ISTOCK/NATALYABUROVA


KEEPING UP By Terry Palmer


Digital Overload Overreliance on technology adds danger to the cockpit.


R


EXPERIENCE the Bell 429 full flight simulator


ECENT ACCIDENTS IN MANY SECTORS OF commercial aviation have been attributed to pilot distraction and excessive dependence on


automation. In such cases, weather or other outside- the- cockpit factors require pilots to think beyond the technol- ogy and manually solve the problem. When pilots’ situational awareness is clouded by a dependence on technology and the desire to accomplish multiple tasks simultaneously, they are unable to recognize simple solutions such as hand-flying the aircraft. Multitasking is something nearly all of us are guilty of in our daily lives, with varying degrees of success. The wonders of smartphones, tablets, and other portable devices, including electronic flight bags, sometimes lead us to believe we can accomplish more tasks while driv- ing and flying than we safely and effectively can.


60 ROTOR DECEMBER 2022


The fact is, the more tasks we try to accomplish


simultaneously, the less focus we have on any one of them. The probability of distraction increases with each task we take on.


More and more, regulators, accident investigators, and learning institutions are recognizing that an increased dependence on technology, whether that’s a cell phone or advanced avionics, can distract the pilot from the basic tasks that ensure flight safety.


Maintain Your Manual Skills As technology becomes more accurate and reliable, we tend to become more reliant on it. This dependence can help us be more efficient in completing a task. It can also diminish some of the manual skills we still need should the technology stop working.


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