Issue Number 275 |
July
2002
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P.O. Box 189, Moffett Field, CA 94035-0189 |
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Self-imposed goals and peer pressure can lead to a troublesome twist on the "get-home-itis" dilemma. After a long winter, the desire to get away to a vacation destination or a fly-in event can offer as many pitfalls for the unprepared as the well-documented urge to "get home." We've all got a compelling reason to "get there," but cutting corners or pushing prudent limits is more likely to lead to a compelling story for CALLBACK... or the NTSB. A well-written ASRS report details how a Cessna pilot on a first long cross-country experienced an unexpected delay in departing. "Getting there" became an issue, and one of the links in a fateful chain of events.
We thank our reporter for sharing an experience that may help other pilots "get (all the way) there. |
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Many pilots have experienced the same self-imposed pressures that led the author of this ASRS report to get in a bind where the binders couldn't help. Fatigue was also a factor when this reporter paid more attention to the voice saying, "Get there," than to the one screaming, "Go around."
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Another aspect of the desire to "get there" is the perceived need to "get going." When time is critical, that's the time to be especially vigilant and mindful of the task at hand. Rushing preflight procedures or checklists is more likely to lead to an embarrassing delay than an on-time departure. When the pilot-poet John Gillespie Magee "danced the skies on laughter-silvered wings," he was perhaps more vigilant in his preflight than the pilots who submitted these ASRS Reports. We thank them for pointing out two types of incidents that are all too common when pilots get rushed. If you don't slip all the "bonds," you'll never make it to the "dance."
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Two air carrier flight crews rushed to meet the schedule and were not alert enough to catch a "change in plans."
Occasionally, dramatic footage of an aviation accident is the lead story on the network news, but there can also be dramatic images in ASRS reports. In the case of two runway incursions reported to the ASRS, haste was again a factor in the flawed decisions made by a controller trying to expedite an aircraft movement, and a flight crew that was running late. Both of these incidents came within 25 feet of being network news.
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