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distance-to-go. That’s not the same as positional awareness. How often have you glimpsed the surface through a break in the undercast and were surprised to find yourself offshore? Is your present heading taking you into terrain? How long can you maintain this heading before you must turn to avoid CFIT? What altitude will clear all obstructions, if you need to climb away from a landing attempt? These question must be resolved by having positional awareness. You can’t know where you’re going if you don’t know where you’ve been.Some of the famous aviation accidents were the ones with no positional awareness at the controls. In 1972, Eastern Airlines Flight 401, a Lockheed TriStar, was flown into the swampy, flat terrain of the Florida Everglades because all of the crew was preoccupied with troubleshooting a faulty landing gear light. No one noticed that the autopilot was disconnected and altitude was dwindling. A total of 101 persons died, with 75 survivors.Some 23 years later, American Airlines 965, a Boeing 757, crashed into a mountain at Cali, Columbia, killing 160 passengers and crew; four people survived, by a miracle. The weather was clear, but darkness was a factor. Contributing to the loss of positional awareness was a last- minute runway reassignment, plus an FMS programming error, leaving the airplane blindly pursuing an approach path to a non-existent airport, inserting itself into a mountain valley. Ground proximity warning gave a last minute “Pull up” command, but descent spoilers were not retracted and the slow climb was not sufficient.Turbines Inc. Half Page 4/C AdThe chain leading to accidents often begins with a simple mistake, compounded by further oversights. Losing po•sitional awareness is such a mistake. With all the tools we now have, it’s not difficult to regain PA, but first we have to realize that we’re lost. T&TAviation Technology Inc. Sixth Page4/C AdAPRIL 2015TWIN & TURBINE • 19