PPRuNe Forums - View Single Post - EASA Safety Video on CFIT and Distraction
Old 7th Dec 2018, 13:18
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SASless
 
Join Date: May 2002
Location: Downeast
Age: 75
Posts: 18,290
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The Video is good for what it is trying to depict....a pIlot distracted from looking outside....in the case of the video due to a knee board style electronic device.

CFIT is very much a Crew Failure (be it single pilot or multiple crew).

How many such crashes are caused simply because the Crew do not know exactly where they are and by not knowing that cannot possibly know their location's Minimum Safe Altitude (MSA)?

There are exceptions.....modern electronic Data Systems may not have all Point Heights installed in the database...but that is rare.

One must know your equipment, its limitations, and how best to include it into your navigation.

Setting up your cockpit....well in advance of need also requires you know where you are...and who you should be listening or talking with for clearances.

In the event you encounter less than VFR Weather having everything set up for instrument flight ahead of time eases that transition from VMC to IMC if required.

Map reading skills and techniques are probably the Achilles Heel of aviation and has been since Orville and Wilbur first dropped the Ballast Weight on the Catapult.

If you can "read" a map and use efficient methods to continuously locate yourself on the map....be it paper or electronic....that removes that first important link in the chain of errors that leads to CFIT.

Using a GPS in conjunction with a Map....should make CFIT in today's world....very rare assuming a Crew is being diligent in its conduct of the flight.

Knowing when to call it quits is the second link in that fatal chain of events that leads to CFIT tragedies.

If you know where you are, what the MSA is, and when the weather is deteriorating to the point you should terminate the flight.....finding a safe place for Tea and Stickies makes that decision to bag it.....easy.
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