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TAltitude Critical Areas
he greatest threat to safety in
single-pilot operation is distrac-
tion. Without a second pilot on reduction is the mitigation. A very helpful workload
reduction tool makes active use of the ACA concept.
The idea for the ACA comes from the airline industry and to help manage workload, the single and most notably past NTSB chairman Robert Sumwalt,
board to monitor the pilot flying
pilot operator’s best strategies are those that minimize distractions.
Most pilot deviations, Loss of Control Inflight (LOC-I) and other aircraft mishaps have at their core an element of pilot distraction. Distraction and deviation are most common when the pilot is in a transitory phase of flight: climbing out from the departure airport, transitioning from climb to level (whether in an intermediate “step climb” or at the final cruise altitude), leveling out of a descent, and in the approach and landing environment.
who in a 1990s National Business Aviation Association (NBAA) article coined the term to describe the final por- tion of an instrument approach. I’ve adopted Sumwalt’s term to expand on the concept for single-pilot resource management (SPRM).
Defining ACA
I define an Altitude Critical Area as any range of altitude:
• within 2,000 feet of the ground and/or
• within 1,000 feet of a level-off altitude (whether on climb or descent) until established and trimmed on that altitude.
by Thomas P. Turner
These transition phases are easily defined in terms of altitude, as what I call Altitude Critical Areas (ACAs).
If distraction is the hazard in an ACA, then workload
14 • TWIN & TURBINE / September 2022