The Debrief
In the first installment of “Bar Talk,” I briefly touched on the subject of the “debrief.” I’m sure something springs to mind when you hear that word, but unless you have experience in some of the most elite combat forces, you may not grasp what it really CAN mean to your skills, proficiency, techniques and procedures as an aviator. You may wonder why even the title of my blog collection revolves around this concept. The reason the debrief is SO important is because it is the portion of the flight where the most long-term learning occurs. If you are paying for instruction and rental, then it can be the most valuable money you ever spend. In fact, it could save your life…
Being that I believe this part is so very valuable, you may wonder why it almost never happens in most general aviation and commercial aviation circles. After a flight, most folks just want to move on to the next thing in their schedule. Some flights can be exhausting, both mentally and physically (When’s the last time you did spin or upset training?). It seems, now that the flying is over, why should I spend my time (and for students, money) on an extra 5-55 minutes to talk about it? Isn’t it just a waste? Well, no, it isn’t, if you are prepared to conduct a good one. Normally, there’s no debrief because the people involved don’t have the resources or skills to conduct one, or they just don’t think to do one. But for any kind of flying training activity (and ALL flying activities are training), a debrief is essential to maximize learning.
So what is a debrief? The key elements of a debrief include a review of your objectives for the flight, an accurate reconstruction of the events that substantially contributed/detracted from meeting those objectives, a discussion of how the plan, products, briefing and execution could be modified to have met or exceeded those objectives and (here’s the learning) a set of altered behaviors for next time (called instruction) that can be applied to enhance performance. Most debriefs don’t happen because one or all of these elements are missing or grossly lacking. A lot goes into a good debrief, but the key element has always been an unswerving fixation on improved performance.
One of the beauties of the debrief that has kept American combat forces at the pinnacle of warfighting capability for decades is that only performance matters in the debrief. Rank doesn’t matter. Reputation doesn’t matter. Where you grew up, social status, your checkbook, your politics, your current job title; none of those matter in the debrief, only what happened and what you did to deal with it. When executed well, no one “wins” the debrief by arguing louder and longer. This prevents useless techniques or invalid execution from permeating to the next flight. Only measurable performance in support of the objectives matter. So leave your bruised ego at the door when you go into debrief. You are liable to need a pretty thick skin. Humbly accept valid criticism of your performance today and its demonstrated consequences, and readily absorb new techniques to improve for next time. That is the road to your quickest improvement and best performance. The technique you pick up in debrief may be the one that saves your life.
As always, if you have feedback for me about this or any other aviation topic, don’t hesitate to write to me at fly@AmericanMadeAviation.com.