Premium on Safety - Issue 51, 2024 - 10

BEST PRACTICES
recorders capturing historic flight telemetry.
In newer models, this data is transmitted
automatically to the cloud.
The video viewable in the sidebar on the
previous page was recreated on a simulator
from actual flight data retrieved from an
accident airplane performing inappropriate
low-altitude aerobatics in a Cirrus SR-22
aircraft. The download revealed a history of
unsafe activity that occurred over time with
aileron rolls at increasingly lower altitudes. The
accident maneuver occurred at 220 feet agl. If
this reckless behavior had been detected earlier,
two lives might have been saved.
" A pilot who witnessed the crash told the NTSB
that the aircraft pitched from level flight to
a 30-degree nose-up attitude before rolling
inverted, reversing the roll, and ultimately
impacting the ground in an (estimated)
80-degree nose-down condition. Information
contained in the aircraft's data recorder largely
coincided with that account. It also showed
that roll wasn't the aircraft's first, " wrote a staff
writer for AVweb following the NTSB's final
report in 2019.
An advantage of data recorders is daily
tracking of safety violations in a fleet of
aircraft. Why wait for an accident to happen
to harness these data opportunities? Of
course, digital surveillance creates privacy
concerns, but several academic studies
were groundbreaking in establishing safety
guidelines and validating the undeniable
value of daily monitoring systems. Initial
monitoring programs were deployed with
the Cirrus aircraft, and this data proved to
be so valuable that similar programs were
subsequently deployed to monitor larger fleets
at college aviation programs-most notably
the University of North Dakota and Liberty
University. When students sign up for training,
they agree to flight monitoring.
Unsafe aircraft activities are harbingers
of accidents. When a rental agreement
includes data monitoring, the fleet's safety
statistically improves-someone is watching.
Pursuant to any rental agreement by these
operators is a pledge to fly within accepted
safety standards. Data monitoring programs
like this perfectly fit an established safety
culture and should be acceptable to all
participating pilots. This surveillance usage
dovetails nicely with the focus of this series
of articles and embeds perfectly in an
established SMS program.
An effective use of data monitoring and
playback is in enhancing pilot safety when
used during flight training. Flight schools
that use data recording and playback
have proven to create safer and bettertrained
pilots with reduced learning times.
CloudAhoy has developed a whole suite
of recording and analysis tools that record
on an iPad and grade every pilot maneuver
while suggesting improvements. This
intelligent software takes raw flight data and
recognizes each maneuver performed. On
request, the software grades each maneuver
against FAA ACS standards and rates
progress. It also provides a complete " digital
debrief " from the data collected, comparing
every performance to previous flights to
demonstrate progress toward the flight
training goals. This tool has been eagerly
adopted by all branches of the U.S. military
in pilot training.
In every way, onboard data monitoring is a
win for safety-from improving flight training
to monitoring flights to prevent accidents. In
the case of accidents, we have actual data to
reveal the causal chain and prevent future
recurrences.
Fly safely out there (and often)!
David St. George is a Master Flight Instructor/FAA
DPE/ATP(ME-SE) and Part 135 pilot.
10
https://safeblog.org/wp-content/uploads/2023/12/DataTrackingInCirrusFleet.pdf https://www.cloudahoy.com/ https://www.avweb.com/news/crashed-cirrus-data-recorder-tells-aerobatic-tale/
Premium on Safety - Issue 51, 2024

Table of Contents for the Digital Edition of Premium on Safety - Issue 51, 2024
