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Situational Awareness Means Paying Attention
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With the recent occurrences in the commercial aviation industry of Northwest Airlines Flight 188 and Colgan Flight 3407 , pilots paying attention in the cockpit is front and center in the flying public’s mind, and also brings into focus the professional qualifications of the nation’s current crop of commercial pilots.
Recalling those flights, Flight 188 was the airliner that flew 150 miles past its destination as the pilots allegedly discussed company policy, and Flight 3407 is the regional jet that crashed on approach to Buffalo in icing conditions. This author finds it appalling that Flight 188 flew onwards, apparently not aware of their flight path and flight time. He finds it somewhat less appalling that Flight 3407 crashed, although both flights carried the same responsibility of public confidence and trust in the nation’s air transport system.
Having piloted small general aviation aircraft himself, the author understands from his limited flight time (fifty-nine hours logged aloft) the importance of situational awareness, and also the fact that not paying attention for even more than a few moments can bring on white knuckle conditions.
One may have heard pilots describe flying as the ultimate method of reducing stress; it comes from the total concentration required to pilot an airplane safely and efficiently. The author’s experience has been one of absolute concentration on the task at hand; not fear necessarily, but respect for the seriousness of what one is doing while in the air. This level of concentration may stem from being a low-time pilot. It is statistically proven that pilots with fewer than 1,000 hours flying time are one of the most accident-prone groups, because they haven’t had the clock time to have gained enough experience to safely traverse various flying situations but may have gained more confidence than their flying abilities warrant, perhaps gathering complacency in that confidence, (see Annual Review of Aircraft Accident Data, NTSB, here).
Yet, this does not excuse pilots from being in command of the aircraft at all times. Seeing and avoiding other aircraft, listening to and carrying out commands issued from air traffic control or the control tower, maintaining proper altitude and course, monitoring engine and flight controls, and monitoring the flight plan, fuel consumption, and weather conditions are only a few things one must be aware of in a single-occupant, single-engine aircraft that can lead to disaster if the pilot’s attention strays for only a moment.
Multiply these few items by the highest standard of care required of commercial airline pilots carrying hundreds of passengers, operating an intricately complex machine, within a very crowded airspace, only to become even more compact once the NextGen system is fully operational, and pilot attention and awareness becomes paramount.
Inattention in the cockpit in a small, personal airplane is inexcusable; inattention in a commercial airliner is indefensible.
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