EASA Safety Video on CFIT and Distraction
 

As part of a new Safety Promotion initiative from your favourite regulator in Cologne, EASA and the safety partners in the European Safety Promotion Network - Rotorcraft (ESPN-R) have just released a new helicopter safety video starring former World Rally Champion, Ari Vatanen. The video highlights the challenge of distraction in the prevention of CFIT accidents. The key message is the need to maintain good situational awareness by looking outside the cockpit as well as the use of effective scan techniques.

This is just the start of the new promotion material that will be created under the banner of Safety Together! Lots more will follow and you can join the discussion on the ESPN-R forum on LinkedIn.

One thing that strikes me is the lack of a co-ordinated approach to the use of technology. Initial pilot training has no standardised approach to the use and guidance of how/ when and which technology be that avionic fit in any individual aircraft or aviation GPS applications.

Indeed just this week I had an email from Skydemon and they recognise in their latest newsletter that some features are not obvious to even access, nevermind use. Of course feature rich applications can be very useful but only to those who take the time and effort to learn how to use and apply their use appropriately.

We only have to go back as far as the December AAIB report to read about how a highly experienced fixed wing instructor flew into the side of a hill grubbing around in obviously poor weather. You can see how the AAIB suggest how the use of GPS navigation can improve SA, indeed this video might slightly skew that view. Of course the two views are aligned but the message/appropriate interaction requires effort to train, refresh and educate - which is useful if the approach is standardised and introduced as soon as possible in the training.

That PPL navigation continues with a paper chart, a line and a stopwatch just ignores the reality of what is happening in the real world. I am unaware of a single authority offering clear and comprehensive guidance around the use of GPS applications.

Pittsextra;

That's because 99% of landings for Utility Rotorheads is to a confined/remote bush pad, in the jungle, or a Mountain pinnacle & only the eye ball is available to make decisions...in that REAL World application :eek: Brother are You drivin' an airliner or a helicopter? :8

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.

Perhaps one issue is the immediacy of planning using moving maps and clever apps - in the modern world we get used to doing things quickly and then getting on with them..

That might be OK for everyday earth-bound life but means that pilots don't do any route study, just slap down waypoints to create the magenta line and launch.

With a paper map and pencil you are much more in touch with the terrain (if you use the right map) and there are more muted colours for the airspace which don't mask the topography so much.

I am happy to use either but apply the same techniques to electronic flight planning as I have always done with the 'old-fashioned' way.

Vertical Freedom - I guess you haven't been in a modern IFR twin - very much like an airliner and with all the same FMS usually.

Yeah, life seemed much less distracted before we got tablets. I tried using one on a ferry flight once. After a few minutes looking down at that screen I got a bit dizzy (probably 'cause my attitude control was wavering) so I gave it back to its owner sitting next to me.

Funny thing, I've noticed the same issue while driving my mum's car that has everything integrated into the gps screen. Just looking for a song on the radio is a crash waiting to happen these days. I'm so glad my car doesn't have that ****!

It's the same thing you see every day with people focused so much on their phones that they are oblivious to what is going on around them.

I find that my tablet has improved my head up/out time substantially. I get traffic, map, nav data and weather all in one place. A quick glance takes them all in. And the mount for the tablet is much closer to normal exterior sight lines. Compare this to having to look down, deep into the console at a couple of radios/nav's, flipping pages on the nav to check multiple things, or, horror of horrors, manipulating paper charts. Plus entering information into the tablet is so much easier and faster, none of this twist/press/twist/press nonsense.

However...it does tend to make one quite lazy about flight planning. No more tidy pieces of paper with freq's, runway headings, altitudes, etc. on them. Why bother when you can just look them up as you need them on the table with two or three taps? That was a joke, by the way ;) Best to do these things ahead of time, of course.

There's no doubt that the complexity of these tablet based tools can lead to excessive head down time when learning them. Therefore best not to learn them in the cockpit. I became quite handy with mine by making a point to use it whenever I was travelling as a passenger, whether that was in a car, commercial airliner (sit by the window for good GPS coverage) or in a helicopter when not flying.

However, however...I suspect the intent of the video was not to pick on tablets per se, but rather show a modern twist on the same sort of head down behavior fussing with a paper chart could cause just as easily.

"Not flying "as in being a "Passenger"....not ever!:uhoh:

I am scared enough when I am driving.....as are my passengers probably!

Do you have a backup in case the tablet fails?

Of course, multiple levels and options. My reversion path looks like this: Garmin Pilot on Tablet-->Garmin Pilot on Phone-->GNS420-->Paper Chart-->Mark One Eyeball

The lines between the various steps of my chosen reversion path do tend to blur a little bit. I will put the next destination in on the GNS420 as a matter of routine, that way I have an instant backup while I fuss with moving from the tablet to the phone. But once the phone is up and running it gives me a much more convenient and comprehensive presentation of data. And of course the paper chart is an excellent and important adjunct to the GNS420. I have actually had problems with the tablet, but never had to move down that list any further than the phone. I've since fixed the tablet reliability problem and haven't had any issues in about a year.

"Children of the Magenta" discussion being queued as we speak I bet!:E


One source that includes the original video presentation.


https://99percentinvisible.org/episo...-paradox-pt-1/

At what point does innovation, technology, and automation harm safety?

Here's a Youtube version. However, to a certain extent, at least in light, single engine type helicopters, it's hard to reach any significant level of automation. Although the HeliSAS autopilot is making great inroads in the likes of R44s, R66s and other light helicopters. Still nothing like furiously banging away at an FMS, though.