The pilots are delaying their flight. I'd like to go to the sky: an interview with a pilot

Specifics of working as an airline instructor pilot

The main difference between the work of an instructor pilot in an airline and the work of his colleague during initial training is that the trainee already has some experience in flying, while the training is carried out with live passengers in the cabin, who must remain the same at the end of the flight.

Even a recent graduate with zero experience in commercial aviation has an understanding of the aircraft. And if a student has more than one thousand hours on different airliners behind him, he can be considered a fully accomplished pilot.

On the one hand, both the first and second options look like an advantage. However, this often turns... into disadvantages.

An equally important specific point is that, unlike the initial training pilot-instructor, the line instructor will meet with his student more than once or twice in future flights. Their careers are now inextricably linked, at least for the duration of their work at this airline. His student will be doing work (that is, not just flying) with other airline pilots, and in a very close team, the news that a student of a particular instructor was not the most prepared spreads very quickly, and it is quite easy to lose the respect of colleagues in this way. And it is very difficult to restore.

And, as a continuation, there is a very real situation in which the family of the pilot-instructor will go on vacation with him on corporate company tickets on the plane at the controls of which yesterday’s student is sitting. If an instructor pilot is not aware of this possibility and does not make it his responsibility, then such a person should not take on the instructor job.

Graduates

Yesterday's graduates with fresh pilot certificates, it would seem, should also have fresh knowledge.

However, the realities of today indicate the opposite - a long five-year training, in which, in addition to aviation disciplines, no less number of sciences are studied that are not directly related to aviation, training that is not focused on independent decision-making and preparation for flights, leads to the fact that the graduate higher aviation institution as a rule poorly understands not only in the regulatory framework, but also in what he needs every day - the ability to conduct radio communications, use collections of aeronautical information, analyze weather conditions, etc.

Yes, they went through all this in one semester, and even received the A’s they deserved at that time, however, without applying the acquired knowledge in practice, the skill does not appear, and the theory is forgotten very quickly. The instructor should plan the training to cover all aspects of flying and to address gaps in initial training.

It would be a great idea to organize periodic seminars for airline and educational institute instructors.

In addition, it is usually quite difficult for a recent graduate with 150 hours of flight time on the Yak18 and L410 to adapt to a high-speed jet airliner, flights on which are assessed according to strict criteria for a stabilized approach, which must be ensured at any time of the day and in any weather.

Gaining stable piloting skills takes time and experience - and here the instructor faces the difficult problem of determining the degree of trust in his student when it comes to practicing manual piloting skills in real conditions. The standard one hundred and fifty hours for this skill is very little, and not every pilot qualified to become an instructor is ready to make the decision to increase the commissioning program. We'll talk about the reasons for this later.

However, yesterday's graduates have one indisputable advantage - they are young, they have not yet lost the motivation that brought them into the profession, they are ready to learn and absorb new knowledge like a sponge - the instructor only needs to direct their energy in the right direction.

Their consciousness has not yet had time to mature and absorb the wrong culture of attitude towards flying, which blossomed in the industry in the 90s and 00s and still manifests itself in people who have not learned to play by the right rules today. We have already said that the trainee strives to work the way his mentor works, therefore, the Instructor, with his personal positive example of a professional attitude to work, can contribute to the development of a new generation of pilots, and this is difficult to overestimate.

If you don’t make a positive contribution and don’t prepare the student to defend against negative influences, get ready for what will be very short term Your student will adopt all the “techniques” and “concepts”, including the most harmful and unsafe ones, that still exist in your airline as an echo of “those times”.

Experienced pilots

Yesterday's Tu-154 Captain was an excellent professional on his plane, having flown 10 thousand hours. However, over the years, he has gotten used to the fact that the entire crew works for him - the navigator is busy with navigation issues and conducting radio communications with Control, the co-pilot fills out paperwork, the flight engineer is responsible for the aircraft systems and refueling. Adding here traditionally not very good knowledge in English, one can imagine what problems an older person faces when he is transferred to the right (or, even worse, left) seat of a foreign aircraft, the crew of which consists of two pilots.

Moreover, yesterday's experienced Captain is greatly influenced by his past skills and life situations, flight characteristics associated with already mastered types of aircraft, which are not always useful when studying a completely new airliner.

Another problem in teaching an adult, experienced person may be... age and experience of the instructor pilot. Currently, there are more and more young, capable guys who have gone through all levels of training on a foreign airliner, reaching the rank of pilot instructor, however, not every “seasoned” pilot is ready to agree that he is being taught by a man old enough to be his son.

The instructor pilot is required to be able to identify negative factors related to past experience. In addition, highlight those positive aspects that are not registered on a specific type of aircraft and focus on their use, maintaining positive motivation. It may be necessary to reduce the training time for hand piloting compared to what is required for a graduate, but increase the amount of work with instrumentation equipment, as well as the hours spent in the pilot monitoring role.

To treat mistrust associated with big difference in age and experience, there is one, but very proven remedy - personal professionalism. The Instructor's knowledge, his ability to answer the questions asked (what is important is also to show where it is written) is a guaranteed way to gain respect!

And what is also very important when training older experienced pilots is the ability to personally show how it is done. It’s easy and relaxed, for example, to make an approach in difficult weather conditions. Coupled with theoretical knowledge, this gives a 100% guarantee of respect from a critical “father”!

Over time, this approach leads to the fact that this instructor receives the image of the “correct” one - with which (surprisingly) other pilots are afraid to fly, feeling the sin of a free attitude to work, however, even they advise a beginner to get into training is for this.

Thus, over time, it becomes easier and easier for a young “correct instructor” to work with older pilots, while, according to the laws of nature, he himself gradually moves into the rank of “adults”.

The problem of serfdom

Nowadays, in Russian airlines there is a more and more clearly visible tendency to move from the traditional method of assigning an instructor to a student for the entire induction program to the Western version - flying with different instructors.

Is this good or bad - there is no clear answer. There are pros and cons to each approach, especially if this approach is poorly organized.

Let's talk.

Fastening method

This approach is rooted in the distant military past. It provides for strict assignment of the trainee and instructor to the commissioning program, and, as a result, the opportunity to “ask the instructor” for the results of the training.

This approach is very similar to how initial training occurs in most countries of the world.

The obvious advantage of this method is that the instructor, flying day after day with the student, sees his strengths and weaknesses and can build a training sequence, individually highlighting some training blocks.

Periodically, senior commanders perform one-time flights with the trainee, providing intermediate control.

Ideally, this approach looks... ideal. But this is only possible when the Instructor is ideal.

What if the student is unlucky with the instructor? If the latter agreed to an instructor's permit mainly for mercantile reasons - to fly to Alicante more often, and not in order to invest in his professional growth and the transfer of knowledge to young students? What if this “instructor” is far from proficient in theoretical training for various reasons, but received admission “because we need instructors”?

If this instructor does not follow the standards and rules, but flies according to his own “techniques” and “concepts”, then what feelings will the pilot experience even if he manages to pass the test for admission to the solo flights(the inspector is a personal friend of the instructor) - and will get into the crew of the Captain, who works exclusively according to the standards and rules?

Accordingly, what words will this Captain use to cover up this “instructor” (and “inspector”)?

This means that there is a huge risk that the quality of training will decrease significantly. Moreover, if the instructor periodically gets fried on the beaches of Spain, and his trainee does not have the opportunity to fly abroad, then the training is also delayed. Yes, during this time he can fly with senior commanders, increase the number of formal intermediate checks, or even be reassigned to another instructor, and...

And thus we came to another problem of fixations - formal approach to the execution of this method .

Theory is theory, but the truth of life is that the consolidation method is not viable for the reason that it is delayed for a long time due to the periodic unavailability of the instructor. And if the management decides to fly with the trainee during the absence of the assigned mentor... then what kind of assignment can we talk about here, if in the end, during the commissioning period, the pilot flew with a dozen instructors, nine of whom are managers and Are you by nature accustomed to playing the role of inspectors, not Teachers?

And one more nuance - the Syndrome of the Ideal Instructor and the Ideal Student. If your student masters the material brilliantly, everything works out for him from the first hours of flights... then by the middle of the program your attention will be “blurred” and you may not see any deviation in his attitude to work. Or you will see, but against the background of previous successes you will consider this deviation insignificant... although, perhaps, if someone else were in its place, you would sound the alarm.

In this case, the cure is... changing the instructor for at least one or two flights. And, again, what kind of compliance with this “fixing” rule can we talk about?

Unfastening method

The Western approach does not involve assigning one instructor to the entire commissioning program. Typically, the pilot flies with those instructors whom the automated planning system selects based on their availability for a given task. Sometimes companies set a condition (very correct, in my opinion) - one instructor conducts several consecutive classes (flights, training sessions).

The obvious advantage of this approach is the flexibility of planning and time to complete the program. Romance aside, it must be admitted that civil Aviation- this is, first of all, a business, and a low-income business, but existing in a highly competitive environment. The airline cannot slow down its development just because the training department is not able to produce the required number of new pilots on time - otherwise it will be gobbled up by those who do it more efficiently.

Another plus is that the pilot has a chance to gain more experience - as he will interact with different people

However, one should also take into account the obvious disadvantage of this approach - if the company has an advantage of instructors who dream of warming their backs in Alicante instead of spending their energy on personal professional growth and finding new methods for transferring knowledge, then the training is guaranteed to be no better quality than in the variant discussed above.

Another disadvantage of this approach is that with a constant (too frequent) change of instructors, it is very problematic to highlight the individual characteristics of the pilot, to determine his personal specific tasks that require time to solve, unlike other pilots who are better at this task. An irresponsible instructor will simply “roll off” to the next flight, without any particular motivation to invest his soul in the student, because knows that she won’t fly with this guy again. As a result, hours are often wasted...

But how is it that the vast majority of the world's airlines adhere to the second option, while ensuring safety that is many times higher than in Russia?

We will consider the methods of provision in the sequel.

In early childhood, I looked at my grandfather, a pilot, who worked at Vnukovo. He was first a bomber pilot, then switched to civil aviation.

My father is a designer in aerospace industry- also played a role in the choice to some extent. So by the age of 7, I had formed an accurate idea of ​​my future profession. Subsequently, at the age of 14, I entered the Yeisk special flight school, then there was the Balashov Military School, service in the Russian Air Force, and then, 10 years ago, I came to work at S7 Airlines.

In general, dynasty really exists in our profession. Very often, pilots come from aviation families. To become a pilot you still need a certain state of mind. There are no random people among us; if there are such people, they leave within a year. This is too hard work, you have to really love it.

- What kind of state of mind is this?

Pilots compare it to a childhood illness - if you get sick once, then forever ( laughs). This is a love of the sky, airplanes, and lifestyle in general.

Personally, when I come to work, I catch myself thinking that I really get great pleasure from it.

- What are the requirements for pilots?

First of all, this is, of course, a state of health. Any young person coming to a flight school first undergoes a rather serious medical examination and psychological examination.

Also, the flight school places serious requirements for general subjects upon admission. Well, certain aspirations are also necessary.

- Tell us, what are the actions of a flight school graduate?

After completing his training, he comes to the airline and undergoes retraining on the aircraft of this airline. In S7 it takes about six months. The training includes a theoretical part, simulators, ground work with instructors, trainee flights and exam.

After that, he goes out as a working co-pilot. In our airline, the pilot immediately takes the Airbus 319 and 320, after 500 hours of flights, which is about 8-9 months, he undergoes training to pilot the Airbus 321 - this is a more complex and heavier machine.

- How often do you fly?

A private pilot typically flies about five days a week. Personally, I do about 3-4 flights since I also teach at the airline's training center. The standard for pilots is 80 flight hours per month, 800 per year. Maximum - 90 hours per month.

- Do you have divisions into international and domestic flights?

Yes, sure. When a pilot comes to work for an airline, he flies domestic flights. After successful flights with instructors and passing qualification checks, he undergoes special training and receives permission to fly internationally.

- How is the flight schedule compiled? Can you make suggestions?

There is a special crew planning department that draws up the schedule. Of course, pilots can leave their wishes regarding flights. That is, of course, it’s not like that where I want, I fly there. But if there is a reason for flying to a certain place, then the department will take it into account. For example, if a family flies on vacation, to the sea, and the pilot himself wants to carry out this flight, so why not?

In most cases, these applications are taken into account. Pilots also have the opportunity to book their days off in advance. We have a special program in which we can send an application for certain dates a month in advance.

The situation is the same with vacations. Pilots leave their vacation wishes in the same program. We have 70 days of vacation per year, of which 50 we can choose on our preferred dates. And the airline provides 20 days as required by the flight crew: that is, in winter the workload is lower - so they will be more willing to give leave.

Vacations are usually planned in September-October for the next calendar year. In fact, this is very convenient, for example, I planned my June vacation back in January, when everything was much cheaper.

- Do pilots have preferences in purchasing tickets?

Yes, we have corporate tickets with a reduced price. Once a year I can get tickets for myself, my wife and children with a guaranteed seat. Also, I, my family, my parents and my wife’s parents can take tickets without a guarantee of a seat, that is, depending on the availability of seats. If there are free seats, they will be taken on the flight. The cost of such tickets, of course, is significantly lower than usual.

- Do you stay in other cities or fly back straight away?

There are so-called relay flights, when pilots fly a flight and remain to rest in the city until the next flight, usually from one to three days. We have flights to Bratsk, Ulan-Ude and Alicante. But a larger number of turnaround flights are when we arrive in a city and fly back 40-50 minutes later.

- What do you usually do in your free time during relay races?

Alicante, for example, has excellent beaches; even in winter you can have a pleasant time under the sun. Beautiful city, you can take a walk. When I first had children, I liked to sleep more ( smiling).

- There is probably a struggle among the pilots for relay flights...

No, everyone flies there regularly, there are no favorites who do it more often than others.

- Are pilots allowed to meet each other at work?

We usually still have a little time for this, but there are no rules prohibiting dating.

- Have you ever had affairs with flight attendants or passengers?

Personally, I don’t. But we have many families formed “on board”. And this is not prohibited.

How do people generally react when they find out that you are a pilot?

They usually ask the same stupid question: aren’t you scared of flying? Well, of course, many people are interested in my profession. A funny incident happened once when my daughter was in third grade. At school they had an assignment to describe the profession of their parents. To this my daughter said: “My dad is a hero. He's flying in the sky, he's a hero!" Oh, by the way, she also wants to become a pilot.

- Wow! Are there many female pilots now?

We don't have them at our company, but I know that women fly for other airlines. So this is not an exclusively male profession.

- What do pilots eat during a flight?

We have separate meals, the quality is richer than in economy, but not the same as in business. There are certain calorie requirements. Of course, it all depends on the airport and its workshop that provides the food.

- Do you need a visa to fly?

By law, we have the right to stay in the Schengen countries for 72 hours without a visa. That is, we fly to Alicante without visas. Otherwise it depends on the country's requirements. We operate all turnaround flights without visas.

- What procedures and checks do you undergo before the flight?

This is a search, like all passengers, medical control, mandatory before each flight, then a briefing and preparation procedure before the flight. We receive flight documentation, flight plan, weather reports, NOTAMs - the latest changes in airfields and routes. After studying and analyzing the information, the pilots go to prepare the plane for takeoff. Usually it takes an hour to prepare if the flight is domestic, and an hour and a half if it is international.

- Has it affected the work of pilots in Russia? Have safety rules and mental health screenings changed?

The situation that arose on that flight has been impossible for us for many years, since there are strict rules governing the pilot’s exit from the cockpit. In this case, a flight attendant must enter the cabin.

In addition, our organizational structure is structured so that for every 5-7 captains and 7-10 pilots there is a pilot instructor. Three such groups are headed by a senior pilot instructor. Five such flight cells of three groups make up a flight detachment. Therefore, there is always an instructor who receives daily reports on the quality of flights and knows about the work and condition of each pilot. .

- Finally, dispel the suspicions of many: do you turn off your phone during a flight?

We sometimes encounter the problem of interference on the air during a flight precisely because the phone starts searching for a network. That's why we always turn off the phone in the cabin. I usually set it to airplane mode.

- How do you cope with jetlag and overload? Can you give any tips on how to improve your well-being during a flight?

For us, this, of course, is not so important, since the overwhelming majority of our flights are turnarounds. Usually we continue to live according to Moscow time. To help me feel better during a flight, I usually drink green tea or coffee. Someone gives themselves acupressure massage.

- Until what age can you fly? What are your options after you don't want or can't fly?

It depends on the country and airline. In ours, captains can fly up to 65 years old. Of course, after this the pilot can continue to work in the airline's ground services.

- Do you have any professional signs or superstitions? Something like not washing your hair before a flight.

Well, for example, pilots never sew on buttons before a flight. If you see a pilot without a button, it means it came off before the flight.

- Why do pilots often speak so unintelligibly into the microphone?

Many people are embarrassed to speak into a microphone. Sometimes the pilot is just in a hurry. Well, not all pilots have perfect diction ( laughs). This is in no way a slight - everyone understands that the more confident the pilot speaks, the more comfortable it will be for the passengers.

There was one case with an Armenian pilot I knew. He was supposed to fly to Yerevan, and some grandmother, already on the plane before takeoff, suddenly changed her mind about flying, saying that she felt bad. She was asked to get off the plane, to which she said that she felt better. Then I changed my mind again. All this lasted about 20 minutes. In the end, the pilot told her in Armenian over the speakerphone: “Grandma, decide whether we are flying or not.” To which she replied: “Oh, there’s an Armenian in the cockpit, then everything’s fine, let’s fly.”

- Do you want to fly somewhere on vacation or are you tired of flying?

I always enjoy flying. On vacation I usually fly once a year with my family to Montenegro, and once a year to some sanatorium in Kislovodsk.

our team

Director of Raich Aerospace and Senior Pilot Instructor

A former F-16 fighter crew member, Russell began flying in the Air Force in 1996. After converting his Air Force licenses to civilian format, and working in the US, China, Indonesia and the UK as a charter pilot and instructor pilot, Russell earned US, Chinese, Asian and European Airline Pilot licenses. With a total of more than 4,500 hours of flight time, he combines work as a pilot instructor for our company (several days a month) with full-time work for US airlines in jet planes type Bombardier 700 and 900 and also transports business jets such as Challenger 600 and 850 for the Global Air Ferry company. (Speaks Russian fluently)

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Mel Quinton

Senior Pilot Instructor

Mel has over 8,500 hours of experience and is licensed as a pilot instructor for light aircraft and helicopters. Mel, originally from the UK, has trained pilots from Russia and many other countries and is one of the best, patient and consistent instructors in the industry.

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Craig Wigen

Senior Pilot Instructor

Craig has over 10,000 hours of experience as an instructor and charter pilot. Craig works as a senior pilot instructor at our flight center and is also a charter pilot on a King Air B100 that flies from our flight center to Caribbean Islands few times a week.

Moscow, March 23. Denis Okan, senior pilot-instructor of the flight squad of a large Russian airline, named in his blog denokan.livejournal.com the typical mistakes of Boeing 737 pilots, which lead to a dive and subsequent plane crash during a missed approach. Note that it was the stalling into a dive due to loss of speed and high pitch that led to the death of flight FZ981 near Rostov.

At the same time, Boeing recommendations, collected in the Flight Crew Training Manual (FCTM), require special actions from pilots in such a situation, including translation passenger airliner into a deep (45 to 60 degrees) roll, which adds the risk of stalling in a dive.

“Making a missed approach after attempting an approach with two autopilots connected from an altitude of less than 300 feet is very tricky. As you know, at this height the automatic system switches the stabilizer to pitch up, and the rebalancing is very significant. Under the control of the autopilot, this is not noticeable externally, because it compensates for this rebalancing by deflecting the thruster into a dive.

If for some reason (usually just mechanically) during this departure you turn off the autopilot at the moment you press TOGA, then you will get NOSE HIGH almost 100% guaranteed. After all, it’s written in your head - “go around - take the helm!” That is, we have a “pull” stabilizer, a steering wheel at the usual “pull” pace and... after retracting the flaps from the landing position (especially from 40, which is recommended for approaches in CATII/III conditions) to position 15, they make a sensitive contribution to total pitching moment of the aircraft. Before you have time to say “mom,” the pitch is already “there” and the speed drops,” the senior pilot instructor explained the situation.

According to Denis Okan, Boeing pilots must always be prepared for a missed approach.

“It is very important to always be ready for a go-around. Always. "The landing is an aborted go-around." The pilot’s attitude towards the upcoming landing should be based on the following thought: we will approach the landing in constant readiness to go around and leave at the first opportunity. However, if we establish the necessary visual contact at the decision altitude and the aircraft is stabilized, then we can attempt to land, remaining ready for a missed approach even after touching down,” the pilot recommends.

Note that every day in the world about a hundred Boeing landings occur with a missed approach and this is not considered an accident. However, judging by the assessment of the situation by professional instructors, a go-around for a Boeing 737 is a very serious test for equipment and pilots that should be feared. In the video below you can see how serious the situation is when the plane goes around.

Also Denis Okan answered the most pressing questions related to the crash of flight FZ981.

- Does it matter to a pilot that he is landing a plane for the first time at a particular airfield?

- If we talk about an airport like Rostov, then it doesn’t really matter. This is a simple airport. Difficult ones are Madeira, Innsbruck, Chambery, Kathmandu. There are even more complex ones, but there large liners don't fly.

- Journalists write that the elevator froze due to a sharp temperature change. Could this be possible?

- “Frozen due to a sharp temperature change” - only a victim of the Unified State Exam can write.

The press mentioned problems with the Boeing 737 rudder sticking. This occurred when heated hydraulic fluid entered the servo, which was cooled during flight, causing it to jam. The list of such flights is known: the Boeing 737 crash near Colorado Springs, the Boeing 737 crash near Pittsburgh, the Boeing 737 crash near Palembang, the Boeing 737 incident near Richmond.

- The problem with the launch vehicle existed on another generation of B737, it was eliminated long ago and has nothing to do with this disaster.