Debriefs, and Dad

Introduction: The Debrief

I learned to fly under a general philosophy of ruthless preparation before, and exhaustive debriefs after each flight, focusing on what could be improved for the next flight. The nature of military flying is such that at the end of a sortie, instead of high-fiving one another on a successful mission or smooth landing, the solo pilot's or aircrew's mindset shifts to "what could I have done better?" This is where the formal debrief serves to reinforce positive flight behaviours and actions, and address & improve areas for opportunity, and what went wrong.

This modus operandi helps create a culture of continuous improvement. Pursuit of perfection, with an understanding that a perfect flight will never be flown. But if we address the areas for improvement, we can come as close as possible.

This approach also means there is little time for enjoyment of that rare experience of flight. I've previously written that in my 100-plus military sorties, I can only recall one or two truly enjoyable flights.

My First Passenger Flight

Before this flight, I had never flown a passenger. Phil, my dad, has taught me so much in life. He is intelligent, very kind, and accepting of everyone. He's an optimist, and can fix and build practically anything. He's helped me out countless times in restarting a car, draining oil, drilling holes, hanging paintings, and even fixing an advanced Seeing Machines eye-tracking simulator. He introduced his passion for racing and cars to me, unfortunately without the mechanical knack that should accompany that passion. He patiently taught me advanced mathematics (with limited success), how to cook a pizza (with great success), and how to appreciate movies, music, beer & wine. Before joining the Air Force as a pilot, I wanted to be an engineer because Dad was an engineer. When I lived at home, or on returning during vacation, Dad and I would discuss and ponder the mysteries of the universe, sitting in the spa and listening to music over his self-built stereo system. Dad would listen to me talk about which girl I liked, or provide advice when asked. He positively distracted me when me ex-wife was sick (we saw Superman together), and he warmly embraced and embraces my twin flame and step-daughters.

Dad is also the only person I cried to when I failed RAAF Advanced Pilot's Course #211. In 2008 I was at our course shared house in Perth with my coursemates, many of whom were wearing their name patches upside-down to indicate they'd passed Wings test and were awaiting formal graduation. This air of celebration was at odds with my grief and anger at having a path I'd worked long and hard for closed off. I snuck out the back and called Mum and Dad. Mum was lovely and encouraging, but I didn't say much to her or open up very much. Dad came on the phone and I can't remember what we spoke about, Dad had said something encouraging and kind, and I started crying. Heavily. Bawling. I couldn't speak properly, I was just comforted that Dad was on the other end of the phone and wasn't judging me. I felt like a failure, but was never made to feel that way by my parents. Dad was over three thousand kilometres away, but I never felt closer.

In 2018, Luana encouraged me to follow my heart and learn to fly again. In 2019 I successfully completed my flight review, and I focused on building my proficiency and experience so I was able to take a passenger for a flight. Fearless Phil has always wanted to go flying with me and I've wanted to fly him. Being Dad's pilot was a way of showing him something that in all his experience, knowledge, and wisdom, he hadn't yet enjoyed. He can't fly a plane (yet), and I've spent much of my life enthralled by aviation. This was a way to share my enthusiasm in a way I knew he would enjoy. It also brought on more responsibility than I was used to. Not only would I be responsible for my own safety, but for that of someone else while airborne. Last year Dad and I scheduled a couple of flights that we subsequently aborted due to weather, and on one occasion where I just wasn't feeling comfortable due to lack of currency or experience.

For this flight, on the 2nd of January, I had prepared extra thoroughly through a couple of additional means. The first was that I needed to conduct three take-offs and landings within 90 days of taking a passenger up in order to meet recent experience requirements. I flew four circuits at Moorabbin on the 29th of December in order to achieve this. This helped in that I was freshly proficient. The other was I invested in an Electronic Flight Bag (EFB) in the form on a iPad Mini and OzRunways. My rationale was that in learning to fly again, I wanted to start from first principles. For navigation, this meant plotting tracks and headings manually, filling out fuel calculations on paper, drawing my course on a map, and submitting flight plans through a separate terminal. After planning and flying four navigation flights I felt I'd remembered and become current in using a whiz wheel again, and navigating 'manually.' I bought myself an early Christmas present, had fun rearranging my kneeboard, and dedicated ground time in learning to use an EFB. Probably the best reason for an EFB, as I was deciding whether to get one, was that it allows you to focus on flying (aviate) more as the EFB handles much of the laborious navigation (navigate & communicate) tasks, including map management.

More on Debriefs

When I started flying again in 2018, I knew it would be different to my RAAF flying days. For one, I was paying for it so I wouldn't be able to fly as regularly. Because of this I needed to extract value beyond the logbook flight time. That is, I needed to prepare, brief, and debrief in a way that maximised my learning. I focused particularly on the debrief, and wrote a debrief following all of my flights in 2018 and 2019. I shared these on LinkedIn, but I wrote them for my own learning. The key lessons I picked up were:

• Use a simple and consistent debrief format, like 1. What was planned, 2. What happened, 3. Why did it happen, 4. What can I do better.
• Think wind. For circuits and PFLs.
• Understand circuits. Not just the usual pattern, but entries & departures, and flapless & power-out circuits. Remember key checks in the pattern, i.e. BUMFFEL, BOUMFISH, PFT, PUFLR, and key speeds.
• Forced Landings. First action is glide attitude, nose / right shoulder into wind, pick a field on the left. 2,500' hi-key, 1,500 lo-key; CFMS, FMOST, Mayday 7700, BBUSH.
• Checklists. Always by reference, in sequence, without omission.
• Currency & proficiency. Proficiency is a real asset, and perishable skills degrade quickly. To combat this, I have tried to do extra preparation in terms of learning, reading, chair-flying, and progressing my formal piloting education through the CPL exams.
• The simplest and most succinct CTAF and/or general radio calls are simply in the format of position, height, intentions.
• Autopilot helps free up brainspace, but don't rely on it.
• "As a private pilot, focus on safety and feeling comfortable before doing something. Even if that means an orbit, or a recheck of something. Efficiency isn't as important as a private pilot."
• I don't enjoy a digital cockpit as much as an analogue one, mainly due to my experience on type.
• I prefer the high-wing Cessna over the low-wing Pipers. For the view, but also the ground effect float seems a bit less in the Cessna.
• Comms. Practice, practice, practice; and then R/T becomes easier.

In between my Royal Australian Air Force ab-initio and advanced pilot training I was privileged to spend some time with the RAAF Roulettes; 79 Squadron, Hawk operational training; 2OCU, the F/A-18 Hornet conversion training squadron; and 6 Squadron, one of two F-111 operational squadrons. I mention this as it provided a look into how highly trained and professional aircrew and squadrons conduct their prep and debriefing. In a word, intensely. For the 2OCU pilots who were in the middle of a Fighter Combat Instructor (FCI) course, for every hour flying they could spend up to two, three, or four-plus hours of preparation and in debrief. Debriefs were conducted immediately following a flight, when aircrew were tired and obviously wanting to go home. But these debriefs were where excellence was extracted. It would have been easy to go home, but what made these pilots better was their pursuit of perfection, through hardship.

I'll write more on debriefs in the future, but here is a good resource on them.

Flight Debrief, Cessna 172R VH-SYH, 0.8h, YMMB circuits, 29 Dec 2019

I was apprehensive about this flight. One, in there having been a couple of months since my last flight. Two, because that last flight was on a very windy day where I couldn't land at Tooradin due to the crosswind. I cancelled a few flights in the lead up to this one, mainly because I was very busy at work or with the Christmas period, and I wanted to try to enjoy my flight and not feel time pressured. I decided that rather than focusing on a flight to a new area or in trying to do a few things in one flight, such as a city orbit, it was better to simply focus on achieving three take-offs and three landings. As it turned out, this flight was without issue. I completed three touch-and-gos and one full stop, and was either number one or two in the circuit.

Flight Debrief, Cessna 172R VH-SYH, 3.8h, YMMB-YWBL-YMMB, 02 Jan 2020

What was planned

A 10:00 departure from Moorabbin to Peterborough (YPBH) via a southerly route and along Cape Otway. Then back inland, north of Avalon, to land at 14:00.

What happened

Our aircraft was flying circuits when we arrived at YMMB, so we waited for a bit and I expected a later departure. Ultimately, this was closer to 11:00.

Also, the Chief Pilot didn't authorise me to fly to Peterborough given the short field and cruise prop on the 172R. Instead, he suggested we fly to Warrnambool. This meant a revised flight and nav plan, which OzRunways made amazingly easy, including the online flight notification amendment. YWBL midfield crosswind join was straightforward. There was a crosswind of 10-12 knots, which made the approach a little offset and I lightly bounced twice.

The total planned route was just under 300 nautical miles, with each half expected to take just over a hour. In reality, each leg took closer to 1.5 to 1.75 hours, leaving little time on the ground at YWBL, and I needed to call Learn to Fly to let them know I'd be late getting the aircraft back. This added stress during the return flight, where I increased our cruise speed, expedited the route, and had a touch of push-on-itis.

On approach into YMMB I was instructed at Brighton VFR point to "join upwind, maintain 1,500 feet." I tried to join obliquely (i.e. at 45 degrees) and Tower advised that "you are meant to join on the upwind track," and instructed me to then join downwind and to follow the Cessna on long final. As I corrected and tracked downwind, I looked at the 17R threshold and saw an aircraft (on reflection, low-wing) landing on the threshold. Thinking this was the aircraft I was meant to follow, I turned and ATC promptly informed me of my error. I turned back downwind, acknowledged that I'd sighted the aircraft, and landed smoothly.

Why did it happen

Time pressure. The revised flight plan added time, and my requirement to get the aircraft back by 14:00 added stress. My TAS also wasn't 120KTAS but slightly less, so I didn't make as good time as I'd planned. Fortunately, the dispatcher at Learn to Fly commended me on burning 85 litres over 3.8 hours, saying normally it's closer to 33 litres per hour. So I was leaning efficiently. Lesson - add more flex for time.

Circuits. I've never flown or seen an upwind join before, and didn't even know it existed as it is not recommended as traffic can be difficult to see. But, with ATC directing it is generally safe. When I mentioned this to the instructors back at LTF they said an upwind join is not common but it is a YMMB procedure, so for my next check flight we may do some procedural refreshers. Lesson - refresh on YMMB-specific procedures.

Planning. The EFB made life incredibly easy. I look forward to getting more familiar and profienct with all aspects of OzRunways, including weight & balance, landing performance (important for YPBH, which I hadn't done), and optimising efficiency. Printing the planning sheet, flight notification, and fuel log beforehand, and carrying paper maps, was an important backup. Two EFB lessons came out of this flight. The first was I hadn't actually practised gaining a GPS fix, so when I noticed the track symbol not moving when I taxied, I became concerned that the GPS track wasn't working properly. I spent 6-12 minutes diagnosing this in the run-up bay to no avail, amended our flight brief, and ultimately it worked while taxiing to the runway. The second point was I couldn't find in the POH any information about an electrical / 24V outlet to charge my EFB. By YWBL I was at 26%. Fortunately, I brought a charger, as had Dad,

What can I do better

Overall, I need to be more proficient in busy airspace and when I'm task-saturated. I need to practice controlled airspace procedures, and more complex airspace and circuit entry/exit procedures.

Conclusion: Enjoy Flight

Following our flight, Dad and I went to Bad Shepherd Brewery where we enjoyed a couple of IPAs while we debriefed. Mum later relayed that Dad told her that I was a calm, competent pilot. That was odd praise to hear, as I never felt that way. I was a bit more stressed than usual on account of time pressure and this being my first pax flight, and know there are a few areas where I could slow down and be more professional. On telling Luana about my flight, my first comments were about how I'd made a mess of my approach into Moorabbin with the upwind / downwind join, and traffic conflict. And my slightly bumpy landing into Warrnambool. She reminded me that I'd just flown my first passenger flight, with my dad, and brought us home safely.

I am grateful that the military taught me to approach flying with a huge emphasis on safety, preparation, and debriefing. But only adhering to that MO means it is easy to miss the fun moments. For much of my return flight I was focused on making up time and thinking about the terminal approach. I am equally if not more grateful that I've been able to take my dad for a flight, and I hope to take him and other loved-ones on many more.

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