The airplane I fly for hire is nicely equipped for the business missions we undertake. It has a panel-mounted, IFR-approved, GPS/VOR navigation and communication system; a second navcom; airborne weather radar; Stormscope; an old but serviceable autopilot; and a handheld GPS with datalink weather. Oh, and for our listening pleasure we also have XM Satellite Radio tunes. One of my
favorite pieces of equipment is the audio panel, specifically one particular button on the audio panel labeled “Pilot” that resides just above the label “ICS Isolation.” I punch that button often to remove myself from the VOX (voice-activated) intercom system, thus providing instant relief from a problem that dogs me on most of my flights—the distraction of passengers chatting in my headset.
When I have two passengers aboard they’ll sometimes talk business and I can tune them out with a push of the button, but often they prefer to be on intercom. I enjoy talking to them as well, but that’s not always convenient. Intercom chatter can be an annoying distraction when you’re trying to be a pilot. It’s difficult to keep one ear tuned to air traffic control communications when the other is aimed at the passengers and the mind is trying to navigate, maneuver, and manage the flight.
So why not leave that Isolate button on the audio panel depressed all the time so that I’m permanently out of the intercom loop? For one, most passengers tell me they appreciate being able to eavesdrop on ATC. Listening to all of the back and forth between pilots and controllers sheds some light on what to them is an inscrutable world, and isolating me from the intercom would isolate them from that world.
One of my passengers who enjoys listening to ATC is the owner of the airplane, and he often sits up front with me. He’s not a pilot, but he is a quick study and he likes to talk about navigation, the weather, and ATC. I like that he is interested in the airplane and aviation, so we talk when we fly. If he’s talking when I hear the controller begin to recite our N-number I quickly stick a finger up in the air to command immediate silence. If I think I missed a call from ATC I have an ace up my sleeve—another button on the audio panel labeled “Play.” The audio panel records the most recent 180 seconds of received com radio, and punching the playback button accesses that recording.
A busy intercom isn’t the only distraction encountered when flying. Distractions wear many disguises and pop up frequently, and it’s impossible to avoid them completely. The most effective strategy is, first, to try and minimize the potential for distractions to occur. Second, when they do, minimize their effect on your flying.
It helps to anticipate when events might constitute distractions. For example, I typically do most of my preparations for a flight the night before I depart. I check weather and notams, file a flight plan, contact the destination FBO to arrange for parking and ground transportation if necessary, gather all of the paperwork and equipment I’ll need, and pile it all up so that, in the morning, all I need to worry about is getting it to the car. However, if I’m distracted while doing all that running around, it can throw me off track.
The solution to that problem was to devise a preflight checklist with all the tasks I need to accomplish and all of the things I need to take to the airplane. My last preflight task before heading to the airport: do the preflight checklist.
The next big opportunity for distractions is the physical preflight inspection of the airplane. It’s easy to be diverted from your normal preflight flow if a passenger or another pilot shows up to chat. In almost all cases it doesn’t result in a safety-of-flight issue because preflights rarely turn up serious problems. But it can happen. I once discovered that a nut securing a critical bolt on the elevator trim tab was missing. It is likely the bolt would have vibrated out in flight, rendering the trim tab uncontrollable by me. I could easily have overlooked that missing nut if I had been talking with someone while preflighting.
Other targets of opportunity for distractions to score big hits: closing and locking the baggage and cabin doors; programming the flight management system; approaching the takeoff runway hold line; approaching the level-off cruise altitude; setting up the panel for an instrument approach; and shutting off all switches at the conclusion of the flight.
Checklists are the ultimate answer to minimizing the effects of distractions, but we can’t rely solely on checklists because we don’t always use them in every situation. The first line of defense is to be sensitive to distractions at those times when they would be most unwelcome. Be alert for them to pop up unexpectedly—like the passenger who once asked, “Have you ever crashed in an airplane?”—and be ready to punch that Isolate button.
This is my last “Continuing Ed” column for Flight Training. Thank you for reading.
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