Familiarity, Contempt

If youve been flying for very long, its likely theres a route you frequently use. It could be a quick out-and-back to the nearest $100 hamburger or cheapest avgas, or an hours-long trek to Grandmas house. Its something youve flown often and know well enough to almost do it without a chart. You understand the topography along the way, where the bolt holes are and how any weather may influence the flight. You may even have a couple of the frequencies memorized, along with expected ATC routings.

Joseph E. (Jeb) Burnside

Sunday, September 30, 2018 at 12:00 AM ET

Verified

Key Takeaways:

Familiarity with a routine flight path can create a false sense of security, leading pilots to make dangerous decisions and continue flights into adverse weather conditions.
A non-instrument-rated pilot fatally crashed in mountainous terrain after electing to proceed into forecast severe instrument meteorological conditions (IMC), icing, and hazardous winds.
The pilot failed to obtain an official weather briefing and continued the flight despite clear indications of severe conditions, such as drastically reduced groundspeed due to headwinds.
The NTSB concluded the accident was due to the pilot's decision to continue into conditions exceeding his qualifications and the aircraft's limits, likely influenced by complacency stemming from route familiarity.

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If you’ve been flying for very long, it’s likely there’s a route you frequently use. It could be a quick out-and-back to the nearest $100 hamburger or cheapest avgas, or an hours-long trek to Grandma’s house. It’s something you’ve flown often and know well enough to almost do it without a chart. You understand the topography along the way, where the bolt holes are and how any weather may influence the flight. You may even have a couple of the frequencies memorized, along with expected ATC routings.

I have a few routes meeting that definition. A couple of them are relatively benign in poor weather. The sketchier routes generally involve unforgiving terrain, the kind that can combine with strong winds and/or convective activity to make flying conditions worse than might be expected over flatter areas. The Appalachian Mountains on the east coast and pretty much anything west of Texas meet this criterion.