ISTOCK/SDIGITAL


ACCIDENT RECOVERY


By David Jack Kenny


Not Like Riding a Bike


Unlike bicycle riding, certain critical aviator skills require more frequent, consistent practice to retain.


B 84 ROTOR MARCH 2024


ICYCLE RIDING IS THE STEREOTYPICAL example of a durable skill: once learned, it’s just about permanent. Even after a lapse of


years, a rider can climb back into the saddle and take off after just a couple of wobbles. The experience of rusty pilots climbing back into the cockpit suggests that some aspects of basic airmanship work in the same way. The view from the pilot’s seat reinforces the feel- ing that the controls reawaken the memory of physical aircraft control, so simple maneuvers can be accom- plished on the first flight back in the cockpit. Other skills, however, are highly perishable, requir- ing frequent and consistent practice to retain—particu- larly those that require interpreting abstract information in potentially counterintuitive ways. Attitude instrument flying is the quintessential example. An April 2023 report by New Zealand’s Transport Accident


Investigation Commission (TAIC) identified proficiency with night vision goggles (NVG) as another.


The Mission On Apr. 22, 2019, a fishing vessel in the Southern Ocean requested an air medical evacuation of a crew member in need of emergency hospitalization. The flight would also provide an opportunity to replenish the ship’s stock of first-aid supplies. At the time, the boat was 210 nm south of the


Auckland Islands. A frontal system was approaching New Zealand from the south, so the air ambulance operator planned to position the aircraft on Enderby Island, where the company maintained a shelter and a fuel supply, before the front arrived. The aircrew would spend the night while the vessel sailed toward a pro- tected anchorage.


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