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Avoiding Deadly Distractions

Gemini Sparkle

Key Takeaways:

  • Pilots using personal electronic devices (PEDs) for non-essential communication, such as texting, during aircraft operations (even taxiing) poses a significant safety risk, as demonstrated by a pilot veering off course.
  • Distracted flying can have fatal consequences, exemplified by an EMS helicopter crash that killed all four occupants because the pilot was texting, missed critical fuel warnings, and failed to execute an emergency landing.
  • The article strongly advises against any non-essential PED use while an aircraft's engine is running, emphasizing that taxiing is a safety-critical phase requiring a pilot's full cognitive attention to prevent accidents.
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A pilot recently posted a video on YouTube and suggested his fellow aviators have a look. He was showing off his new GoPro camera setup in a Cessna 172. As the video starts, the first thing the viewer sees is the pilot taxiing toward the departure runway while simultaneously texting on his smartphone. The airplane veers off the yellow line for a few seconds before the pilot realizes and swerves back to the center.

He took an online beating for that move, and it wasn’t long before he pulled the video down and deleted his original posts asking pilots to check it out. Apparently this guy thought there was nothing wrong or unsafe about texting on a phone while operating an aircraft, otherwise he never would have uploaded the video in the first place.

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