Complacency is defined as a factor when an individual has a false sense of security, is unaware of, or ignores hazards or is inattentive to the risk. Dave will share a story about an instance in which complacency could have led to a disastrous outcome.
“I can think of an event where complacency could have been a killer. In the Air Force or in corporate aviation you’re given an airplane, and along with that complete responsibility for it. One of the airplanes I flew for was the C5, a large aircraft. Typically we had 73 passengers, and million dollars worth of cargo and the airplane itself, which was valued at the 360 million dollar range at the time. And I wonder, do you have the right to let yourself get complacent with all of that responsibility on your shoulder?
“Preventing complacency is an inherently difficult task because the pilot can sometimes be complacent without even being aware of it. Consider flying the North Atlantic, air traffic is very heavy every single night from North America to Europe. It’s equally heavy during the day from Europe coming back to North America. Each flight is assigned a route, usually called a track, an altitude and a mock number, which is sort of a speed. This procedure works very well. It provides adequate separation between all aircraft over the North Atlantic. A typical route would consist of consecutive weight points, expressed in terms of degrees of latitude and longitude. For instance, 50 north, 40 west means 50 degrees north latitude, 40 degrees west longitude, and that's called a weightpoint. The next weightpoint may be 55 north 30 west, and 55 north 20 west as you proceed eastbound towards the North Atlantic towards Europe.
“This continues until you’re in radar contact with an air traffic controller. Each one of these weightpoints requires a position report which we transmitted in those days on a high frequency radio so the air traffic control could monitor each and every flight as they crossed the ocean. Today they have something called a controller pilot data link communication. Something I didn’t get to use but it’s known as a CPDLC which automatically makes those position reports for you. But you have to be at the ready to use radio in the event that the equipment doesn't work. So each time you report your position you’re supposed to go ahead and make sure that the next weightpoint is correctly located into your flight management system so you stay on your assigned route.
“When I started to fly the North Atlantic, especially when I was an aircraft commander, I was taught to be continuously weary about anything that could go wrong at any time. Now one of our fellow crews was flying back westbound from an European location, crossing the Mid-Atlantic towards North America one afternoon. They were issued a routing change by the air traffic controller. Now that's not uncommon, but when that happens, you’re supposed to enter the correct weight points, the newly assigned weight points into your flight management system. I guess they thought they did. But after several hours of flight, and this was a very long flight, they began to conduct tours of the flight deck, which is also not uncommon for the 73 passengers, who can get pretty bored back there in the passenger compartment. One of the crew members will lead them through the cargo compartment up the flight deck for a tour.
“In this case, the pilots had become pretty complacent without ever realizing it because as the flight deck tour continued and they approached the Canadian postline, they checked in with the VHS frequency with the canadian air traffic controller, and they reported what they thought was their position. The Canadian air traffic controller finally identified them 60 miles north of their assigned route. They had failed to correctly enter the last weightpoint of their amended route and were off by one degree of latitude, which is about 60 nautical miles. Had another aircraft correctly flying its assigned route arrived at that position at the same time, the result could have been disastrous -- it could have been a midair collision.
“Well, they cleared the flight deck and proceeded to their destination with a brand new diligence and lost all of the complacency they had. Complacency is one of those things that is alive and well today as it was during the earliest days of aviation. You can’t really afford to let your guard down with that amount of responsibility on your shoulders.
For the full audio podcast, listen to “Complacency in Flight,” on our front page
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