Typically, passengers are not aware of the concentration required for critical manoeuvring and do not anticipate risks – they trust us pilots to protect them. During flight checks, senior company pilots need to reinforce sterile cockpit procedures by avoiding unnecessary chatting to the student/pilot and reminding them of the benefits. Our flying tasks can be exceedingly challenging during difficult operations and an inappropriate or unnecessary remark by a cockpit occupant can grasp our attention and rob us of a portion of our attention and judgment. Research proves that high stress levels reduce performance. To nip this issue in the bud, we need to educate budding commercial pilots to the importance of task concentration. So, what can we do to avoid regulation on sterile cockpits in the future? Like almost everything else, it’s a matter of education. While these individuals are fairly few and far between, they are often the primary causal factor in accidents. And the more rules we have and the less comprehensible they are, the more violations will occur.Īdditionally, there is tendency among some pilots to rebel against over-regulation because they feel overwhelmed by the sheer volume of the bureaucracy and they simply disregard all regulation as they see fit. Another problem with high levels of regulation is that the overwhelming number of rules is beyond most aviators’ comprehension and understanding. Why do we have so many? Well, Transport Canada has been forced to create rules to attempt to overcome our very high accident rate when common sense by aircrews would have avoided at least three quarters of these avoidable crashes. My opposition to mandating new regulations on sterile cockpits is largely due to the fact we already have too many regulations. However, most of us are aware of occasions when flight safety was compromised because crew members or passengers broke the silence – and our concentration. Unlike airlines/carriers, almost all of our rotary wing operations do not include cockpit voice recorders (CVRs), so there is virtually no record of the frequency of this phenomenon other than survivor testimony.Īlthough the large carriers almost always have restrictions on cockpit conversations and CVRs installed, our industry and Transport Canada have not seen fit to legislate such regulations – and I believe this is a good thing. Several recent fixed and rotary wing accidents indicate that pilots conversing with passengers or other crew members on insignificant topics during critical operations including takeoffs and landings have led to accidents. No, this is not about vasectomies or cleanliness in the cabin.
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