Bridging the Gap: Airline Lessons

Welcome to our new series Bridging the Gap: Airline Lessons, by Scott Peters.

There is a problem in the flight training industry. Best practices from the world of airline operations frequently don't make their way back to those of us who are delivering the flight training. Ideally, flight schools should be regularly improving, and using information from 703/704/705 operators to do so. FIRC Presenter Scott Peters has put together this series, with a focus of relatively simple changes flight instructors can implement today, to improve the pilot they are producing tomorrow. We hope you enjoy this series of articles. Please be sure to subscribe to our blog in order to be notified of new articles; and please be sure to post your ideas on improvement in the comments below - we may do a future article on your topic!

Bridging the Gap: Exterior Lighting and SOPs

When I first joined an operation with formal Standard Operating Procedures (SOPs), I was surprised to learn of the philosophical thoughts behind aircraft exterior light usage. In the end it made perfect sense, but was something that I never fully considered as a student, or even flight instructor.

Something as simple as when to turn on and off the taxi light was intriguing and I will share some of these best practices with you; to hopefully integrate into your operational philosophy.

Most checklists prompt us to put the aircraft beacon on prior to start (and leave it on until shutdown). The rationale has been that this tells others (ground crew, other pilots in the vicinity) that you are about to start the engine(s). This increases awareness for all that we have a “live” aircraft. For night operations, these measures to increase the conspicuousness of the aircraft are no-brainers; but these are not as obvious for day operations.

This brings me to the use of the taxi light. A lot of flight schools are averse to their students, instructors, and rental pilots using the taxi light for day operations. The motivation for this is purely financial. A replacement for a burnt out light bulb is not cheap, impacts the operator’s bottom line, and may not make sense to the operator for day operations.

However, from a best practices standpoint for airline operations, the SOP for any time the aircraft is stopped is to turn the taxi light off. This is now a matter of muscle memory for me. Taxi light “on” operation is only for when the aircraft is in motion. This tells other crews operating in your immediate vicinity that your intent is to move rather than be stopped. If you are stopped and the taxi light is on, you will be challenged by other crews.

Obviously, airmanship needs to be considered and the preservation of night vision for your fellow pilots is a courtesy that allows you to deviate from “SOP.” Other philosophical thoughts on the use of exterior aircraft lights include:

• Landing lights on ONLY when clearance to takeoff received.

• Taxi light on when clearance to land is received.

• Strobe lights on when crossing an active runway.

• Most operators have SOPs when passing 10,000 feet up or down. This includes turning off/on the landing light(s). Most of you will not operate above 10,000 but consider modifying this “SOP” for operations above/below 3,000’ ASL (or 5,000’ out west), which you can tie to your sterile cockpit procedures (our next article).

In closing, integrating airline best practices into pilot training will make candidates better prepared for the “jump”, which is becoming larger due to the nature and direction of the industry. Pilots are already entering airline operations quicker, with less opportunity to “cut their teeth/pay their dues.” In fact, we should be teaching these professional habits/philosophies to all candidates - even those not intent on completing a commercial licence.

This is the first in a series of articles on how we can bridge the gap to better prepare today's students who will be moving on to airline flying. I welcome your ongoing feedback at scottpeters320@hotmail.com.

Thanks,

Scott

Scott Peters is an ATP, Class 1 Flight Instructor, Pilot Examiner, and Flight Instructor Refresher Course Presenter. In his 25 years as an instructor, he has held numerous training positions including Chief Flight Instructor, and is presently the Manager of Pilot Training at a Canadian air carrier. Scott can be reached at scottpeters320@hotmail.com.