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position report
by Dianne White
What Does it Mean to Be a “Safe Pilot?”
PHOTO COURTESY OF AVIATION PERFORMANCE SOLUTIONS
Throughout the history of powered flight, humans attempted to balance safety while stretching to improve the performance and mechanical limitations of the machine. Some of the biggest feats and leaps in technological achievement came with a big dose of risk. Certainly, aviation’s safety record has progressively improved over the last 100 years. Today, we have a plethora of technologies – reliable engines, satellite navigation, datalink weather, ground prox, TCAS, and autopilots with envelope protection – to help us keep the shiny side up and the help us gently bring the wheels back to earth.
So, if we have all these fantastic situational awareness tools and technology, why do we continue to have fatal accidents? Between 2001 and 2011, nearly half of all GA fatalities were because the pilot lost control of the aircraft in flight. Even with all the shiny buttons and pretty pictures in front of us, we still can’t escape our very human evolutionary shortcomings. We misinterpret sensory input, inject our erroneous biases, become oversaturated, fixated and sometimes simply lazy in keeping up with the aircraft. And there’s that “fight or flight” response to what we perceive as a dangerous situation. It evokes a strong physiological reaction that can flood our bodies with adrenaline and cortisol, rendering us less capable of thinking, evaluating, reasoning and responding.
Here’s a list of human performance failures that can lead to LOC incidents, according to NBAA safety experts:
• Responses to aerodynamics – how pilots perceive and control the airplane;
• Energy management – maintaining awareness of the airplane’s energy state;
• Flight path management – maintaining awareness of position in space;
• Automation management – understanding and application of automation and technology;
• Pilot monitoring – monitoring the other crew members’ performances and the state of the airplane and automation;
• Distraction – minimizing and managing distractions and interruptions;
• Startle – a physiological response such as a loud noise;
• Surprise – the response to an unexpected event;
• Stress – managing and mitigating acute and chronic stress.
Regardless of whether you fly a Boeing or a Beechcraft, no pilot is immune. So, what are we as an industry and pilot com- munity doing about it? At all levels – from the FAA, NTSB to the alphabet groups – there is a big spotlight on LOC and deserv- edly so. Several type-specific owners’ groups have developed safety programs that address the key areas that plague their specific communities. The goal is to “think globally” about best practices for preventing these accidents and provide pilots the tools to “act locally” to make their daily flight operations safer.
As an example, the Malibu/M-Class Owner Pilots Association (the organization I lead) has rolled out the Master Aviator pro- gram that focuses on the three key areas that lead to accidents in the PA46 community: loss of control, skill deficits in direc- tional control and lack of proficiency due to not flying enough. The program adds a spirit of competition among members to work through progressively higher levels within the program. Members who complete the requirements will be recognized and awarded their Aviator, Senior Aviator or Master Aviator “wings” at the 2019 Convention.
Another type-specific group, the Citation Jet Pilots Association, has developed the Gold Standard safety program, which rec- ognizes Citation pilots who go above and beyond minimum Citation currency requirements to complete enhanced training
4 • TWIN & TURBINE
January 2019