How Safe is Safe?
--There is no absence of risk in flying.
--Every accident comes through a sequence of compromises.
--Complacency is the most avoidable compromise.
--Acceptance of deficiency is most dangerous compromise
--Personal considerations cause the next compromise.
--Unfamiliarity breeds the next.
--Conflict avoidance comes as the next compromise
--Weigh compromises against what occurs next.
--Worst compromise is when 'needs' exceed safety considerations.

On Reaching Overload
A pilot is occasionally faced with a situation that pushes his envelope of competence. Usually this situation arises through an accumulation of pilot performance or non-performance. Occasionally aircraft systems design or the ATC requirements push the envelope. It is important that the pilot recognize the potential performance stress when it arises, and more importantly to see the rise of negative decision making factors.

Decision making of the dangerous kind has many warning signs brought on by stress on your performance envelope. You will become uncertain of what your options are. You will have difficulty making a choice of an option. You will fixate, focus, and become preoccupied with your one choice. Time will become distorted so that the sequence of events will
become slow-motion.

Poor judgment is quite likely to be a matter of 'situational inertia' which is a distraction than interrupts the decision making process. The pilot becomes redirected and focused on an unrelated situation that is not related to the actual problem. This subsidiary matter inhibits the pilot's ability to interpret information in its proper context. The resulting decision is wrong and contrary to good operating procedures or the FARs. Situational inertia moves the pilot inexorably into a accident. The NTSB calls it a matter of poor judgment.

The normal thinking reaction to an emergency is a concentration of thought is on your perception of what occurred. The rise of tension along with focus on attention blocks out everything else thus limiting your ability to make use of other peripheral and available resources. this means that while you may be dealing with the emergency at the same time you are not dealing with the ordinary functions involving just flying the aircraft.

When a traumatic situation occurs there is a twisting and brevity of the time sequence as things take place. Things happen in much less time. This compression prevents us from doing the ordinary things listed on your checklists. This is a situational warning that means dealing with the emergency should not (emphasis NOT) interfere with doing what is ordinary as part of flying the aircraft.

Your best recourse is to have a PLAN. Decide not to spend time on the high-tech aids. Fly the plane. Manage the basic resources that keep the plane in the air and on course. Use other pilot cockpit resources or ATC to release the pressure and divert distractions Use the preflight as a time to leave the pre-flighter alone. Interruptions during preflight are rude, dangerous, and inappropriate.

Situational Awareness
Situational awareness refers to what is going on around you and the aircraft. This is more than just your location. It means being aware of other aircraft, the weather, fuel, and all the other factors that contribute to safety. Flying is encompassed by dynamic changes. Unless we are prepared to deal with and react to those changes we are going to get 'behind' the aircraft and the situation. Situational awareness requires recognition of where you are and knowledge of the sequence of events that commonly precede creation of a problem. Preparation for a specific flight is the most advantageous thing a pilot can do to avoid unexpected situational problems. By knowing an area and the airport a pilot can pre-plan the arrival and the communications. Even so, the unexpected can and will occur.

There are several actions you can take to control the unexpected. Know the area and the airport. Know your aircraft its performance and limitations. Know your own abilities and limitations. Slow down the aircraft. Keep track of your aircraft configuration as to power, flaps, trim and speed. Know how to go from any configuration to another. Fly heading and altitude. Navigate. Fly assigned headings and required turns. Have a standardized use of the checklist and procedure. When the aircraft and navigation are under control, communicate. State your concept of the problem and follow directions.

Work assertively (see material on assertiveness) to maintain situational awareness. Locate and note safe clearance altitudes of terrain in the daytime as a factor you will need at night. Learn local instrument procedure terms and locations as a VFR pilot. You will be able to avoid these locations when flying MVFR (marginal VFR). Never rely solely on ATC (Air Traffic Control) to keep you clear of obstacles or especially aircraft.

If you have not prepared for a flight out of your knowledge area you will likely suffer from 'geographic disorientation'. It happens to everyone and the best of pilots. It is most likely to occur in the summer due to a pilot's belief in what he is seeing compared to what he has expected to see. Operational causes such as planning, communication, and in-flight distractions come next. Lastly, the flight environment may preclude seeing what needs to be seen, hearing what should be heard, and knowing what should be known.

Perhaps the most neglected situation as far as awareness is concerned is the condition of the pilot. Don't go flying if you have a personal problem. Family, health, business and personal problem will affect your airworthiness. Flying can be a great emotional escape but not while you are learning.

Immediate Action Items
1. Fly the plane
2. Go to slow cruise
3. Trim for hands-off
4. Assess the options
5. Check fuel for time remaining
6. Contact ATC or 121.5
7. Select your considered option
8. Use

D. Detect what is wrong
E. Estimate the significance of the problem
C. Choose the safest outcome
I. Identify most reasonable actions
Do take positive action
Evaluate the action taken by finding airport or best off airport for power available.

Causes of diminished Situational Awareness
1. Pilot is preoccupied, distracted and or fatigued
2. Pilot has a growing concern that something is not as it should be
3. In some principle parameter the flight is proceeding as planned
4. One or more instrument readings is a cause for concern
5. The pilot is spending more and more time in the cockpit instead of outside

Flying Is Not Traumatic If...
1. You prepare adequately and make use of resources.
2. You make flying a non stressful event.
3. You keep a supply of options available.
4. You know where you are.
5. You do not try to stretch a glide out of ground effect.
6. You hit the ground in level flight.
7. You avoid stalling into the ground.
8. You use all the structure to take the shock, except the nose.
9. You don't go for the ride. Keep doing something.
10. You keep speed and control as long as possible.

Complacency
The other side of the anxiety coin is complacency. This is often the 'it-can't-happen-to-me' syndrome. Complacency can be caused by a sense of security, fixation caused by concentration on one aspect of the environment, an overload of assumed responsibility for one aspect to the neglect of others or most likely ignorance. It's pseudo-agnosia again. We don't know what we don't know. We are letting "George" (autopilot) or Air Traffic Control (ATC) look out for our well being. It is more difficult to back through events that do not result in accidents.

Complacency falls apart and difficulties compound when those crutches we have relied on are either not there or fail to produce desired effects. Runway configurations change at different airports, patterns differ from our expectations, and controls fail to perform as instinct tell us they should. A pilot spends many hours unlearning instinctive reactions that won't work. A proficient pilot practices those skills that prove instinctive reactions won't work.

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