As soon as the plane has landed, the "flight information department" receives flight parameters, including "overload" (as an example), what other parameters may indicate the correct operation of the pilot?
-
5$\begingroup$ Are you talking about a large commercial carrier like United or SAS,or a small charter company, or a trainee working on his PPL, or something else entirely? The more detail you edit into your question, the more applicable the answers can be. $\endgroup$– FreeManJun 22 at 12:40
-
1$\begingroup$ You could measure his heart rate, breathing rate, blood oxygen levels- an abnormality in any of those would probably indicate the pilot was not in proper working order. $\endgroup$– JimJun 23 at 5:21
1 Answer
If you are referring to commercial airline operators, then you most likely meant a Flight Operations or a Flight Safety department receiving this information. Most airplanes do not automatically send all of the information to the headquarters but rather store it in an onboard storage device, then this information is downloaded from the aircraft during scheduled maintenance (every 3-4 days). However, newer aircraft can and will transmit any abnormalities (e.g., high oil pressure, engine fire) directly to the company in real time.
As far as what parameters are used, there are too many to list. Most important values that the airlines look for include the rate of descent, approach speed (ensuring that it is appropriate for the phase of flight), flight path and aircraft altitude over certain waypoints, and the use of flaps/landing gear. All of this is covered under the Flight Operational Quality Assurance (FOQA) program. Fun fact: Airline management have only access to de-identified information, meaning that the data does not show the date of flight, pilots' names, and any other information which could identify who flew a particular aircraft on a particular flight. The purpose of FOQA is to analyze the operation as a whole rather than look into each individual pilot. The latter is completed during pilot proficiency checks which are conducted regularly.
-
1$\begingroup$ The de-identification referenced is the case in the USA, but is not necessarily the case elsewhere. Carriers in the Middle East such as Emirates and many (possibly all) Chinese carriers, for example, most certainly do use FOQA data for punitive purposes. $\endgroup$– Ralph J2 days ago