Managing distractions

The incident occurred at 700 feet agl where cabin pressurization is low. At altitude this would have been impossible as pressurization forces seal the door shut.

The escape slide/raft was ripped off the side of the airplane by the airflow, and thankfully it did not become entangled in the tail. Kudos to the flight crew who ignored the distractions and continued to land on the runway a little over a mile in front of them rather than go around.

Door and window distractions are major threats in light aircraft as well. Many years ago, early in the takeoff roll in my family’s Beechcraft Baron on departure from a sleepy Georgia airport, I heard a random slapping sound. I rejected the takeoff, and upon further inspection found that my co-pilot’s seat belt flap was hanging out of the door to her right and began slapping against the wing. At high speed, that would make a heck of a distracting racket. And those seat belts that have metal strips crimped on the end could cause a lot of damage to the side of the fuselage and wing. I’m not sure why several manufacturers of low-wing airplanes put the doors on the right side, but be sure your passenger checks that nothing is hanging out of the door before it is closed. Also, it’s a good idea to close and latch the door yourself, even though leaning across somebody can be awkward.

In-flight door openings in light airplanes are major distractions that have led to many accidents, sometimes fatal. With few exceptions, most airplanes fly normally with an open door. Also with few exceptions, most doors cannot be properly closed in flight. In fact, the efforts of attempting to close a door in flight has often been the cause of unusual attitudes as pilots inadvertently jam a rudder pedal or pull on the yoke to gain leverage. Pilots who are distracted by the wind and noise—or perhaps panicked passengers—tend to attempt a hurried return to the airport that has resulted in everything from gear-up landings to fatal stall/spin crashes. Fly the airplane around the pattern as you normally would and don’t fall for the distractions.

Preflight distractions are also potential killers. I’ve unfortunately fallen for a few forehead-slapping infractions. On one cold morning my obsession for keeping the engine warm led me to hold off pulling the cowl plugs until right before I boarded my Cessna 172. Naturally, I approached the airplane from the rear and missed my last chance to see the bright red plugs. Luckily, while taxiing, another pilot clearly saw them and warned me on the unicom. “Um, it appears you left your cowl plugs in.”

Ugh! I sheepishly shut down the engine and removed them while my wife joked from the right seat about what else I might have forgotten. Potential killer? Probably not. The plugs would have blown back on the engine and likely have led to a melted mess of plastic and foam along with an engine running hot because of blocked airflow, possibly damaging the engine. Now, the cord for the cowl plugs is looped over the propeller so that if I forget again, the prop will rip them out and the only damage will be to my ego and wallet to spring for new cowl plugs.

I was also guilty of another preflight infraction: leaving the pitot cover on. A helpful ramper untied the left wing while I did the other ropes, and with that little distraction, I never looked at that side of the airplane except to check the oil in the left engine. On takeoff, after scanning the gauges from right to left, I noticed the airspeed was indicating much lower than usual but the airplane was clearly ready to fly. I decided to continue rather than abort the takeoff, since a high-speed reject with a full load of passengers, fuel, and bags carries more risk than just flying a pattern and landing. By the time the gear was up, I knew what I did and sheepishly told the tower I needed to return. When asked what the reason was, I told the controller that I needed something in the nose baggage bin. In reality, I needed to put the pitot cover in the nose baggage locker.