Page 109 - EAA78.Newsletter.Archives.(February.2017-July.2021)
P. 109
CHAPTER CHATTER, EAA Chapter 78 12
TRAINING TIP: EASY Arriving from the practice area, that would require
flying beyond the airport and turning downwind on
ERRORS the other side.
As the student pilot got closer, the tower abruptly
A flight instructor and a high-time canceled the landing clearance. “You were
pilot undergoing a flight review instructed to enter right downwind for Runway
are taxiing from the ramp to the 14,” the controller said
runway in a Cessna 172. Noticing
that the fuel gauges indicate Runway 14!?
about half a full fuel load, the CFI Runway 32 is almost always active here; the
points to them and says, “I student pilot couldn’t recall the last time he used
thought you said we had full Runway 14. Torn between wanting to comply and
fuel.” wanting to apologize, he momentarily froze, but
regained composure and complied with new
landing instructions without further complications.
Both of these pilots’ operational errors resulted
from complacency, a state of mind described in
the Aviation Instructor’s Handbook (click to
download FAA handbook) as “an insidious and
hard-to-identify attitude.”
The high-timer assumed that his standing top-it-off
request would always be followed. Then he
The pilot is puzzled by the indications, and allowed himself the lazy luxury of not checking the
fuel quantity.
protests that he has a standing order with the line
crew to top off the tanks after every flight. A newly soloed student pilot might seem an
Evidently the request was overlooked after the unlikely candidate for a complacency error. But
aircraft’s most recent flying, he says already, an impression that “we always use
apologetically.
Runway 32” caused him to miss the runway
assignment in the landing clearance - instructions
“Did you climb up and look in the tanks?” the that made perfect sense based on the aircraft’s
CFI inquires. relative position at the time they were issued.
Complacency starts with small lapses, encourages
"No," the pilot responds. He had assumed they shortcutting, and breeds bad habits of all sorts.
were full, as they usually are.
Earlier in the day, a recently soloed student pilot Has complacency crept into the
had told the CFI an unnerving story of returning to way you think about flying?
the airport after a solo session in the practice area.
Traffic was light, and the student pilot had
received landing clearance earlier than usual in
the arrival sequence.
The Hardest VFR Quiz
There was one unusual wrinkle in the You'll Take This Week
clearance: Instructions included entering a right
downwind, not the usual left downwind for the
single runway.
