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To Own Up or Cover Up: Why We Should Share Our Mistakes!

9/13/2019

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“Knowledge is a commodity to be shared. For knowledge to pay dividends, it should not remain the monopoly of the selected few” ~ Moutasem Algharati
By: Ryan Van Haren

Tell me about the last time you had a perfect flight. Please, take your time, I’ll sit here and wait. Chances are you’ll have a tough time recalling one. Why? Because flying is the ultimate combination of art and science, neither of which can be perfected. Now ask yourself, how did great artists learn to be great, and how did the great scientists become great. The answer is that they studied and learned from those that came before them. They learned from their colleagues’ successes and failures.

How many of you have picked up the latest issue of FLYING Magazine and skipped right to the regular column called WHAT I LEARNED ABOUT FLYING FROM THAT? I don’t need to tell you because you already know that it is usually in the back quarter of the magazine and shares stories submitted by pilots recounting their most frightening and vulnerable moments in an airplane in hopes that others may also learn. This monthly column is basically the aviation equivalent of the centerfold spread whether you want to admit it or not. Now ask yourself two more questions. Why did you skip straight to the article where pilots tell all? and Would you have the courage to share your mistakes? Chances are you went straight for that article because it put you in the airplane experiencing what that pilot experienced, you were able to learn something about that pilot’s decision making process and you put the magazine down thinking, wow I’m never going to make that mistake!

As pilots we all strive to be safe, and to make good decisions. Good decisions are the result of experience and experience comes from having made mistakes or having learned from the mistakes of others. I recently read a book called The Pathless Way by Justin de Goutiere. This book was published in the 1960s and recounts the stories of a floatplane pilot working on the British Columbia coast. As I was reading in disbelief at some of the risks that were taken and tales that were told I took a moment and realized that at the time this book was published, “bush pilots” and “bush planes” had only really been a thing for twenty years. This pilot never had access to the resources that we enjoy today. No GPS, no Facebook Community to ask questions of or share experiences with, no Google, no satellite imagery or GFAs and certainly no safety management systems. He truly had to make his mistakes in order to learn and gain experience or glean what he could during limited face to face hangar flying with other pilots. I suppose that is what separates aviation pioneers from modern day pilots. Aviation pioneers had to learn the hard way while modern day pilots only have to learn the hard way if they are either unwilling to listen or unwilling to share their mistakes with others.

As pilots we all make mistakes. Let’s chalk it up to being more human than pilot. It is what we do with these mistakes that matter. In Commercial Aviation we have Safety Management Systems or SMS where pilots are required to self report safety concerns or errors be they minor or major. In Air Traffic Control the term used is Just Culture. It is a system where Air Traffic Controllers must self-report their errors. In both the SMS and Just Culture system reports are meant to be non-punitive unless gross negligence is involved. The idea being that by self-reporting, sharing mistakes and identifying the root cause others may learn and avoid making the same error.

The key here is to identify the cause and contributing factors of the mistake not to assign blame. When looking for a root cause one of the methods is the PETE model in which the following categories are examined:

P-erson
E-nvironment
T-echnology
E-xternal factors.

Why is it important to identify a cause rather than find a person to blame? If we want pilots to share their mistakes and lessons openly, the last thing we should be doing is starting a witch hunt or making them feel like they are being prosecuted for making a mistake. The very thing that differentiates a mistake from a malicious act is whether or not it was intentional. When a pilot or any human feels threatened or fears prosecution, they are more likely to cover up the mistake which can lead to much worse problems down the road, especially in aviation.

Case Study:
Tom arrives at the airport to take his flying club’s Cessna 152 out for a flight. His plan was to fly to a local airport for lunch. As he was pulling the aircraft out of the hangar his wife called. He finished pulling the aircraft out with the tow bar in one hand and his cell phone in the other. The conversation gets a bit heated and he paces around the aircraft a few times before getting in and starting the engine. The engine starts normally, all the gauges are green. He advances the throttle to begin taxiing and as the aircraft starts rolling, he hears a loud “PRANG!!” and sees the red handle of the aluminum towbar go airborne and land next to the hangars. Tom immediately shuts the aircraft down and inspects the propeller only to find that there is a small nick with a tiny fleck of red paint. What does Tom do?

The answer is quite simple right! Or is it?

It really depends on the culture at Tom’s flying club. If the culture is one that promotes learning and education and if Tom feels comfortable sharing his mistake, then he will report the prop-strike and educate his fellow club members about the dangers of using a cell phone while pre-flighting an aircraft. The other members might poke some good-natured fun at him, but everyone will have learned a valuable lesson. The odds of a repeat of this experience with anyone from the club is very low. Tom will report the damage, an AME will inspect it and chances are the aircraft will be returned to service.

If Tom’s club has a culture of finger pointing, finding people to blame, looking for reasons to suspend one’s flying privileges or just a general atmosphere of distrust and aversion to learning then there is a very good chance that Tom, fearing repercussions and ostracization will find a rag, buff out the fleck of red paint and say nothing to the club in order to save face and keep his pride intact. Tom will push the plane back into the hangar and for the next nine months other members will fly it with no knowledge of the prop strike. When the aircraft goes in for annual the AME will find a small crack that has grown since the incident which had it been dressed immediately would have been no problem. Upon learning of the crack at the club the members find themselves in a feeding frenzy of distrust pointing fingers at one another trying to find a person to blame while Tom’s conscience weighs heavily in the back row.

Whether new or experienced, pilots have the opportunity to continuously learn from others as well as educate their peers by sharing their experiences and listening without judgement to the experiences of others. I took off in my aircraft this past June without my cowl being done up. The right half of my cowl departed the aircraft and went through my flap. It ended in a prompt landing and a rather large bill from the structures shop. That said, I can tell you using the PETE model exactly how it happened. I shared it openly and am still reminded by others constantly as they make jokes and poke harmless fun. I am glad that they make jokes because every joke made is a reminder to everyone to not make the same mistake that I did. Even highly experienced airline and military pilots are not immune to the odd screw up. About 10 years ago, an Air Canada flight came very close to landing in Vernon thinking that they were on final to Kelowna. Several years later, a military C17 heavy transport landed at a small general aviation airport in Florida next to the actual Air Force Base that they were meant to land at only to have to unload to be light enough to get back out. Mistakes Happen!

We are a community, we are human, and we make mistakes. By keeping our mistakes to ourselves or persecuting others for theirs we do our entire community of aviators a disservice. I challenge each and every person that reads this to take an opportunity to share a mistake that they have made with someone. The more we normalize sharing of errors and mistakes the more we can learn from one another and hopefully reduce the repetition of unfortunate events in the future.

Speaking of learning from mistakes, using the binder containing your journey log and aircraft documents as a temporary chock behind the main wheel isn’t a great idea. Don’t ask how I know!
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2019 BCGA Scholarship Winners Announced

9/10/2019

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The BCGA is thrilled to announce the results of the 2019 scholarship competition. This was the second year of BCGA scholarships and we received 12 applications for the two available awards. All of the applications were very compelling. A panel of three BCGA directors came to a consensus on this year's recipients. 

Many factors came together to allow us (The BC General Aviation Association) to offer these scholarships. 
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1. Generous contributions by Erissa Yong & Dr. Harshbir Toor.
2. A strong and productive partnership with our affiliate organization The BC Aviation Council.

The recipients are being announced today September 10th and the awards will be officially presented at the BC Aviation Council's Silver Wings Awards Gala on October 24th. 

We wish to thank all those that applied for the awards and encourage those that did not apply and those that were not chosen this year to submit an application for the 2020 awards.

2019 BCGA Scholarship Winners

Erissa Yong BCGA Bursary  $2000
Awarded to a pilot or student pilot who has overcome adversity in his or her life.

Purpose
This award is to recognize the perseverance of a pilot, student pilot or aircraft maintenance engineer that has overcome adversity. The scholarship is to be used to further the recipients aviation education or flight training towards basic or advanced licenses or ratings.
2019 Recipient - Erik Urquhart
​
Vernon, BC
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Onkarbir Singh Toor Memorial BCGA Scholarship $1000
Awarded to a pilot or student pilot who has overcome adversity in his or her life. 

Purpose
This award is to recognize the perseverance of a pilot or student pilot that has overcome adversity. The scholarship is to be used to further the recipients aviation education or flight training towards basic or advanced licenses or ratings.
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2019 Recipient - Mark Pua
Vancouver, BC
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We wish to congratulate all of this years deserving recipients we are proud to be able to offer these award and thank all those that did apply for taking the time and hope that you will re-apply for next years awards. ​
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Progress For GA at Terrace Airport Thanks to Local Pilot (CYXT)

9/4/2019

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BCGA member and pilot Jim Tiviotdale of Terrace, BC has taken the 2019 BCGA motto of "Great Idea, Make it Happen" to heart. As many of you know the BCGA is not a lobby group, those efforts are lead by our partners at COPA. There is however, something to be said for members of both organizations that take the initiative to take the lead on issues that are important to them rather than waiting for fo someone else to do something about it. 

Frustrated by the decline in treatment of general aviation at his home airport Jim took the lead and with the support of the BCGA and COPA has spent the better part of the past year trying to make a difference at his home airport of Terrace-Kitimat. It is with pleasure that I share this letter written by Jim himself as he outlines some of the progress that he has made. 

On behalf of all aviators I wish to thank Jim for his efforts and persistence. 

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Letter From Jim
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The genesis of this frustrating experience coincided with the arrival of a new, green airport manager at CYXT 8 years ago. At that time there was a very active fixed wing community based there, including an 8 member T hangar group that had been on the field since 1975.
 
Soon after his arrival his aversion to general aviation and fixed wing in particular became evident as he removed the tie downs for both local and itinerant aircraft, imposed significant fees for apron parking which was not the safest for small aircraft. Over a 5 year period, he did everything within his power to evict the hangar group, which he finally accomplished in 2016. The hangars sat empty for 3 years before being demolished this past spring. Of that group of 8 ,4 sold and exited aviation while 4 of us relocated our aircraft to friendly airports, albeit some distance away which makes regular flying challenging. With no aircraft based at the airport PEP Air/CASARA soon lost it members and its ability to provide SAR support to a large portion of the province!
 
A year ago, after my request to make a presentation to the Airport Society’s Board of Directors was intercepted by the airport manager and refused I approached each of the 4 founding Society Members, 2 municipal governments and 2 Chambers of Commerce individually, outlining how the airport policies were negatively impacting their own members and the community in general, economically as well as safety.
 
My letters were read into their minutes and as such became public record. In November the Editor of the Terrace Standard requested an interview to follow up on the letter. After 5 months of research and diligence which included contacting both BCGAA and COPA for comments and information it became evident that the story would not be flattering to CYXT and the decision was made by the Terrace Standard notto publish the article. This was based on the fact that the airport is a significant advertising client and at the time a lot of the anti GA decisions were being made the Publisher was a Director of the Airport Society. This is the same newspaper that fired a columnist after writing a article critical of the airport to which the airport manager complained to the publisher (the article was spot on).
 
After my efforts to effect change relatively in house became futile I started utilizing the power of Social Media. This resulted in an invitation from the President of the Airport Society for a one on one meeting in July of this year. 
 
The first positive outcome of our meeting was that last week the airport installed tie down anchors for 3 aircraft on the grass infield directing abutting the main apron. According to a reliable source (NavCan) the new tie downs have already generated positive pilot feedback. While not the ideal location due to prop and jet wash from the larger aircraft on the apron, it is indeed a major step forward. The caveat on the tie downs is that they will only be available May through September each year. I will continue my efforts to have them relocated to a more GA user friendly area. 
 
The airport manager continues to impose a unique set of landing fees which are out of step with most airports. I have submitted comparisons of other airports to the President of the Airport Society and will continue to lobby to have YXT’s amended to reflect the industry norm.
 
Note:  YXT has not updated its website to reflect the new tie downs.
 
 


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