The Falcon, the Helios, Two Scenarios, and Framework

Abstract

Aviation is the safest form of transportation. Expert performers – narrators, Ifaistos Limnios, as the pilot, and Megas Alexandros, as the investigator – explain the two paradigmatic flights and two scenarios to formulate the reference framework of the book, for effective problem-solving and handling rules and exceptions. The “shaking Falcon VIP flight” connects the concept of silence with accountability; a major incident of rapid descent without controls occurred, but the pilot was able to hold the shaking aircraft and to prevent it from crashing. Another paradigmatic flight Helios 522, silent ghost plane, signaled the rethinking of the silence concept inside and outside the plane, as the “no reply” activated the Renegade alert in the Greek FIR Space. It was a challenge for the sterile cockpit rule. In the scenario of silence, several accidents have shown that crew members’ failure to speak up can have devastating consequences with a risk to flight safety. A second major scenario was about the experience of hesitation in interaction that may leave incomplete information and truncated messages, generate uncertainty, and result to insufficient knowledge in the cockpit-controller interaction. The chapter explains flights and scenarios as the instrument for grounded theory to be applied and lessons from protocol analysis to develop. Cockpit acts of conversation are consistent with individual members’ tacit knowledge. Thus, human operators in flights must build mutual trust with all the other participants. The framework concludes with human factors explanation of the interactions among humans and other elements of a system and applies design principles to optimize human well-being and overall system performance.