Recently, the following events occurred at a jet charter flight operation:
- A pilot flew an airplane with inoperative radar through a line of convective activity.
- A pilot continued an unstable approach and touched down halfway down the runway.
- A pilot exceeded an aircraft operating limitation by intentionally deploying the spoilers with the flaps extended while airborne, which violated the manufacturer’s instructions for that model.
The safety implication for each of these actions is clear. Although they ended without incident, the outcomes could have been much different, especially for the first two. In each of these examples, the pilot committed a violation. A violation is different from common everyday errors in that the violator is aware of, and consciously chooses, his or her intended action. In contrast, everyday errors are beyond the awareness of the erring individual. While both violations and everyday human errors can be problematic…
