The words “philosophy” and “Air Force” aren’t used together very often, but Major Don Barnby, standards flight commander at the 17 Wing Winnipeg’s Central Flying School, and Captain Tim Rawlings, a pilot instructor with 17 Wing’s CF Air Navigation School, are hoping to change that. The two pilots have worked together since 2003 to create the “1 Canadian Air Division Automation Philosophy”, a guiding direction for how the Air Force will operate its modern automated aircraft.
“Operating automated aircraft requires a different set of skills and procedures that many of us in the Air Force are not familiar with,” says Maj Barnby. “Technology in aircraft has advanced so much in my generation of flying that new piloting skills are now required in addition to the traditional skills.”
The automation philosophy is the first of four main steps to creating a detailed and modern Air Force automation strategy that will ultimately change the way military aircraft are flown.
“The second step is to identify policies that support the philosophy, with the assistance of a consultant,” Maj Barnby says. “The third step is to provide the procedures to operate these advanced technology airplanes, and the fourth step is the ongoing review and refinement of those procedures. A constant review of procedures and practices is required given that the technology is always changing in these airplanes, with both software and hardware modifications.”
Maj Barnby and Capt Rawlings saw the need to improve automation operating procedures after they both left the Air Force and flew for a commercial airline before returning to uniform in 2003.
“During our time away, we were exposed to highly automated airplanes,” says Maj Barnby. “We saw different training methodologies and different operating procedures that didn’t exist in the Air Force.”
Both pilots decided to use what they learned to see if they could assist in creating an Air Force automation operating strategy. “The biggest cultural challenge was to convince people to take an honest look at it,” says Capt Rawlings. “We were sort of seen by some people as outsiders because we had returned from an airline.”
The two pilots worked together on a service paper and submitted it through their own separate chains of command. They credit Lieutenant-Colonel Ed Haskins, former commandant of Central Flying School, as the first senior officer to understand the importance of the initiative. He provided them with the support and encouragement to continue with their project, and was able to engage senior Air Force leadership to make it a “top down” project.
“It speaks very highly of the Air Force that two captains that see a requirement for change can have such a wide-reaching influence for the entire Air Force,” says Maj Barnby. “But if you have a vision, through persistence and proper channels, the message can get out.”
“LCol Colin Keiver [current director of Air Force transport readiness] was also a great help,” Capt Rawlings says. “We discovered that he had lived through the same experience during his time in an officer exchange program within the US Marine Corps…it was refreshing to engage someone from our organization who completely understood the vision but who could also predict the challenges to be faced. LCol Keiver is now the automation project authority managing the contract and work of the consultants hired to assist the Air Force during this transition.”
“It means a lot to work for an organization that believes in our vision and is committed to seeing this through,” says Capt Rawlings. “It’s important to have an environment where people can speak up at every level – all successful organizations have an engaged workforce.”
For more information, please read “The Challenge of the Automated Flight Deck”, by Capt Tim Rawlings, in the spring 2008 issue of the Canadian Air Force Journal.
