"Common Sense, are You Born With it it or Screwed Forever?"

[single_swine_herder]

The current thread regarding the woes of Skyward Reincarnated.... er, I mean Skycare's gear-up in Red Lake contained an interesting series of posts about so-called "Common Sense," which were truncated by others diverting the thread for their purposes of self-aggrandizement.

I'd like to discuss the concept of aviation "Common Sense" here at length.

The whole idea which was advanced of somebody using "common sense" rather than training or experience is one which I find fascinating and conversationally engaging...... as if a person is magically bestowed aviation "common sense" at crib side by an ancestor or ephemeral spirit guide wearing a leather helmet complete with Gosport Tube headsets waving a wand over a newborn and conveying the wisdom of the aviation ancients on the youngster who will one day be in a leadership role in the industry. The concept is not unlike the awareness scene in "2001 A Space Odyssey" (corrected title) where after coming under the influence of the big black monolith, one group of primates discovers that by picking up a bone and beating another's head into a pulp, you could take over the world.

When I started in the equivalent of the 703 world many decades years ago, operators were highly reliant on pilots having "common sense" when they took an aircraft over the horizon rather than providing required training, SOPs, Checklists, or proper operational Control. When asked ...... "what do you mean use common sense?" ..... usually would be explained in detail ..... "I mean don't do anything stupid, and think before you screw up."

"Oh, that sure makes it clear what you want. Thanks for the helpful chat. I'll be on my way now."

Of course, the second something went out of the ordinary, the owner would be on TV and newspapers telling the world what an excellent operation they had, but that new guy that had the accident ..... well, he was a total screwup that killed 5 people just hours before he could be fired. One need only read the Dubin Aviation Safety Report to see this behaviour in full colour and wide screen. It was the norm.

So where does a zero-time newbie ever get exposed to the complexities of the world of aviation to in turn develop the techniques which keep him or her alive, and employed?

Simple ..... they have to be taught it. They also have to want to learn it.

They learn from Instructors, Company Training Pilots, Check Pilots, other crew members if lucky enough to land a two-crew job with an experienced mentoring Captain, through round the table beer talk with other pilots regarding their exploits and how they solved problems, and heaven forbid .... actually reading about things, by upgrading licence status, by getting out in the big wide world and flying your butt off for months and months and months in all kinds of wx and as many different types as you can get checked out in, and in general .... live the life of the line pilot while striving to improve yourself daily.

The binary idea of "ya either have it, or 'ya don't," when it comes to the concepts associated with properly looking after an aircraft for which you've been made responsible is simply bogus. Not a single one of us "had it" when we first went solo. Even remembering to install the control lock after that first solo likely took the use of a checklist. Most of us "get it" before retirement and are able to pass that intangible level of knowledge along to those who will listen.

The ones who never do "get it" often become career self-limiting by getting out of the industry by being fired for incompetence or they end up dead .... hopefully alone in the airplane when they do themselves in when the self-created situation required greater skill or knowledge than was needed at the time.

[co-joe]

I have no idea what common sense is, just that it can't be taught and is surprisingly un-common. It's look before you leap, and think before you speak...or so I've been told.

[scopiton]

The concept is not unlike the awareness scene in "Planet Of The Apes" where after coming under the influence of the monolith, one group of primates discovers that by picking up a bone and beating another's head into a pulp, you could take over the world.

I'm sorry to correct the reference, but this scene is in 2001, a Space Odyssey.

[single_swine_herder]

Just to define what is common sense," ...... according to Merriam Webster dictionary is ....

common sense noun:

the ability to think and behave in a reasonable way and to make good decisions


Thanks for the movie title correction Scopiton.

Why can this basic concept not be taught or learned?

[PilotDAR]

Nurture vs nature vs none.

Yes, I have noticed that some people display an instinctive understanding of certain things, where others might have to be taught those same things, and there is no apparent reason for it. For now, I'm going to call that "uncommon sense" = knowing something you need to know without being specifically taught, or intuition.

Some people have it for machines, other people have it for music and art, and others for people. Other people may, or may not learn it, either by specific instruction, or just in the school of life. My wife and I differ entirely in this realm, I'm the machine person, she is the people person. She just does not get, and therefore did not believe that I can just look at a machine, and have a pretty good idea how to use it, and what it will, and will not be able to do. Then, in revelation, we took our 10 year old daughter to see the Lego Movie. There is a scene in which the Lego Inventor hero needs to build something fast, the save the day. As he looks at the Lego creations around him, as a source of parts for what he needs to build, his Lego intuition shows him ghost shadows of the parts among others, and he "sees" what he needs at a rapid rate. My wife was struck by this, and I used the opportunity to point out that I see machines that way, while she sees peoples feelings that way. I think she began to understand then. She was finally "taught" (Yes, by the Lego Movie) in a way she understood. I'd been trying for years, with much less success...

Some people just do not have it. If they realize they are missing it, they'll have to go and get it, unless someone else notices that they do not have it, and gives it to them. I was training one of our firefighters in our fireboat the other day. Lake Simcoe was very calm, it was a perfect day. It was not her first time running the boat. I directed a course, which had another small boat at rest in the area, but be no means anywhere near where we needed to pass. After the third, and very much more emphatic instruction to turn much further away from it, I began to reach for the wheel, as she turned adequately safely, but with very poor seamanship. She was about to pass it like a car parked at the side of the road. I instructed her to look at the affect of our wake on that small boat. I'm still not sure that she understood the result of the choice she had made. The next firefighter I trained frequently said to me that she had only run the boat once (which I knew, it was with me), and would I watch what she did carefully, and guide her. She did very well, with little help from me. Two totally different personalities, and I know which one I will train more...

Yes, some people "have it" and others "have to work at it", its just the way it is. Once you know that you do not have it, you either have to go and get it (extra study) or withdraw from that pursuit. Or, you might slip up, where most other people least expect it - because they assumed that you did "have it" = common sense....

[pdw]

...the ability to think and behave in a reasonable way and to make good decisions


Why can this basic concept not be taught or learned?

Yeah, OK

Well ... (you mentioned the gear thread) a gear left up is increasingly seen as a missed operation (ommitted inadvertantly/stupendously from a routine), so IMO it really isn't even so much a common sense issue then. There is no cue-in device for that 'regular happening' as elaborate as for example how a governor prevents over-revs, a thermostat prevents overheating, or a stallwarning sound so easily identified for what it is, ...where in addition these all have their actual/visual gauges (tach/temp/speed).

When it comes to gear position for landing, an icing-stallspeed for approach & clean concept for departure, or even the inaccurate/estimated weight estimates on loading; with those, the luxury of a larger visual cue (except for little indicator lights) is largely missing from the flight deck. It may appear (blatantly) that common sense or good judgement is lost, when actually it's the tools needed to ensure upholding the "good decisions" are also lacking more-or-less. They are serious items not to 'forget about', yet can't see them as always being 100% common sense items when its mainly that they are forgotten (not including of course where an intentional or complete disregard for clean-concept on departure is proven to apply).

So the drill that is fail-safe for gear is just about routine that works (relying on 'system'). It has been insisted many times before, that is learned.

[Bede]

SSH,

Thought-provoking post. I see where you're going, but isn't common sense something that goes beyond training? Perhaps the ability to draw inferences. Maybe an intuition to draw conclusions when things happen when training and experience don't cover it. I know this kid, he's 20 now, but I have known him since he was a little boy. And among other things, he always lacked common sense, far beyond boys of a similar age. I remember him poking a stick in a docile dogs eye, just to see what would happen (he got bit). I saw him throw bricks on a trampoline to see how high they would go (one landed on my toddler's head). This might be seen as boyish things to do, but he was much older than when you would expect when these things happened. This is a kid who will never amount to anything because no one will ever trust him to touch anything.

[PilotDAR]

who will never amount to anything because no one will ever trust him to touch anything

A very relevant aspect. If you have no opportunity to hone skills, you can never pass a certain point of competence - at least "hands on". You will have to demonstrate basic trustworthiness ans "common sense" to those who might enable your learning, by providing hands on opportunity.

[Colonel Sanders]

One opposes egalitarianism in Canada at
your own risk.

However, it is still foolish to state that everyone
is the same, and the only thing that separates us
is our training.

We are not the same. Some people are better at
some things, than others. This might upset the
acolytes of Pierre Trudeau, but it's still the truth.

I know a really rich guy. Really smart. Holds
an FAA ATP. Can't fly worth sh1t. Can't land
a Decathlon. Wrecked a P-51. There's just
something missing in him. Doesn't matter how
hard he works, he will never be a good pilot.
Sorry. It's not fair, but that's the way it is.

Back to your idolization of Pierre Trudeau,
because this thread is really about politics
and people who haven't figured out yet that
life ain't fair.

[Ricktye]

Not sure I agree with you, but I believe you have to be taught at a young age. Starting with parenting along the lines of if you screw something up , you get a swat on the a**. Move on to school where you'll be held accountable or suffer the consequences (You'll fail the grade and be held back) And finally in to the real world where you are once again held responsible for your actions or you'll get fired. Might not actually "teach" common sense, but sure makes you think before you act! Too bad that whole philosophy has gone by the wayside in the last couple of generations where it seem we've substituted the idea that everyone's a winner (it's all about having fun!) and heaven forbid we hurt someone's feelings!

Goes along with the feeling of embarrassment and remorse when you let your parents or boss down.

Let the whining begin.....

R...

I have no idea what common sense is, just that it can't be taught and is surprisingly un-common. It's look before you leap, and think before you speak...or so I've been told.

[Liquid Charlie]

If I had any "common sense" I should know better than to even bother posting -- bad phrase -- we tend to use it to blanket all -- let's call it "basic sense" - do you piss into the wind -- stick your finger in an electrical socket -- purposely take a nut shot -- pretty basic stuff and usually we can all agree on issues that will hurt us -- that's imbedded in our genes through millions of years of evolution or if you are religious -- god did it -- the old flight or fight thing -- differs from one person to another --


Yes we need SOPs and procedures but this is more about how do you teach new pilots to function in the "real world" -- lets face it the world of 703 can be a very caustic , scary and lonely for a new pilot -- very little training - little or no supervision with a geterdone attitude -- ticking bomb --

[BTD]

Cs, nice job (again) of taking an interesting thread and throwing in some veiled blanket personal and political attacks.

SSH and pilotDar, great posts.

Common sense for aviation itself is not bestowed by at birth as ssh said. How you apply your common sense to a given situation is probably a personality trait that carries over to different applications.

If you are a poor driver, or a klutz your ability to apply common sense in all areas, including flying, is probably lacking. Even if you are an extremely intelligent person.

[Pop n Fresh]

I don't know if this is on topic but sometimes I have met people that can write a test better than everyone else in the room but might not survive changing a tire or similar activity.

That total lack of mechanical aptitude does not ensure they are a bad driver/pilot but often they are.

[xysn]

I think PilotDAR hit the nail on the head. Every domain area has its own 'common sense.' Some people are brought up in it so they don't need to be taught. Some need to be taught and can absorb it well. Some need to be taught, and don't absorb it well.

Yes, it's about recognizing the consequences of your actions. But there's a lot of knowledge behind that act of recognition which needs to come from somewhere, whether intuited, learned young, learned old, or some other way.

[5x5]

It seems that there may a bit of a mixture between common sense and aptitude in this discussion.

For me , common sense is the basic understanding of the relationship between cause and effect or actions and outcomes. Taking a promotion often results in the decrease of family time due to higher work commitments - this is kind of common sense but it's amazing how many people seem to be taken by surprise by it. Another example would be trying to deal with the most difficult weather you ever have in the same flight as you're flying an aircraft that you've never flown before. Seems obvious to me that it's not the best combination ever, but not everyone would see it as a bad thing. Common sense tends to develop with experience, but some folks certainly do seem to naturally have more of it than others.

Aptitude is a penchant for or an innate understanding of certain systems or activities. Examples are hand/eye coordination that allows someone to excel easily at controlling an airplane or the ability to look at a piece of machinery and "see" how the various pieces connect and what the result of it in action would be. The lack of aptitude can be overcome to varying degrees through training, but some people just never "get it".

[Pop n Fresh]

They are related.

Common sense would make you unplug a blender before reaching inside to pull out something stuck inside. If you had no idea how a blender works you might not understand the danger or the need to unplug it.

[co-joe]

They are related.

Common sense would make you unplug a blender before reaching inside to pull out something stuck inside. If you had no idea how a blender works you might not understand the danger or the need to unplug it.

Good point. Anyone else ever notice that if you look straight into the bulb of a flashlight it works every time, or that if you have a stuck bolt all you have to do is line your knuckles up with jagged rusty metal and put all your weight into it and voila! These are the antethesis of common sense. I'm pretty sure the worst offenders of common sense end up with darwin awards.

[iflyforpie]

First of all... what is common sense? Common sense is supposed to be common, if not in application at least in applicability. There is very little about flying an airplane that could be construed as 'common sense'. Most of it is esoteric... the subjects we talk about here as if we are talking about a child getting caught in a fib would baffle most outsiders.

Second... there is what could be construed as common sense (putting the gear down... any elementary school kid with a mild interest in airplanes knows that the wheels need to be down for landing) and the process for getting such action to be performed. I have never met a single pilot who says that forgetting to put the gear down is an acceptable thing... yet gear gets forgotten all of the time, by various factors like distraction, complacency, assumption (of course the F/O put it down) and the like.

Just so I am clear... stating or exploring the route of the cause does not mean I support or endorse landing gear up, but doing so allows me and others to see how something so simple can get missed and put up defenses against it. For me, gear is one item I go through in my BBGUMPS check when entering the circuit or established on glideslope... gear is checked with every flap extension (no reason to put flaps down without gear down... works on my airplane too when setting takeoff flaps to move the gear handle down to confirm pressure), and a short finals check... where am I landing and where is my gear. Plus for AVCANADA's sake, I usually say 'don't forget the fvucking gear' at least once during flight.


Finally... common sense.. or at least common sense for what we as aviators have to do has to be constantly applied. Just because you don't start out with it... doesn't mean you can't learn it. Just because you've applied it your entire aviation career doesn't mean you can't slip up.

Here's one pilot who wasn't left behind... not in Trudeau's Canada, but in Hitler's Germany....

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Erich_Hartmann

Somebody without vision and empathy would have dishonourably discharged him after he did illegal aerobatics on one of his first flights... court martialed him after wrecking a Stuka due to a simple brake failure... and certainly banned him from active duty after breaking just about every single rule during his first engagement, culminating with him running out of fuel and crashing.

But he wound up becoming the highest scoring ace ever.

At the other end of the spectrum...

Here's one pilot who had it all together. Military career during WWII, test pilot for new and dangerous aircraft... he beat the odds when many of his comrades like Richard Bong, George Welch, Joe Walker, Mel Apt, and Glen Edwards died at the controls of experimental and high-performance aircraft.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Albert_Scott_Crossfield

How did he die? By flying a light Cessna into an area of thunderstorms... something ANYBODY with an inkling of aeronautical knowledge knows not to do.

Flying is not an Olympic sport. It is not a gift for a privileged few. It is there for anyone who has enough time, enough determination, and enough money to partake in it. Yes... there are some people who probably shouldn't fly, but looking at the example above shows you that people who seem like they are born to fly wind up augering in for dumb reasons as well.

We also can't count how many accidents didn't happen because that 30 hour a year private pilot decided not to fly because he saw a cumulus cloud in the sky... or because that 50 year old going through a mid life crisis decided that it was better to go out and buy a Corvette than finish his PPL.

[azimuthaviation]

One opposes egalitarianism in Canada at
your own risk.

Canada is one of the most egalitarian countries in the world, ranking very high along with the USA.

However, it is still foolish to state that everyone
is the same, and the only thing that separates us
is our training.

Is it that foolish? Sweden has produced a lot of Chess Grandmasters, currently has over 20, very high per capita as are all Scandanavian countries. Is that because Swedes are genetically superior ? Maybe. But then take the case of Pontus Carlsson. One of Swedens top rated Grandmasters, and the youngest to achieve such a status. He is black, adopted and brought to Sweden at a year old, and played chess along with his peers. He was the second black Grandmaster in history. Coincidence? Maybe.

Who was the first black Grandmaster? A Jamaican/American who wasnt a very bright kid,got embarrassed by always being so easy to beat at chess. He studied the art of chess, practiced, made it his mission and became a Grandmaster.

[Liquid Charlie]

This will be good

[Big Pistons Forever]

Common sense, the least common sense of all

Personally what I see as "common sense" is really a manifestation of impulse control and personal discipline and acts that most people would consider "lacking in common sense" are failures to use those two attributes.

In aviation I think common sense and good airmanship are synonymous and I firmly believe good airmanship is teachable. If you inculcate a system of organized, predictable thinking, actions and anticipation of what is going to happen I think the end result will be a "sensible" pilot.

[Rookie50]

BPF, beat me to it. However I agree in the realm of aviation, and many other pursuits, it can be learned through mentoring, study, observation, debriefing After every flight -- I do this every flight and study my mistakes.

SP IFR is a complex task at times, I have found, still being lower time, and there are Always mistakes if one is honest enough to study and learn from them. Not necessarily gear up landings or " kill " items -- I try not to do those--, but "minor" procedural or communication / navigation items that could always be done, at a little higher level of competency, to make a smoother or lower workload flight. In time -- that becomes added to the learned "common sense".

I'm at my level, still doing "firsts" -- just did my first trip to NY (KHPN) -- given an arrival -- which I've only done a handful of -- with a good 10 waypoints on it! Thankfully the arrival goes right in the G430, so only have to follow the pretty pink line.....

[Koalemos]

I would suggest common sense is more a way of thinking than anything; a combination of awareness, critical thinking, being able to implement what you have decided upon, and finally re-evaluating and making changes as the situation evolves. It's a continual loop, unfortunately sometimes people seem to either skip steps or get stuck at some point. (Ie lose the awareness of the gear position relative to segment of flight).

While everyone makes mistakes at some point, (even those that seem convinced of their own superiority compared to us lower mortals), common sense would include making sure you have mechanisms in place to prevent catastrophic results. Such things could be a flow check, or nemonic check (which fulfill the same goal in different ways) prior to landing.

IMHO it's a general life skill that can be taught, by parents and teachers (general and aviation). Unfortunately most schools teach to pass a test instead, both elementary/high school and FTUs. Some parents are doing all they can to make ends meet, or they are more preoccupied with their golf game, or they are a product of the same system and don't know any better. Some of it is learned through general life experience.

[Colonel Sanders]

I love the AvCan logic:

Some people can get PhD's in Mathematics.
People are essentially equal.
Therefore all people can get PhD's in Mathematics.

I don't care what the AvCan Brain Trust (tm)
concludes, there are some people I don't even
trust to push my lawnmower.

About 20 years ago, I was instructing a nice
middle-aged woman for her PPL. With enormous
effort of both of us, I got her solo in a buck fifty.
But after considerable exposure to her, I concluded
that she was an accident waiting to happen. She
was a really nice lady - you just wouldn't want her
to ever use an electric drill.

I gently passed her off to another instructor, at
another school. After many attempts and failures
at both her written and flight tests, she finally got
a PPL. A victory for Canadian egalitarianism.

She buys a buck fifty and insists upon running 100LL
in it, despite the fact that it was designed for 80/87.
I mentioned to her that this might be a problem,
and maybe she should consider running mogas. But
I'm not too bright, and she ignored my advice.

So off to OSH she and her husband go. Stuck valve
causes a forced landing on a live firing range. Keep
in mind how stupid I am about the excessive lead.

After not getting shot, she and her husband conclude
that heading across Lake Michigan with a rough engine
is not the brightest idea, and head back home.

It's hazy, and she never learned to use the nav radios.
She's heading for Brampton, and starts taking instructions
from the unicom operator there, who tells her to land on
runway 33.

And she does. At Pearson, on the closed runway 33, making
workers run and somehow avoiding the equipment on the
closed runway.

She eventually takes off again, somehow gets home, and
TC fines her $100.

I am not making any of this up.

And, I knew that she was going to have trouble. She just
didn't have the "motorized equipment" gene. She wasn't
a bad person, she just was never genetically cut out to be
a pilot, despite what superior training she might recieve
from the AvCan Brain Trust (tm).

Can the AvCan Brain Trust (tm) teach a horse calculus?
Inquiring minds want to know.

[Pop n Fresh]

Wait, excessive lead from the weapons at the firing range?