Combat Complacency with the FAA’s General and Business Aviation Call to Action

Imagine this scenario. A pilot is in cruise flight with the spouse and two children aboard the four-seat, single engine airplane enroute to a family get-together. The weather is great, the ride is smooth, and the family is enjoying the view of the vast forest below. The pilot makes a routine scan of the engine instruments and notices that the oil pressure is a bit lower than usual. It is still in the green arc so there is nothing to worry about immediately. But, a few minutes later, the oil pressure is now near the low end of the yellow arc and the oil temperature is higher than usual. Realizing that a problem exists, the pilot reduces engine power and decides to divert to the nearest suitable airport which is 45 miles away. After making the turn toward the alternate airport and further reducing engine power to begin a slow descent, the pilot notes that the oil pressure is now against the low-end peg and the oil temperature is near the high-end limit. The family is informed that they are diverting to another airport and that an off-airport landing might be necessary. Four minutes later the engine seizes, and the propeller stops. That forest below does not seem as inviting as it did a few minutes earlier. The NTSB probable cause finding for the accident might state, “The pilot’s failure to secure the oil filler cap during preflight inspection leading to loss of engine oil and engine failure.” This is a fictitious scenario, but it is based on actual recent crashes. 


Our quest to find human factors as potential causes in crashes such as this seldom reveals a “smoking gun” of clear evidence but often points to a list of “usual suspects.” That list includes complacency which could lead to missed items during a preflight inspection.

We often see complacency as a contributing factor in aviation accidents and incidents involving experienced pilots. Complacency is rarely found in low time pilots. Most people do not begin their pilot journey with complacency toward the endeavor. They might be complacent in other regards, but not to their flying. Complacency often finds a way to creep in as flying experience is gained.

The FAA recently issued a “General and Business Aviation Call to Action.” It begins with a quote from Acting FAA Administrator Chris Rochileau, “Safety is a collective effort that requires constant, proactive collaboration among all stakeholders. Complacency is the enemy of safety, and we need to be vigilant and address emerging risks before they become problems.” Perhaps this introduction holds the most crucial element and sets the framework for the document when it states, “Complacency is the enemy of safety.”

While the Acting Administrator likely refers to the larger stakeholders collaborating to avoid institutional complacency, we can take that queue to combat our individual inclination toward complacency.

Complacency is built into our humanness, and we must work to combat it. Repetitive tasks become automated by our brains and are shifted from deliberate thinking to automatic, routine responses. This can occur in our preflight inspection when time after time we check oil filler caps and fuel caps and routinely find them to be secure. Eventually we become very familiar with the process, expect to find the respective cap secure and automatically move on to the next item. Many more items on preflight inspection, engine start, run up, before takeoff, and before landing checklists can be inadequately addressed due to complacency.

Fortunately, we have tools available to help us keep complacency at bay. The FAA’s “Call to Action” provides many valuable resources to help us fly more safely by being better informed as pilots. For example, the Aircraft Maintenance Section provides a link to find any Airworthiness Directives (AD), Special Airworthiness Information Bulletins (SAIB), Service Difficulty Reports History, and more. The Planning Section provides links for NOTAMs, TFRs. and information on the Flight Risk assessment Tool (FRAT) and more. The In-flight Section features links for more information on flight following and ADS-B. The Post Flight Section reminds us to review our post-flight checklists, share safety concerns through the Aviation Safety Reporting System and to self-reflect and think about what we could do better on our next flight. And the Training Section provides links to the FAASTeam, the General Aviation Joint Safety Committee, the FlySafe Newsletter, and the FAA Safety Briefing magazine. That section also provides links to the Runway Safety Simulator and the Wake Turbulence Training Aid.

Using any of the resources provided in the “Call to Action” represents a big step toward combating complacency and being a safer pilot.

Check out the “Call to Action” at https://www.faa.gov/GA-action *

 

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Gene Benson has had a lifetime of aviation experience.  He has lived and breathed aviation from his first official flying lesson at the age of 14, to his first solo on his sixteenth birthday, to his 8,000 hours of flight instruction given. He has served as the Dean of Aeronautics for an aviation college, as an instructor for a major domestic airline, consultant to several foreign and domestic airlines, and to business aviation.  His academic background includes degrees in psychology, education, and business. His specialty now is the application of human factors to error reduction and safety in aviation and other industries. He is presently a FAASTeam Lead Representative and has recently served as a member of the NBAA Safety Committee. View Gene’s work at genebenson.comand https://www.vectorsforsafety.com/.