F. Outside Watching
Collision Avoidance Systems are under development but none have yet been realized. At
this stage, a pair of human eyes is the most dependable factor for the prevention of
mid-air collisions.
The risks of mid-air collisions increase in the vicinity of airports where VFR and IFR
aircraft are brought together or where military aircraft merge with nonmilitary aircraft.
Outside watching becomes very critical in these areas but, unfortunately, the
pilots'workload increases near the terminal area. The pilots are very busy preparing the
aircraft for landing and in some situation, they cannot devote themselves to watching
outside for other aircraft.
The flight engineer can monitor the flight and navigation instruments when the pilot must
look outside the cockpit or he can watch outside the aircraft when the pilots are
concentrating on the instruments or are in the midst of a head down operation.
Furthermore, the pilots can ask the tlight engineer to continue monitoring aircrafts that
have already been spotted.
The outside view seen form the seating position of the flight engineer is not inferior to
that of the pilots'. The flight engineer without refocusing his eyes can continuously
watch the outside, integrating the total environment in view from the cockpit.
It is clear from many examples given by flight crew members from their actual flight
experience that the pair of eyes provided by the flight engineer contributes a great deal
to flight safety.
| "The flight engineer advised the pilots of a military aircraft approaching at
close range, the pilots were able to break the approach but the proximity of the aircrafts
was very close. Since the two pilots were concentrating on the runway during short final,
the overall monitoring of the flight engineer was very important." |
(extract from a questionaire supporting the three man crew complement)
| "During a flight level change to a higher altitude on a flight from Anchorage to Narita, the flight engineer spotted and reported to the pilots the existence of an US military transport, which was out of view from the pilots, flying at 12 o'clock high. The pilots were able to push the control column forward in time to avoid a collision." |
(an eztraction from a report made by an active crew member)