drift

Light bulbs, red lines, and rotten onions

By Dave English

I’ve talked about the MV Hoegh Osaka incident before. A huge ship that left port out of balance and soon was grounded on the Bramble Bank sandbar off the Isle of Wight. The official British Marine Accident Investigation Branch (MAIB) report determined that a “fundamental principle of seamanship appears to have been allowed to drift, giving rise to potential unsafe practices.” Today I read an excellent analysis of the accident report and what it means for Safety Management Systems and safety/production balance in the real world. It’s titled Light bulbs, red lines, and rotten onions, by Nippin Anand. It was originally published in The Seaways of the … Continue reading Light bulbs, red lines, and rotten onions

Something about not using superior skills?

By Dave English

Theres’s an old saying that truly superior pilots are those who use their superior judgment to avoid those situations where they might have to use their superior skills. It’s a good saying. On 19 August 2013 a Buffalo Airways DC-3 with 21 passengers on board took off from the Yellowknife airport in Canada. Almost immediately the right engine burst into flames. The propellor didn’t fully feather, dragging the plane down. The pilot used great stick and rudder skills to circle the big tailwheel airliner around the pattern (circuit) and land. Landing was hard, the gear was still up, and they were 100 … Continue reading Something about not using superior skills?