhere to SOP's, be aware, and increase my vigilance to a higher level no matter what it was before.
The other trip-point thingy I do is during the last few heartbeats before pushing up the thrust levers. I still do them because the first guy I ever flew jets with told me they were still "always real f***in' 'pohtnt" (that's redneck-ese for "Important")...referring to and reinforcing the notion that you check "killer items" no matter what checklists you'd done, what airplane you're flying, or which airport you're at. He may have off-handedly made it up because I was a newbie...I don't know..but it was that reinforcement of what I'd learned before, despite the fact that I was now "jet flying" and the items tweaked a bit accordingly, that left an impact I suppose. "Always real f-in 'pohtnt", or "ARFP", unlike our other aviation acronyms, is also so hard to say it struck me as very funny at the time.
If I try to remember more than 2 technical things (out of how many possible?) while swinging a golf club the ball is going into the woods. It's why I still silently use that guy's ARFP Checklist. It's short and easy, within my limitations, and I will ALWAYS be at that "just before spooling moment" if I'm taking something into the air.
A..irframe clean and anti-ice.
R...unway....starting inside with compass matching runway heading and clearance to include the runway itself being unobstructed and unthreatened as far as you can see. Contamination considered.
F..laps.
P..erformance...meeting it for that take-off and departure, with all of the above (A,R, and F) factored in and set.
Sure the way I remember those items is silly, but I've done that guy's unpronouncable ARFP checklist from O'hare to KL and Moscow to Cape Town (and too many crapholes in between) for over 2 decades just before pushing the thrust levers up. For me it's like a bad song you can't keep from popping into your head at certain moments, you know? And the more stressful, fatiguing, distracting, and unfamiliar things are, it seems to pop up more loudly and more often. It's saved my a$$ a time or two though, when my pilots head wasn't screwed completely on.
The point is, find something that works for you and do it every time no matter what else happens. Rely on yourself for the Basics, not on PFM boxes.
