Airmanship – How good Airmanship will save your life

What is Airmanship? Good airmanship refers to the operation of an aircraft in a safe and efficient manner. It requires sound judgment, good discipline and good communication. Read on as we explain further, and provide some quick tips for better airmanship!

Introduction

The Air Force has a very precise definition of airmanship. “The safe and efficient operation of an aircraft, both in the air and on the ground.”

This relates to an aviator’s ability to safely and efficiently operate an aircraft – both in flight such as take-off, climb, cruise descent, combat, operational and emergency operations, but also on ground-based operations such as pre-flight planning, leadership and crew management, start-up, taxiing, parking or shut down procedures.

Contents hide

1 Introduction

2 Safety and efficiency

3 Airmanship in the military

4 Examples of good airmanship

5 Examples of poor airmanship

6 Summary for Airmanship

pilot, safety in aviation — The Air Force has a very precise definition of airmanship. “The safe and efficient operation of an aircraft, both in the air and on the ground.”

Safety and efficiency

Safe and efficient – do these sometimes sound mutually exclusive? Or that one should be performed at the expense of others? Surely skipping the preflight inspection of the aircraft could save time and be more efficient, but is it a safe thing to do?

Airmanship can sound like a ‘catch all’ term to mean ‘do the right thing’, however it is more than simply rules, procedures, flows and checklists. It is about using your experience to make decisions with information that you have with your best judgment.

In other words, Airmanship is using common sense and sound judgment for aviators! You can read more about Airmanship HERE¹.

“A combination of poor skills and poor attitudes can lead to poor airmanship as well as a negative culture of airmanship, which can be passed down from instructor to student, or from school to student.”
flightsafetyaustralia.com/2019/08/when-pigs-fly-manners-airmanship-and-safety ¹

When you think about it, Safety and Efficiency are actually not mutually exclusive, they are mutually beneficial!

Say you did skip that pre-flight, and didn’t notice that oil leak coming out of one of your engines that you would surely have picked up had you done your usual walk around. You go ahead and start it up, taxi out to the bay and start to notice some abnormal indications. Do you ask other crew members if they can see anything? Do you ask Air Traffic Control for a visual inspection with their binoculars? Or do you shut down the aircraft and now perform an inspection yourself? Or do you take-off anyway, and potentially have an in-flight emergency, and have to divert?

Efficiency is a part of safety, and safety is a part of efficiency. For one to be optimised, the other must be optimised as well.

cockpit, airmanship — Efficiency is a part of safety, and safety is a part of efficiency. For one to be optimised, the other must be optimised as well.

Airmanship in the military

Student pilots in the military are trained and assessed on their Airmanship (judgement) from day one, and subsequently on each flight as they develop into professional aviators – and poor airmanship is grounds for failing a sortie all together!

As they say in the RAAF: “Mission first, safety always”.

This is an organisational statement that aims to influence the culture of airmanship within the Royal Australian Air Force – it means that whilst they place the highest importance on achieving their missions, safety and airmanship are a ‘non negotiable’ and must always occur in the background.

This is because without following appropriate safety procedures and using appropriate airmanship (judgement), you won’t have aircraft and personnel to crew them for long – meaning you won’t be able to achieve any missions!

Examples of good airmanship

Preparing for your flight adequately including fuel plans and ensuring you have all the required paperwork such as maps, charts, and approach plates all within arms reach
Flight planning to include suitable divert and alternate airports
Avoiding flying low over ‘tiger country’ (where there are no suitable forced landing spots) when flying low performance or single engine aircraft
Chair flying your flight² to mentally rehearse your checks and procedures
Ensuring your information is correct and up to date (i.e. hasn’t expired in information update cycles)
Analysing the Meteorology reports and forecast and how this will affect your flight
Carefully reading through the NOTAMs to ensure you are aware of any out of the ordinary activity which may affect your flight
Submitting a Flight plan to the aviation authorities, leaving a flight note or informing a responsible person
Conducting a thorough pre flight inspection
Ensuring no aircraft or equipment behind you will be damaged by propwash or jetblast when you start your engines
Being ‘mechanically kind to your engines’, while maintaining good aircraft control
Avoiding ‘No fly’ and respecting fly neighbourly advice areas
Maintaining currency by Flying frequently enough to maintain proficiency, including with a flight instructor for refreshers as needed.
Carrying back up equipment (for example a second EFB or paper charts), having redundancies and knowing contingency procedures
Going around if you are not happy with an approach
Broadcasting and proactively deconflicting with other traffic at a CTAF or in uncontrolled airspace
Memorising and understanding your BOLDFACE initial actions
Following ‘GRADIE’ (or other fact finding flow) for troubleshooting abnormal situations, including involving other crew members using appropriate CRM.
Conducting a self-assessment of your own physical state and readiness to fly – are you well rested, alert and in good physical health?

responsible pilot — Airmanship can sound like a ‘catch all’ term to mean ‘do the right thing’, however it is more than simply rules, procedures, flows and checklists. It is about using your experience to make decisions with information that you have with your best judgment.

“Airmanship is all about making good decisions or exercising judgement in an informed way that results in having expert control of an aircraft and a situation while continuously balancing safety against flight objectives. This multidimensional concept relies heavily on a high degree of situational awareness, extensive industry knowledge, uncompromising discipline, and systematically developed skill and proficiency.”
southernwings.co.nz/what-does-airmanship-mean⁶

Examples of poor airmanship

Not reading the Met or NOTAMS³
Not submitting a flight plan, flight note or telling anyone
Flying dangerously low for no reason
‘Beating up’ (low and fast flyby) of a runway or building without planning, authorisation and training.
Flying over ‘Tiger country’ when there are safer (but perhaps slightly longer routes)
Just hitting ‘Direct To’ and always flying the shortest path.
Not reading or flight planning the preferred flight routing routes from Air Traffic Control
Having non-essential conversations or joking over radio frequencies
Not following sterile cockpit procedures during critical phases of flight
Not memorising your procedures
Not using the checklists to close your procedures
Not conducing a missed approach if you exceed the missed approach criteria
Not conducting a go around if you exceed the go around criteria
Having loose, heavy or unsecured items in the cockpit, cabin or cargo areas.
Making ‘snap’ decisions without troubleshooting
Not bothering with CRM⁴ (or believing this stands for ‘Captains Right, Mofo’)
Displaying general hazardous attitudes

airmanship, cockpit — Aviation is a fast past, dynamic environment flying an aircraft is an awesome responsibility; simply ‘knowing the numbers’ is not good enough.

Summary for Airmanship

Aviation is a fast past, dynamic environment flying an aircraft is an awesome responsibility; simply ‘knowing the numbers’ is not good enough. Yes – you must have a good working knowledge of air law, procedures, checks and SOPs, but you must also know how to use your experience, situational awareness⁵ and good judgment to exercise discipline and apply these to a constantly changing environment to ensure the safe and efficient operation of the aircraft – for both you and other users of the airspace.

Reference List:

‘When pigs fly: manners, airmanship and safety’, Kreisha Ballantyne, Flight Safety Australia. Published: Aug 19, 2019. Accessed online at https://www.flightsafetyaustralia.com/2019/08/when-pigs-fly-manners-airmanship-and-safety/ on Dec 30, 2022.
‘An Introduction to Chair Flying’, Ryan Stack, Redbird Landing. Published: July 8. Accessed online at https://landing.redbirdflight.com/posts/chair-flying on Dec 30, 2022.
‘What is a NOTAM?’, FAA. Accessed online at https://www.faa.gov/about/initiatives/notam/what_is_a_notam on Dec 30, 2022.
‘Crew Resource Management (CRM)’, Skybrary. Accessed online at https://skybrary.aero/articles/crew-resource-management-crm on Dec 30, 2022.
‘Situational Awareness?’, A Bartlett, Aviation Safety Magazine. Published: May 17, 2017. Accessed online at https://www.aviationsafetymagazine.com/features/situational-awareness/ on Dec 30, 2022.
‘What Does Airmanship Mean?’, Southern Wings.co.nz. Published: Sep 27, 2022. Accessed online at https://www.southernwings.co.nz/what-does-airmanship-mean/ on Dec 30, 2022.