184: Flight Safety: Importance of Standard Operating Procedures (SOPs).

 

SOPs enhance flight safety by helping flight crews conform their actions to recommendations by aircraft manufacturers and by standardising operations. SOPs should include and emphasise aspects that avoid errors and deviations that are frequently associated with incidents and accidents.

Standard Operating Procedures evolve over a long period of time with much thought and experience gone into them. They need to be followed strictly in letter and spirit.

 

Purpose. Standard Operating Procedures (SOPs) serve a number of purposes such as:

  • Ensuring that aircraft is flown correctly in accordance with the manufacturer’s guidelines.
  • Promote adherence to the manufacturers operating philosophy.
  • Promote operational safety.
  • Promote operational efficiency.
  • Utilise aircraft resources and functionality appropriately.

 

Violations. Sometimes pilots do get tempted to adjust, reorder or even skip some SOPs. Reasons could be:

  • They feel that the SOP doesn’t exactly fit the situation at hand.
  • They would take more time than a widely accepted shortcut.
  • Perception of existence of a better method.

 

Ramifications. Not following SOPs in letter and spirit could create problems as follows:

  • Ad hoc operations have the risk of missing out on some critical factor.
  • Reordering SOP have the risk of forgetting something important or failing to consider any sequential priorities.
  • Crew resource management (CRM) becomes more difficult as other crew members will have to guess about our procedures and techniques.
  • First Violation (and getting away with it) may encourage subsequent repeated violations.
  • Violation by one may encourage others making it organisational culture to skip SOPs.

 

Correct Approach. Any situation that creates a doubt about an SOP in the minds of crew should be reviewed in a formal and planned manner. The steps could be as follows:

  • Analyse the existing SOP, try to understand why the SOP exists in its form.
  • If one feels that some aspect needs to be changed as a better and improved alternative solution exists – study the changes and repercussion in more detail.
  • Discussion with other more experienced crew and peer group helps in this process and is recommended.
  • The suggestion needs to be put up for change to those who have the power to change it.
  • Flight department leaders should, select a well-experienced team to spearhead the study and obtain manufacturer comments if required.
  • The change should be adequately debated and tested if required.
  • Once it is decided that the SOP is to be changed, it should be documented at all the relevant places.
  • All Crew should be made aware of the new SOP.

 

Adherence to SOPs: Some Other Factors.

Training. Training is only as good as the teaching staff or instructor. Relevant aspects are as follows:

  • Any Instructor with a deviant behaviour of cutting corners or ignoring SOPs can have a damaging influence on potential crew.
  • Lack of proper oversight by the instructors could also lead to development of deviant habits.
  • Simulators have lot of scope for getting away with deviations and short cuts. This may encourage such behaviour becoming a habit. Simulator Instructors need to be aware and vigilant about this aspect.
  • Training should not become a square filling exercise.

 

Peer Group Influence. Peer group has a strong influence (especially during training period). In a peer group a subtle desire to demonstrate skills, impress others and compete can become a recipe for increased risk. Good crew can be corrupted by a poor peer groups.

 

Organisational Pressures. Crew at times come under extreme pressure to overlook SOPs to meet organisational goals and targets. This can lead to disastrous situations.

  • Resorting to formal waivers should be an exception rather than a rule.
  • Target fixation should be avoided at all costs.
  • Mission accomplishment should not be at the cost of safety risk.
  • “Safety first” motto should not only be quoted but religiously enforced.

 

Experience and Expertise. The machine does not know the expertise level of the pilot. The title of EXPERT demands maturity and extra safety consciousness. Skill, knowledge and experience of an expert does not give a license to deviate. Superior skill and experience should be used to avoid potential dangerous situations rather than getting out of them. There is no room for over confidence or complacency in the field of aviation.

 

Always Remember

In aviation mistake can occur anytime and even by best of the aviators. There is no scope of letting one’s guard down.

 

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181: Knowing China Better:  Chinese Social Score System

 

China’s social credit system isn’t a world first but  it is unique.

Pic courtesy:https://www.bertelsmann-stiftung.de/fileadmin/files/aam/Asia-Book_A_03_China_Social_Credit_System.pdf

The Social Credit System is part of Xi Jinping’s vision for data-driven governance. 

 

The goal of the China social credit system is to provide a holistic assessment of an individual or a company’s trustworthiness.

 

The China social credit system, is an extension of existing social rankings and ratings in China which have existed for millennia.

 

The Social Score is a system that collects all kinds of data about citizens and companies, sorts, analyses, evaluates, interprets and implements actions based on it.

 

In concrete terms, this means that if you wait at a red light, you get plus points. If you pay your taxes and bills on time, you get plus points. If you are socially involved and accept the rules, you also get plus points.

 

If you have a good Social Score, you get unsolicited benefits for your social behaviour. These include, for example, faster visa application processing and more freedom to travel. When dating online, algorithms higher prioritize the own profile. Banks offer lower interest rates for company loans or private real estate purchases. People with a high Social Score are promoted faster and get better job offers.

 

However, people who go red, cut off someone while driving, spit on the street or stick their chewing gum under their seat get minus points.

 

Anyone who criticizes the state in social media or pays their bills too late also receives minus points.

 

The consequences of a poor social credit score could be serious. It may affect travel prospects, employment, access to finance, and the ability to enter into contracts. On the other hand, a positive credit score could make a range of business transactions for individuals and corporations much easier.

 

It is essential that any foreign business consolidating or establishing their presence in China seek professional advice for managing a social credit score. This applies both to individual scores, and the corporate social credit score. 

 

Machine (AI) based Implementation

Every country has laws, cultural norms, social morals and social agreements. The police, courts, politicians, administrations, media and citizens are involved in a constant dialogue; it determines what we define as right or wrong.

 

In China, this task has partly been taken over by Artificial Intelligence based machine i.e. controlling and managing the society – with machines instead of people. The machine decides on correct and incorrect behaviour.

 

Inputs are obtained from:

  • Financial Data
  • Digital Data (Internet websites, apps, videos and pictures visited/browsed)
  • Mobile Data (Calls and messages)
  • Health Data

 

The data is used to make individual profiles (Behaviour, movement and content).

 

Based on the profile credit scores are allotted and reviewed.

 

Based on the credit score the privileges are granted or curbed.

 

Ethical Issues

This system raises a lot of ethical questions related to freedom and privacy.

 

  • Who monitors the score, who imports the data and who configures the system?

 

  • How ethical and moral aspects (if any) are integrated?

 

 

  • Who monitors the system to prevent manipulation, and abuse of power?

 

  • What data is collected? Who has access to it?

 

 

  • How is the privacy of citizens and companies ensured?

 

  • Are only Chinese citizens monitored or all people on Chinese territory?

 

 

  • Does the government also collect data on Chinese people abroad?

 

End piece

Collecting data and setting up administrative systems to ensure protection, freedom and security for all concerned is a legitimate tool for states. However, as surveillance increases, privacy must be respected as long as the welfare of society is not affected.

 

Titbits

In China everyone’s movements are monitored continuously. In the AI based monitoring system besides face recognition, even gait recognition has been introduced to make it more fool proof.

 

 

Question

Do you approve of such a system?

 

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References

 https://www.wired.co.uk/article/china-social-credit-system-explained

 https://merics.org/en/report/chinas-social-credit-system-2021-fragmentation-towards-integration

 https://nhglobalpartners.com/china-social-credit-system-explained/

 https://www.bertelsmann-stiftung.de/fileadmin/files/aam/Asia-Book_A_03_China_Social_Credit_System.pdf

179: Knowing China Better: sha zhu bang (Kill Pigs List)

 

People fear fame like pigs fear growing fat.

– Chinese saying

 

Most countries have a list of the wealthiest people and it is considered as an honour to feature on the list.

In China, these lists have a colloquial name: sha zhu bang: “kill pigs list.”

In the last fifteen years, China has produced greater overall wealth than any other country. The number of its billionaires has gone from a mere 15 to around 250 in just six years.

But for a number of these people this elevated status is short-lived. Majority of those on the list end up in the court or the jail. Some even get executed.

 

Regulatory Realignment

Over the last year, China has seen a struggle between state regulators and entrepreneurs as the government tries to bring technology companies increasingly in line with the strategic goals of the Chinese Communist Party.

China’s regulators need to discipline their country’s tech companies goes beyond normal concerns to a broader sense, that the companies’ interests aren’t sufficiently lined up with the Chinese Communist Party’s industrial policy or its goal of achieving technological self-sufficiency.

The campaign has continued apace in 2021 with an intensifying series of antitrust crackdowns and data security probes into the major tech firms (by fining for anti-monopoly violations, penalising for price dumping, and app dumping from app stores etc.)

 

XI’s Directives

  • Xi has made it clear what he expects from tech executives. A 2017 directive called for measures to “strengthen the sense of loyalty” among entrepreneurs and to strengthen the authority of the party leadership over them.
  • In July 2020, Xi told entrepreneurs that they should emulate “patriotic entrepreneurs” from Chinese history.
  • Another set of directives released in September 2020 said that “ideological guidance” should be strengthened to “create a core group of private sector leaders who can be relied upon during critical times.”
  • Most recently, Xi presided over a meeting of the Communist Party’s Central Committee for Financial and Economic Affairs at which officials outlined plans to adjust excessive income and “encourage high-income groups and enterprises to give back to society more.”

 

Voices of dissent

 Alibaba founder Jack Ma gave a speech last October harshly criticizing China’s regulatory system. His speech was like a punch on the face.”

Ma told the assembled members of China’s financial, regulatory, and political establishment that the regulatory system was stifling innovation and needed to be reformed to fuel growth.

 

“Chinese banks, operate with a pawnshop mentality”

“To innovate without risks is to kill innovation,”

“There’s no innovation without risks in the world.”

– Jack Ma

 

In giving the speech, Ma took a big risk for himself. His words were a clear signal to regulators that tech companies would fiercely resist any imposition of red tape on them, no matter how reasonable.

The speech reportedly infuriated the leadership in Beijing and prompted Xi to take drastic actions.

 

Towing the line: Pre-emptive Philanthropy

The tech executives have seen the writing on the wall. Now some of China’s richest entrepreneurs have embraced philanthropy in a bid to stave off unwelcome government attention.

One day after Xi emphasized the virtue of philanthropy, tech conglomerates and China’s rich are pledging billions of yuan towards common prosperity, social, environmental, education and science initiatives.

The sudden outburst of philanthropic activity is part of an effort to court public opinion and polish their reputations before they find themselves in deep trouble.

Some chief executives have even decided to move completely out of the limelight by stepping down from their positions at the top of their companies.

 

Is it Weeding out Corruption?

Arrests and prosecutions like these make one believe that China has begun to take corruption more seriously. However, arbitrary and selective targeting points otherwise.

China’s legal culture thrives on the principle of ‘killing the chicken to scare the monkeys.’ If the Chinese authorities want they can probably find grounds for accusing any one of them for bending or breaking the rules.

 

Is it to Crush the Perceived Potential Competition?

China’s billionaires and tech giants are seen as potential rival centers of power and influence in the country.

The party and the party president feels if not put in place, they can emerge as alternative powers.

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References

https://www.theatlantic.com/international/archive/2013/01/why-do-chinese-billionaires-keep-ending-up-in-prison/272633/

https://warontherocks.com/2021/08/china-takes-on-its-tech-leaders

 

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