Controlling the controllable

The first thing we do prior to going to a race as a team is summarise what we are trying to achieve at the race, and what our individual goals are. This may seem a simple thing of saying “win the race”, though that is unfortunately not how easily our sport works. You can’t force that to happen, even though you want it to happen.

What we do is instead concentrate on the items that we can control, not what the final result will be. So, with this said, having a goal of flying cleanly, having a fast aircraft, the team not making any errors on Sunday etc. are better and more measurable goals. We then let the results take care of themselves.

When we are at a race, we brief daily on what the day has in store for us, what we learnt from the previous day, and what we want to achieve on the current day. Following this method focuses us all on a common goal. At the end of the day, we do a quick debrief, then repeat the process. At the end of the race, we go through an extensive debrief looking at both the race we just did in its entirety, but also the rest of the season on what we are trying to achieve in development and fatigue management.

I think this is a good model for aviation in general, as it makes sure everyone is always focused on what their role is. It is critical that in any form of aviation, everyone understands what each other member of the team is trying to achieve. For us, in the high-pressure race team environment, it is particularly important to know what we all need to achieve. We re-discovered how true this was once again in Kazan.

After dominating the training sessions there, we had a poor qualification. We finished ninth and needed to solve some unexpected inconsistencies with our performance during that session.

We all had to pull hard to do this. Pete (race tactician Peter Wezenbeek) had to go through the data and try to isolate the cause. Was it engine management? Engine performance? Race line and energy management? Aerodynamic changes, or weather? The list goes on as to why our performance was not as expected.

With more possibilities to work through than most would care for, we also had to be mindful that we only had a handful of hours that evening and the next morning to solve the issue – whatever it may be – before the race began.

An unknown issue, time constraints and a four-man team to get the job done. It
was go-time in Kazan.

While Pete combed over data, our race technician Dave Finch (Finchy) was going over the aircraft in detail to see if there was anything obvious that we could fix. With those guys on the hunt for our issue, I poured over my flight data to see if there was a difference in the way I had flown during qualifying. Meanwhile our Team Coordinator Andrew (Musgrove) re-jigged our calendar for the rest of that day and the next morning so we all had the time to put maximum effort into regaining our good position in the track.

After what was a bit of a sleepless night due to our brains spinning as we attempted to solve the problems, we were able to somewhat isolate the issue and allow Finchy to go in with more focus on what we believed the problem was.

Some items were found, corrected, and the plane was back together with only minutes to spare before it is quarantined for racing. That was a team effort to get us back on track. But, it still affected our results to some extent as we were tired as a team, and my concentration waivered slightly in the second stage of the race, the Round of 8, which resulted in an error and penalty.

It sounds like a bad result, though it was actually a good result for our team.

Imagine if the team had not been able to focus and concentrate on the problem at hand and work as a team when we needed it most. We may not have even been able to race that day. And there is no way I would have been able to fly well in the first stage Round of 14 if I had been trying to manage this whole event without their support.

This had all occurred in a time critical situation, where there is no ability for us to delay the flight as it is a programmed race. Hopefully in aviation most of us don’t have to work to such a hard and fast timeline. Though the lessons we learned are still there for all types of aviation.

Making sure that the ‘team’ around you are aware of what each other are doing, to achieve a common goal is crucial.

Sometimes the team may be people you rarely see, such as the LAME for the aircraft, but it is not the job of the pilot to get in there and try to repair something just before going flying. Likewise, it may not be the job of the LAME to clean the plane after flying it, as that will just take his precious time trying to get anything wrong fixed before the next pilot turns up.

Making sure people have the space to focus on their own tasks, while understanding everyone else’s workload and performance pressure (IRT, GFPT etc.) makes for a more enjoyable and safer flying experience for all.

Next time you’re at your local flying club, don’t just meet the other pilots. Get to know the administration staff who book the flights, make yourself known to the LAME who looks after the plane. Importantly, make time for the ‘hangar rats’ who look up to you as a pilot and give up their time to wash the plane, just to listen to your stories.

‘Importantly, make time for the ‘hangar rats’.’

Flying is more than just being in the plane, it is the whole process. The more people that are involved, the more fun it is.

Smoke on….