Pilot Monitoring

Looking back at 2013, a number of topics seemed to dominate aviation safety–related discussions. Early in the year, we spent a lot of time talking about the aviation industry’s stellar 2012 safety record, particularly the shrinking accident rate in commercial transport operations. After the Asiana accident in San Francisco in July, the perceived decline in pilot stick-and-rudder skills and over-reliance on automation became frequent subjects, both within the industry and more broadly. In putting together 11 issues of AeroSafety World, and listening to speakers at the Foundation’s Business Aviation Safety Seminar (BASS) and International Air Safety Summit (IASS), upset prevention and recovery training, pilot fatigue and fatigue risk management, unstabilized approaches and the need for better adherence to go-around standard operating procedures were frequent topics. Of course, the top three accident types — loss of control–in flight, controlled flight into terrain and runway-re…