Page 24 - Index

Future Investigations and

Paperless Flight Deck

By Capt. Daniel Cadieux, Flight Safety Division, Air Canada Pilots
Association, in collaboration with Capt. Rob Lawson (Ret.) and
Capt. Ewan Tasker, Transportation Safety Board of Canada

(Adapted with permission from the authors’ technical paper Future Investigations and Paperless
Flight Deck accepted for ISASI 2021, a virtual meeting hosted from Vancouver, B.C., Canada, due to
COVID-19 restrictions. The full technical paper is posted on the ISASI website at www.isasi.org in the
Library tab under Technical Presentations.—Editor)

e say that the world has of our flight bag when it was time to fly.
changed a lot over the last The estimated average weight according
few decades, with the arrival to United Airlines is just more than 17
Wof smartphones, tablets, kilos per pilot, imagine.
“An investigator the Internet, artificial intelligence, and Thanks to the rapid and constant im-
will have to drones. And mobility is more present provement of technology, our lives, both
than ever. Practically everything has
personal and professional, have changed
be surrounded changed—our way of doing things; of considerably. Today, we have gone from
with computer playing; of communicating in groups, just over 17 kilos to only 3 kilos of materi-
among ourselves, and at work. We no
al in our flight bags. I think we can thank
experts to better longer do our routines the same way we progress and miniaturization.
understand the did 20 years ago. We’ve seen the same thing in our flight
We have to readjust to the new en-
subtleties of these vironment and the way we work. This decks. We had steam instruments that
gave us two-dimensional information
systems and to readjustment is not a smooth one. We where we needed to have a terrific scan
get the maximum have no choice but to think differently, to throughout the flight to make sure we
were flying safely and keeping the blue
change the way we do things if we want to
of information succeed. How do we conduct an accident sky up; pilots must deal with dozens and
relevant to the investigation in a paperless environment? dozens of instruments during a flight.
investigation The impact is enormous. Traditionally, these instruments were
This paper is a reflection on this reality
displayed as gauges located throughout
without getting and how it will affect the way we do the cockpit. With the advent of electron-
lost in the pool things. ic flight instrument systems (EFIS) and
more robust international standards and
of data that these Evolving Flight Deck Environment better monitoring by manufacturers,
same instruments Let’s start with the not-so-distant era of pilots’ scanning has greatly improved and
can provide.” the paper environment. A time when we simplified.
shared notes scribbled by hand or typed The biggest advantage of EFIS is that all
on the computer (or even typewritten) instruments are condensed into a much
to remind us of certain procedures too more efficient display, the automation
complex to be memorized or simply notes systems are more accurate, the infor-
from colleagues who, through experience, mation is more precise, and all data is
learned many tricks of the trade that we displayed in a more ergonomic manner.
wanted to know to make our lives easier Despite all these advantages, the sys-
and kept secure in our notebook. tem also has its share of disadvantages. It
And let’s not forget our flight manuals, can be very easy to become oversaturated
our navigation charts, our approach pro- with information during emergencies or
cedure books, our pilot’s license and our high-precision approaches in bad weath-
medical license, our pilot’s logbook, our er. Humans must readjust to the constant
ruler affectionately called a “wizwheel,” influx of information from the display. But
and our headphones. Remember when it in the end, the advantages of EFIS easily
was time to update our approach plates? outweigh the disadvantages.
We were in despair knowing that we’d The question we investigators must ask
have to do it all again 28 days later. ourselves is what impact this technology
Daniel Cadieux We were always amazed at the weight will have on our accident investigations.

24 • October-December 2021 ISASI Forum