Page 14 - Volume 14 Number 9

SAFETY
Checklists and CRM
by Deanna Wallace
When I was new to the aviation world, just acquiring my certificates and ratings, I would watch corporate aircraft of all sizes taxi onto the local ramp and enthusiastically greet pilots with my opinion on what a beautiful aircraft they had and how I couldn’t wait to fly one myself one day. Every now and then a crew member would make my day by allowing me to climb aboard and take a peek around, teasing me that “if I could get it started, I could take it for a spin.” Of course, I knew nothing about starting a turbine engine and their aircraft was safe from a flight by this fledgling pilot-in-training, but it didn’t keep me from dreaming about the day I’d be qualified to fly a turbine-powered aircraft myself ... or even get the engine started.
Four years after beginning my flight training, I finally got the opportunity to fly right seat in a King Air 300 as a contracted co-pilot. I was not type-rated, but I was a quick learner and decent on the radios. The pilot-in- command (PIC), a wonderful man named Joe Wright, was a flight instructor that took the time to teach me the
nuances of the airplane, share stick time, and mentor me in the corporate aviation world he had operated in for decades. He did not legally have to have me in that seat to fly the Part 91 operation, but he utilized me as if I were a required crewmember on every flight, in contrast to a PIC I later flew with that told me to sit on my hands and touch nothing. Both equally shaped my attitude toward flying in a crew environment.
Almost 20 years later, typed and single-pilot qualified on the King Air 300/350 airframe myself, I rarely leave with an empty right seat on trips. There are simply far too many eager aviators looking for a professional mentor and turbine experience for me to depart without a co-pilot, even one not experienced on the airframe. It matters not to me whether my co-pilot holds a private pilot certificate or is an ATP, they add value to the trip, reduce my workload when properly instructed, and, in turn, they gain valuable experience within the corporate sector that is difficult to come by for many aviators. I love introducing pilots to turbine aircraft, new performance considerations, and known, but formerly
(credit: Clint Goff Photography)
12 • KING AIR MAGAZINE
SEPTEMBER 2020