Department of Aeronautics (Zavod za aeronautiku)

The Faculty of Transport and Traffic Sciences was privileged to host Capt James R Lee, the former US Coast Guard pilot and currently Captain and Lead Line Check Pilot for the B717 and CS100 aircraft, on 15th March 2018. Capt Lee held guest lecture about his rich military and civil career as well as Aviation Safety Action Program (ASAP) that enables pilots to report errors to their company without risk of disciplinary action and Threat and Error Management (TEM) tool that enables crews to learn new strategies to identify threats in advance, how to prevent errors from reoccurring and the importance of creating time when faced with uncertain circumstances. The lecture was held for all military and civil pilot students at the Department of aeronautics. It was very interesting and the students had a lot of questions for the captain.

The Department of Aeronautics is privileged to host Capt James R Lee, on  March 15th 2018 at 10.15 AM, in lecture room D3, Building 70. Captain Lee is a former US Coast Guard pilot and currently Captain and Lead Line Check Pilot for the B717 and CS100 aircraft. Official language of the lecture is English and the chairman will be Full Professor Tino Bucak, PhD. The most interesting details from captain’s CV are presented below. You are all invited, welcome!

Captain Lee graduated from the United States Coast Guard Academy with a BS degree in Applied Mathematics in 1986. He was initially assigned as a Deck Watch Officer on the Coast Guard Cutter Buttonwood, a buoy tender in the Gulf of Mexico. After that he attended US Navy Flight Training and was then assigned to fly theCoast Guard’s HC-130H aircraft.  After tours of duty in Clearwater FL and Kodiak, AK, Lee left the Coast Guard and was hired by Delta Air Lines in Atlanta GA in 1996.  During his time with Delta, Captain Lee has accumulated more than 20,000 flight hours in the B727, MD88, MD90, B737, B757, B767, B717 and CS100 aircraft.

In 2011 Captain Lee was selected to become a Line Check Pilot on the MD88.  Line Check Pilots are responsible for training and evaluating new line pilots as well as conducting “standardization checks” on current line pilots.  In 2013 Captain Lee was selected to become a Lead Line Check Pilot for the B717.  Lead Line Check Pilots not only train, evaluate and check line pilots, they are also responsible for the training and mentoring of Line Check Pilots.  In 2016 Captain Lee was selected to become a Lead Line Check Pilot on the new CS100 Aircraft.

Over the last several years Captain Lee has also been a key member of Delta’s ASAP ERC team.  Aviation Safety Action Program or ASAP is a system that enables Pilots to report errors to their company without risk of disciplinary action.  This arrangement promotes a “just culture” and enable the airline to adjust pilot training and education bases on the feedback that comes through the ASAP system.  Some events that are reported via the ASAP system are egregious enough that the crew requires additional Threat and Error Management training.  This training is conducted in a non-punitive manner and is designed to ensure crew competency.  Captain Lee has served as one of two primary “de-briefers” that are responsible for conducting this training.

As a “de-briefer” Captain Lee has conducted more than 100 face to face interviews with crews that have made serious errors.  These interviews include a discussion of the technical issues as well as the Human Factors issues that contributed to the event.  Delta has developed and Threat and Error Management (TEM) Tool that enables crews to learn new strategies to identify threats in advance, how to prevent errors from reoccurring and the importance of creating time when faced with uncertain circumstances.   The combination of ASAP, ERC debriefing and the TEM model are ground breaking and have placed Delta at the forefront of aviation safety in North America.