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When I was a primary student, a post flight review was not only mandatory but an integral part of every lesson since it offered an opportunity to ask questions and get direct feedback from my CFI. Unfortunately, some things that should not have been forgotten were lost, and soon after my checkride, my debrief had fallen into shadow. It was only after my instrument rating did my CFII ingrain in me the importance of the debrief and why every pilot needs to do them.
Looking back, I think one of the main reasons why after becoming a private pilot I forgot about doing a post flight review is that flying was still so overwhelming in the first place. Those early debriefs would go like this, “I landed. All in one piece. Good job.” Now, with a lot more hours under my wings, I’ve realized that flying isn’t the hard part, it’s everything around it, including, you guessed it, the debrief. And learning how to debrief is just as much a skill as it is an art form that takes a lot of practice to get right (no, I’m not there yet).
Counterintuitively, I have found that there is a direct relationship between logged flight hours and the amount of time you debrief—the more experienced the pilot, the longer the debrief. Case in point, for the Navy’s Blue Angels, their debrief process is more akin to a religious ceremony, a sacred few hours to dissect every aspect of the flight since that conversation is literally a matter of life or death.
Like many of you, my debrief has evolved over my flying career. Now, what I like to do is organize my thoughts into, “The Good, The Bad, and the Ugly,” or more formally, what I did well, what I thought I could do better, and what I might have done differently. And not necessarily in that order depending on how the flight went.
For example, recently I had the unfortunate experience of seeing the death of an EGT sensor aloft. So, the good: It was severe CAVOK when it happened, and I was cruising VFR at 6500, an altitude that I purposely choose to ensure I was in gliding range of an airport for most of the flight. And sure enough, when I saw the sensor start to fluctuate rapidly despite a smooth-running engine, I immediately turned toward the nearest airport which thankfully was right below me. Before I was confident it was just a sensor, I continued to stay high just in case my number had indeed come up. Finally, I returned to home base but wound up gliding all the way down (MP to idle) from my cruise altitude to touchdown to make use of the time constructively. Well done.
Now, the bad: Why didn’t I notice the fluctuating EGT sensor during my run-up in the first place? The truth is I had noticed some odd-looking numbers from that sensor on the ground, but they quickly corrected themselves as I switched mags. Regardless, I need to do a better job of not just blindly looking for the EGTs to rise and fall during my run-up but to ensure their readings are inline with what I should expect. Same is true for my CHTs too. Things to work on for the next flight.
I like to organize my thoughts into what I did well, what I thought I could do better, and what I might have done differently.
And finally, some ugly: Was turning back truly the right move or should I have just landed right then and there? And if so, I was next to two airports, which one would have been the better option? Maybe I need to pay more attention to what fields en route have dedicated repair stations? Also, I didn’t get flight following that day because the flight was relatively short, but maybe I should have just for this exact type of situation?
The answers to these questions aren’t the point – just having these types of discussions with myself is since without a proper debrief, all the above conversations are lost, and with them, any opportunity for personal growth. And that’s what a good debrief is all about – I can’t fix my past flights, but I can certainly help shape future ones. So, although you are supposed to fly the plane until it is shutoff and chocked, I’d argue that the flight really isn’t over until you’ve had that “little chat” with yourself on the way home. Because I’m positive, on your next excursion into the wild blue yonder, you’ll be so glad you did.
- The Fine Art of the Debrief - November 13, 2024
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- Cruise Checklist, Complete? - August 14, 2024
YES! The debrief is important, perhaps even more so than the briefing. I was an IP in the 4 airplanes I flew in the Air Force and also served as a Standardization/Evaluation pilot in one of them. But, even those flights when I wasn’t either instructing or evaluating were thoroughly briefed and then thoroughly debriefed. I led my share of flights and, even when I was ‘Blue 4’ (i.e., the least experienced one in a flight of 4), I had a say in the debrief as did ‘Blue 2 & 3’. And, you better believe when I was ‘Blue Lead’ I listened and took the ‘hits’ I deserved as I gave ‘hits’ to those who needed to be reminded of their failures. But, it wasn’t always about failures, because superior performance was also recognized. We learned from our own mistakes as well as those of others and we also learned by watching and recognizing that superior airmanship leads to success.