[MattL]

@skydriller excellent another convert! it really is that easy.

[MattL]

At one place where I fly, the very last thing before you walk out the door is a printed tag line “what is the biggest risk to my flight today and what am I doing about it?” Simple, effective TEM in practice and just helps pre set the brain.

[TopCat]

So you are suggesting the use of plain English intimidates students whereas management speak sets them on the road to the sunlit uplands of openness and honesty? Really?

How about suggesting that plain English?

I think I'm broadly with @Rob P on this one. I'd never heard of TEM as a thing until recently, but now I've read through @2Donkeys' FAA slide deck so I'm an expert.

It's not even so much the wording in individual sentences, it's the fact that it's wrapped up in packaging that marks it out immediately as management-speak. The sort of thing you go on expensive two-day courses to unpack. With big fat handouts that don't do much more than state the bleedin' obvious and then never get referred to again.

TEM boils down to dealing with two things - something you do that causes a problem (errors), and something that happens to you that causes a problem (threats). Obviously either of those can lead to the other.

I tend to think that it's more important to understand the things themselves, and what to do about them, than it is to stick additional layers of fancy labels on them.

[TopCat]

At one place where I fly, the very last thing before you walk out the door is a printed tag line “what is the biggest risk to my flight today and what am I doing about it?” Simple, effective TEM in practice and just helps pre set the brain.

Sure. As you say, simple, effective. And doesn't mention TEM.

Would people that need to be reminded to pre-set their brain see it? And do anything about it if they did?

[MattL]

@TopCat yes in the military we have a thing called an ‘outbrief’ where the crew verbally rundown a checklist of items - it is the last thing.

Last one I did - “my biggest risk is heavy rain cells forming around us, so I will keep a close eye on their movement, keep local to the airfield where we can and we will make a early decision to divert to Oxford if required”

May seem obvious to us, but I think it is valuable to share that with the student with me to help develop their judgement and thinking.

[TopCat]

Last one I did - “my biggest risk is heavy rain cells forming around us, so I will keep a close eye on their movement, keep local to the airfield where we can and we will make a early decision to divert to Oxford if required”

Don't get me wrong - this, and the thermals/gliders one are both excellent. Encouraging pilots (not just students!) to think through things carefully is very much A Good Thing, and I'm not knocking it at all.

May seem obvious to us, but I think it is valuable to share that with the student with me to help develop their judgement and thinking.

Yes, absolutely.

The only sense in which I might diverge a little is the way TEM is packaged to have that 'management bullshit' feel to it. It's a turn-off, and makes it harder to get through to the gems of actual thinking.

[HedgeSparrow]

The latest bit of Airspace & Safety Initiative I have just stumbled across starts off
...
It then spends three screens' worth of mobile phone telling me how simple a concept this is.
...

Then maybe its just me?

Rob P

We'll we've got three screens (on my PC) in this discussion thus far.

Seems it's not just you.

[patowalker]

My hang gliding instructor must have been an early convert to TEM, and been particularly concerned about the imminent threat to my dental health. Every launch seemed to be preceded by a reminder that "Velocidad y altura salvan la dentadura"
(so simple, it doesn't even require translation)

[As I CFIT]

It's worth mentioning that when done poorly, TEM is a threat in itself. It's easy to fixate on something that you have identified as being your biggest threat whilst being unaware of a developing situation which is actually more worthy of your attention. The classic one for inexperienced jet transport pilots is being paranoid about the vertical profile during the descent and arrival to the detriment of all else - usually weather, terrain and closure rates with cleared levels or traffic beneath.

Incidentally, I still don't know where I stand with the idea of 'birds in the vicinity', as heard on an ATIS, as being a worthy threat in the spirit of TEM. On one hand, there's nothing that you can do about it and it seems to be an unreliable indicator of whether or not birds are actually there, so why waste capacity on it? On the other hand, being prepared for a loud bang and splat on the windscreen could possibly reduce the 'startle factor' (surely the next airline training 'ism' to filter down to GA) and facilitate a better reaction.

For me, the thing is to keep it simple and relevant whilst not letting a known undesirable factor catch you out. If you can do that reliably then you can call it what you like.

[Lefty]

In the PPL training syllabus, the guide for each lesson includes a section on TEM. However as a CRI my “students” have mostly held a licence and been flying for several years. I feel that to try to persuade these “elder” gentlemen to re-program their minds to think TEM is more likely to cause distraction and confusion whilst they try to figure out what this TEM stuff really is - and worry about whether or not they are compliant.

Instead, I discuss the concept that, if something unexpected occurs, that we need to be able to act quickly and to not waste time thinking “what should I do”? Isn’t it therefore far better to have thought about the different kinds of (unexpected) events that could occur during each stage of the planned flight - and what options were available to mitigate the event, and that it is far better to do this “thinking and planning” whilst sitting in the clubhouse when we have 100% of our brain capacity free to work it out rationally, (rather than whilst flying the aircraft).
I go through each of the phases of our planned flight and ask them to discuss (1) what could happen, either due to an external cause or because of a mistake that we as pilots might make and (2) for each potential event; (a) what can we do o minimise the possibility of it happening, and (b) if it does happen, what are our best options to rectify the situation.

So whilst this is TEM, I try to keep it in terms of what my particular type of students will relate to, rather than some new, and possibly “abstract” subject.

[matthew_w100]

Yes - I heard "startle factor" in GA yesterday. It's arrived in GA. It is a good term to describe my response to an unexpected IMC entry the other day.

My trouble with TEM and the like is that the language sets a tone. I'm supposed to fly because it's fun, like going for a cycle ride, or doing a jigsaw, or listening to an opera, or racing a motorbike (other pleasures are available). Applying terminology downshifted from professional aviation affects that. My bimble through the sky becomes a mission with an objective. It needs an achievement. And a resilient plan. And criteria by which it is evaluated in a post mission review. Turning my flight from a fun afternoon into a quasi-industrial/military operation detracts from it because, of course, leisure aviation is pointless. If I'm confronting the threats and continually asking myself how to make it safer - well the only true answer is "don't go". I don't NEED to go, and that is clearly the only guaranteed way of overcoming the threats. And, sadly, increasingly that is the path that I take. I don't fly "because it's fun". I fly because my friends are going somewhere and I don't want to be left out.

Don't take this to mean that I think safety (and consideration of others) is unimportant. I really do. I just wish there was a less joyless way of embracing it.

[rf3flyer]

...“my biggest risk is heavy rain cells forming around us, so I will keep a close eye on their movement...

Ha ha. I first read that as “my biggest risk is heavy brain cells forming around us, so I will keep a close eye on their movement..."

[skydriller]

At one place where I fly, the very last thing before you walk out the door is a printed tag line “what is the biggest risk to my flight today and what am I doing about it?” Simple, effective TEM in practice and just helps pre set the brain.

Best thing Ive seen is a sticker on the combing of a C172 I hired in Wyoming :

"DONT DO ANYTHING STUPID !!"

[MichaelP]

I had to teach TEM and SHELL probably before it entered into the PPL training syllabus here in Britain.

I am not against TEM.

But I am offended by this:

As opposed to old school

In the Old Schools I had association with there was Airmanship, and there was Safety, so why are we confusing these now?

We discussed the weather, we discussed the gliding and parachute sites, we checked the danger areas.
We considered fuel.
We considered engine and equipment failure.
We had “I’m safe”.

We did all that is required of TEM, but we didn’t call it that.

So why do you offend us older pilots like this?
You accuse us of not doing the proper safety checks and estimations because we didn’t have “TEM”.

I could respond to this with rudeness.
Please have some respect for your elders who promoted safety even if they were ignorant of TEM, perhaps they didn’t need it to do the same thing.

[MattL]

@MichaelP nobody has accused anybody of anything, it’s a Internet forum discussion. It’s a turn of phrase - I consider myself ‘old school’ in many of my attitudes and habits, and that is why I try hard to understand and embrace new and emerging thinking, language and concepts. I learn stuff every day, every flight, much of it from my students and fellow FIs (irrelevant of age). We can all learn stuff no matter how long we’ve been around the block.