Safety
MayJun2016
MayJun2016
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navigators if you don’t understand where they are<br />
taking you — or if you have any doubts as to the<br />
safety of the suggested course. Never forget that the<br />
magenta line can guide you direct to anywhere …<br />
including direct through regulatory obstacles (e.g.,<br />
restricted/prohibited/controlled airspace), manmade<br />
obstacles, or natural ones such as terrain.<br />
Stay Focused<br />
If you are lucky enough to have a good autopilot,<br />
it’s great to have “George” tend to the basic flying<br />
chores while you — at least in theory — focus on more<br />
important things like positional awareness and, more<br />
broadly, overall situational awareness (e.g., status of<br />
weather, fuel, engine indications). The challenge, of<br />
course, is to actually direct that freed-up mental and<br />
physical capacity to those more important positional<br />
and situation awareness considerations. That means<br />
overcoming the very human tendency to lapse into<br />
“fat, dumb, and happy” complacency that could cause<br />
you to miss something like an abnormal indication on<br />
an engine gauge. Find ways to keep yourself continuously<br />
in the loop. For example:<br />
• Use callouts to maintain positional awareness<br />
(e.g., “crossing WITTO intersection, next<br />
waypoint is MITER intersection”).<br />
• Announce changes to heading, altitude, and<br />
frequency.<br />
• Record those changes in an abbreviated<br />
navigation log. The act of speaking and writing<br />
bolsters your awareness.<br />
• Announce any change to navigation source<br />
(e.g., “switching from GPS to VLOC”) and<br />
autopilot modes. I encourage pilots to read each<br />
item on the autopilot status display aloud every<br />
time there is a change stating which modes are<br />
armed and which modes are engaged.<br />
Today’s technology provides the foundation for<br />
an unprecedented level of situational awareness. We<br />
just have to use it for that purpose, and pay attention<br />
in order to repel the all-too-human attraction<br />
to technological distractions that could detract from<br />
flight safety.<br />
Susan Parson (susan.parson@faa.gov, or @avi8rix for Twitter fans) is editor of<br />
FAA <strong>Safety</strong> Briefing. She is an active general aviation pilot and flight instructor.<br />
Learn More<br />
“The Lost Art of Paying Attention,” FAA <strong>Safety</strong> Briefing,<br />
Jan/Feb 2014, p. 8<br />
www.faa.gov/news/safety_briefing/2014/media/<br />
JanFeb2014.pdf<br />
“Surprise,” FAA <strong>Safety</strong> Briefing, Mar/Apr 2016, p. 18<br />
www.faa.gov/news/safety_briefing/2016/media/<br />
MarApr2016.pdf<br />
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May/June 2016 FAA <strong>Safety</strong> Briefing 15