Narrative:

At an out station that has no tug (we taxi out). As I start the number two engine my mind thinks 'it will take two to four minutes to start both engines and taxi. This means we will be 1-3 minutes late. What's the delay code? Is it deice? But I think we started boarding on time. Is it the brief call I made to maintenance 10 minutes prior to departure which caused us to delay doing the before start checklist?' I need to know because I have to fill out the delay form or else I'm going to get a phone call. As I'm watching the engine gauges I realize that I am distracted. After engine start; the fist officer notices a maintenance item that causes us to run the emergency checklist and yet another call to dispatch and maintenance. The issue clears itself; but afterwards I realize how the numerous emails; charts and graphs about where we need to improve our on time performance (especially the STAR flights); and that there is more of an emphasis on time departures than there is on the ready safe go program. The distraction about my timeliness caused me to miss a serious item that luckily my first officer caught. We don't see emails coming out from [company safety report] nor do we see emails from management about how a crew used good judgement delaying a flight because they were focusing on safety. We don't see emails about how a flight was delayed and yet it still arrived at its destination on time so that passengers were able to connect to flights. There has become more of an emphasis on what was not done 'perfectly' vs. What was done safely. I embraced the [safety culture] philosophy because it was no longer 'time flies'; a rush mentality that gets us looking at our watches. As a captain; my anxiety level was reduced because there was no longer a time pressure; but a focus on the safety of flights and ensuring that things are done properly. But as the emphasis once again creeps back to timeliness; I see the pressure with the flight attendants; the pilots; the ground crew; and the gate agents. I don't see them focusing on being safe; but focusing on that delay code and who's 'fault' it was. I would rather take the fall every single time than watch the stress that occurs when other employees of my team are worried about getting in trouble.

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Original NASA ASRS Text

Title: The First Officer of a Dash-8 reports that on a morning STAR flight he embraces the Ready Go Safe philosophy.

Narrative: At an out station that has no tug (we taxi out). As I start the number two engine my mind thinks 'it will take two to four minutes to start both engines and taxi. This means we will be 1-3 minutes late. What's the delay code? Is it deice? But I think we started boarding on time. Is it the brief call I made to maintenance 10 minutes prior to departure which caused us to delay doing the before start checklist?' I need to know because I have to fill out the delay form or else I'm going to get a phone call. As I'm watching the engine gauges I realize that I am distracted. After engine start; the Fist Officer notices a maintenance item that causes us to run the emergency checklist and yet another call to dispatch and maintenance. The issue clears itself; but afterwards I realize how the numerous emails; charts and graphs about where we need to improve our on time performance (especially the STAR flights); and that there is more of an emphasis on time departures than there is on the Ready Safe Go Program. The distraction about my timeliness caused me to miss a serious item that luckily my First Officer caught. We don't see emails coming out from [company safety report] nor do we see emails from management about how a crew used good judgement delaying a flight because they were focusing on safety. We don't see emails about how a flight was delayed and yet it still arrived at its destination on time so that passengers were able to connect to flights. There has become more of an emphasis on what was not done 'perfectly' vs. what was done safely. I embraced the [safety culture] philosophy because it was no longer 'Time Flies'; a rush mentality that gets us looking at our watches. As a captain; my anxiety level was reduced because there was no longer a time pressure; but a focus on the safety of flights and ensuring that things are done properly. But as the emphasis once again creeps back to timeliness; I see the pressure with the flight attendants; the pilots; the ground crew; and the gate agents. I don't see them focusing on being safe; but focusing on that delay code and who's 'fault' it was. I would rather take the fall every single time than watch the stress that occurs when other employees of my team are worried about getting in trouble.

Data retrieved from NASA's ASRS site and automatically converted to unabbreviated mixed upper/lowercase text. This report is for informational purposes with no guarantee of accuracy. See NASA's ASRS site for official report.