Sterile Cockpit

Sterile Cockpit Perception

In the last few months, I wrote something motivating concerning about distractions in the cockpit and cockpit discipline. 

So, distractions will always be part of a cockpit environment, but how we as pilots can handle them, well this issue inspiring me again to focus and post something remarkable that can often mean the difference between a safe flight or an Incident or accident, the sterile cockpit what that mean this word to you as a safety pilot? 

So, it is important that there is a difference between having good judgment and making good decision.

The mental ability to perceive and differentiate alternatives permanently to have a good and a safety flight all the time. 

Good judgment comes from the ability to perceive, become aware, observe, detect, and understand. 

Making the right decision is actually the end result of having good judgment and stay away of incidents and accidents.

What that Mean Sterile Cockpit ?

It's no secret. When a flight crew's attention is diverted from the task of flying, the chance of error increases. 

Over the years there have been dozens of air carrier accidents that occurred when the crew diverted attention from the task at hand and became occupied with items totally unrelated to flying. Consequently, important things were missed. 

Things like setting the flaps prior to takeoff, or extending the landing gear before landing. 

Things like monitoring altitude on an instrument approach, or using engine anti-ice for takeoff during a blinding snow storm.

In 1981 the FAA enacted FAR 121.542 and FAR 135.100 to help curb the number of these accidents. 

Commonly known as the "sterile cockpit rule," these regulations specifically prohibit crew member performance of non-essential duties or activities while the aircraft is involved in taxi, takeoff, landing, and all other flight operations conducted below 10,000 feet MSL, except cruise flight.

Sterile Cockpit Rules:

FAR 121.542 / FAR 135.100--Flight Crew Member Duties

(a) No certificate holder shall require, nor may any flight crew member perform any duties during a critical phase of flight except those duties required for the safe operation of the aircraft. 

Duties such as company required calls made for non-safety related purposes as ordering galley supplies and confirming passenger connections, announcements made to passengers promoting the air carrier or pointing out sights of interest and filling out company payroll and related records are not required for the safe operation of the aircraft.

(b) No flight crew member may engage in, nor may any pilot in command permit, any activity during a critical phase of flight which could distract any flight crew member from the performance of his or her duties or which could interfere in any way with the proper conduct of those duties. 

Activities such as eating meals, engaging in non-essential conversations within the cockpit and non-essential communications between the cabin and cockpit crews, and reading publications not related to the proper conduct of the flight are not required for the safe operation of the aircraft.

(c) For the purposes of this section, critical phase of flight involves all ground operations involving taxi, takeoff and landing, and all other flight operations conducted below 10,000 feet, except cruise flight.

Note: Taxi is defined as "movement of an airplane under its own power on the surface of an airport."

I know any pilot when well-read this post will be more alert, and going to be more vigilant about any situational awareness inside your cockpit, so this especially critical at any activity during a critical phase of flight , take off , landing etc. 

Remember always fly safely all the time.✈️

Safety Information is a free service of: 

CRM 4 Pilots Aviation Consulting Inc.

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Miami-Florida



Runway Incursion ( RI )

 What is a Runway Incursion?

A runway incursion (RI) is any occurrence at an aerodrome involving the incorrect presence of an aircraft, vehicle, or person on the protected area of a surface designated for the landing and take off of aircraft.

FAA has made Runway Safety a top priority, with a specific focus on developing new and more effective RI avoidance strategies.

Runway Safety is a significant challenge and a top priority for everyone in aviation.

In the United States, an average of three Runway Incursions occurs daily. 

Each of these incidents has the potential to cause significant damage to both persons and property.

Runway incursions are a serious safety concern and have involved air carrier aircraft, military aircraft, general aviation (GA), and pedestrian vehicles.

Runway incursions have resulted in collisions and fatalities.

Fatalities have occurred at both towered and non-towered airports. 

A few seconds of inattention can cause a Runway Incursion.

Causal Factors of Runway Incursions:

Detailed investigations of Runway Incursions over the past 10 years have identified three major areas contributing to these events:

 1. Failure to comply with ATC instructions.

 2. Lack of airport familiarity.

 3. Non conformance with standard operating procedure.

Always Fly Safely.

Safety Information is a free service of:

CRM 4 Pilots Aviation Consulting Inc.

1(954) 617-5374

Miami-Florida

Hard Landing Definition:

A hard landing on a snow-contaminated runway can lead to several dangerous consequences, including: loss of directional control, inability to slow down effectively, increased risk of runway overrun, potential for skidding or hydroplaning, and damage to the aircraft due to excessive forces on the landing gear; all of which can significantly increase the risk of an accident due to the reduced friction between the tires and the runway surface caused by the snow. 

Key points about hard landings on snow-covered runways:

Reduced braking effectiveness:

Snow significantly reduces the friction between the tires and the runway, making it much harder to decelerate the aircraft upon landing, potentially leading to a longer landing roll and overrun. 

Hydroplaning risk:

If the snow is slushy or wet, the aircraft can experience hydroplaning, where the tires lose contact with the runway due to a layer of water between them, further impairing braking ability. 

Directional control issues:

On a slippery surface, even slight rudder inputs can have a reduced effect, making it harder to maintain the aircraft's heading during landing rollout. 

Increased stress on landing gear:

A hard landing on a contaminated runway puts additional stress on the landing gear, potentially causing damage if the impact is too severe. 

Important considerations for landing on a snow-covered runway:

Pilot technique:

Pilots should use a "soft-field" landing technique with a lower touchdown speed and gentle braking to maximize friction and minimize the risk of skidding. 

Runway condition reports:

Carefully review the latest runway condition reports (RCR) to assess the level of snow contamination and determine if landing is safe. 

Decision to divert:

If the runway conditions are deemed too hazardous, pilots should consider diverting to an alternate airport with better conditions.

Safety Information is a free service of:

CRM 4 Pilots Aviation Consulting Inc.

1(954) 617-5374

Miami-Florida

Source: Web Safety Information 

( Hard Landing on contaminated runways)

Aviation Weather

Aviation Weather:

Weather influences all pilots on every flight. 

So, there is a serious to all pilots understanding this critical area of Aviation Information. 

As pilots, how can we be anticipated to develop the needed skill in this area? 

What is the difference between Weather and Climate?

Weather is a major cause of fatal aircraft accidents and has the highest rate of fatalities, over 80%.

Between one-quarter and one-third of fatal GA accidents are weather related.  

What is the difference between weather and climate?

WEATHER: Weather is principally the way the atmosphere is behaving, mainly with respect to its effects.

As pilots we ask what is the weather in terms of temperature, humidity, precipitation, cloudiness, visibility, wind, and atmospheric pressure, as in high and low pressure etc. 

In most countries and places, weather can change from Minute-to-Minute, Hour-to-Hour, Day-to-Day, and Season-to-Season.

CLIMATE: Climate is the report of the long-term pattern of weather in a particular area.

Some meteorological experts define climate as the typical weather for a particular region and time period. 

When meteorologists experts talk about climate, they're looking what that means the terms of precipitation, temperature, humidity, wind velocity, phenomena such as fog, frost, and hail storms, and other measures of the weather that occur over a long period in a particular place.

According to the NASA.gov information, the difference between weather and climate is the measure of time. 

Weather is what the conditions of the atmosphere are over a short period of time and climate is the average weather over a very long period of time.

Keep in mind deeper information of weather also allows you to adjust your flights, and avoid potential weather hazards.

Always Remember Fly Safely, the weather plays a huge part in your flying all the time.

Safety is the First gate to Success / Working without Safety means Failure.

The weather, something everyone should respect.

Safety Information is a free service of:

CRM 4 Pilots Aviation Consulting Inc.

1(954) 617-5374

Miami-Florida

http://aviationweather.gov/

Mid Air Collisions Part 2

Why you should know more about Mid Air Collisions?

As you read this safety post, I ask you to read and pay close attention why accidents happen?

On my previous post I wrote about and How to Avoid a Mid Air Collision? 

So, through the many stories regarding incidents and accidents I offer look to all pilots that seem familiar with this term, why you should know the Causes of Midair’s.

I want to share today a very interesting post, what causes in- flight collisions? 

Certainly, increasing traffic and higher closing speeds represent potential, so for instance a Jet and a Light Twin have a closing speed of about 760 mph. 

It takes a minimum of 10 seconds, says the FAA, for any pilot to spot traffic, identify it, realize it’s a collision threat, react and have his aircraft respond, but two planes converging at 740 mph will be less than 10 seconds apart when pilots are first able to detect each other, these problems are heightened by the fact that our air traffic control and radar facilities are in some cases, overloaded and limited.

These are all casual factors, but the reason most often noted in the statistics reads (Failure of Pilot to see other aircraft) – failure of the see-and –avoid system. In most incidents and accidents, so at least one of the pilots involved could have seen the other in time to avoid contact, if he had just been using his eyes properly, so it’s really that complex, vulnerable little organ-the human eye –which is the leading cause of in-flight collision. 

Always take a look at how its limitations affect your flight.

Studies of the midair collision problem from certain definite warning patterns, it may be surprising to some that nearly all midair collisions occur during daylight hours and in VFR conditions.

Maybe not so surprising is that the majority happen within five miles of an airport, in the areas of greatest traffic concentration, and usually on warm weekend afternoons when more pilots are doing more flying. 

Not looking out at all, and /or completely blocking your peripheral vision, is an invitation to an in-flight collision.

Always consider how to scan, scan patterns, the time –sharing plan, the panel scan inside your cockpit, and use continuously the collision avoidance checklist. 

So, collision avoidance involves much more than proper eyeball techniques, you can be the most conscientious scanner in the world and still have an in –flight collision if you disregard other important factors in the overall see-and avoid picture, constantly it might be helpful to use a collision avoidance checklist as you do in your routine pre takeoff and landing list, so, such a checklist might include the following nine items and be aware at all times of your flight:

1.       Check Yourself.

2.       Plan Ahead.

3.       Clean Windows

4.       Adhere to SOPs.

5.       Avoid Crows.

6.       Compensate for  Design.

7.       Equip for Safety.

8.       Talk and Listen.

9.       Scan.

This is the most important part of your checklist of course, is to keep looking where you are going and to watch for traffic, don’t forget make use of your scan constantly.

These power strategies are to help you to think safety in your flights.

There is no way to say whether the inexperienced pilot or the older, more experienced pilot is most likely to be involved in an in – flight collision. 

A begging pilot has so much to think about he may forget to look around, on the other hand , the older pilot,  having sat through many hours of boring flight without spotting any hazardous traffic , may grow complacent and forget to scan. 

No pilot is invulnerable.

 (Source AOPA)

Always Fly Safely.

Safety Information is a free service of:

CRM 4 Pilots Aviation Consulting Inc.

1(954) 617-5374

Miami-Florida

Mid Air Collisions Why? Part 1

 Mid Air Collisions Why?

Why accidents happen it's a good question to answer, and also difficult to respond, why, and what happen.

So, sometimes we already know what happened, but the only question is why it happened again. 

There was a Mid Air Collision between two aircraft few days ago at Reagan National Airport in Washington DC, on January 29, 2025, and refreshing my memory on Thursday October 23, 2014 at the Frederick Municipal Airport, according to the federal agencies a Cirrus SR22 aircraft and a R44 helicopter collided in Mid Air, near the Frederick Municipal Airport in Maryland too.

So, commonly aviation accidents, categorize mid airs as one of the two types, associated and non-associated.

Associated Mid Air Collisions are when two aircraft were flying in each other’s vicinity and knew it.

Non Associated Mid Air Collisions are and occur when an airplane who is not intentionally flying in each other’s vicinity and neither knows the other is there.

Where was each aircraft hypothetical to be? Who had the right of way? And who could have seen who?

This type of investigation to resolve, and also to investigate, has a first priority to analyses, usually aircraft accident investigators focus on Air Traffic Control records and the radar data, also probably the Flight Data Recorders and Cockpit Voice Recorders if either aircraft was so equipped, regularly and videos, witnesses is a good key too, but the only difficult witnesses see the aftermath of the collision.

That is why, I want to share again something, I wrote on my Safety Blog years ago, something regarding Mid Air Collisions, think about it this for a moment and read again my all post to avoid this type of accidents.

Midair Collision Avoidance:

Recent studies of Midair Collisions involving aircraft by the National Transportation Safety Board (NTSB) determined that:

Most of the aircraft involved in collisions are engaged in recreational flying, not on any type of flight plan.

Most midair collisions occur in VFR weather conditions during weekend day light hours.

The vast majority of accidents occurred at or near uncontrolled airports and at altitudes below 1000 feet.

Pilots of all experience levels were involved in midair collisions, from pilots on their first solo ride, to 20,000-hour veterans.

Flight instructors were on board the aircraft 37 percent of the accidents in the study.

Most collisions occur in daylight with visibility greater than 3 miles.

Practice the "see and avoid" concept at all times regardless of whether the operation is conducted under Instrument (IFR) or Visual (VFR) Flight Rules.

Under IFR control, don't always count on ATC to keep you away from other aircraft.  They're human, and can make mistakes.

Understand the limitations of your eyes and use proper visual scanning techniques.  

Remember, if another aircraft appears to have no relative motion, but is increasing in size, it is likely to be on a collision course with you.

Execute appropriate clearing procedures before all climbs, descents, turns, training maneuvers, or aerobatics.

Be aware of the type airspace in which you intend to operate in and comply with the applicable rules.

Adhere to the necessary communications requirements.

Traffic advisories should be requested and used when available to assist the pilot’s own visual scanning -- advisories in no way lessen the pilot’s obligation to see and avoid.

If not practical to initiate radio contact for traffic information, at least monitor the appropriate frequency.

Make frequent position reports along your route and AT UNCONTROLLED AIRPORTS BROADCAST YOUR POSITION AND INTENTIONS ON COMMON TRAFFIC ADVISORY FREQUENCY (CTAF).

Make your aircraft as visible as possible - turn on exterior lights below 10,000 MSL and landing lights when operating within 10 miles of any airport, in conditions of reduced visibility, where any bird activity is expected or under special VFR clearance.

If the aircraft is equipped with a transponder, turn it on and adjust it to reply on both Mode 3/A and Mode C (if installed). 

Transponders substantially increase the capability of radar to see all aircraft and the MODE C feature enables the controller to quickly determine where potential traffic conflicts exist.  

Even VFR pilots who are not in contact with ATC will be afforded greater protection from IFR aircraft receiving traffic advisories.

IN ACCORDANCE WITH FAR PART 91.413, WHILE IN CONTROLLED AIRSPACE, EACH PILOT OPERATING AN AIRCRAFT EQUIPPED WITH AN OPERABLE ATC TRANSPONDER MAINTAINED SHALL OPERATE THE TRANSPONDER, INCLUDING MODE C IF INSTALLED, ON THE APPROPRIATE MODE OR AS ASSIGNED BY ATC.  IN CLASS G AIRSPACE.

THE TRANSPONDER SHOULD BE OPERATING WHILE AIRBORNE UNLESS OTHERWISE REQUESTED BY ATC.

ABOVE ALL, AVOID COMPLACENCY

Promoting Aviation Safety is the key!

Safety Information is a free service of:

CRM 4 Pilots Aviation Consulting Inc.

1(954) 617-5374

Miami-Florida