Learning from Airline Pilots' Mistakes

Learning from Airline Pilots’ Mistakes

Stephen Pope

Thursday, November 07, 2013 at 06:42 PM ET

Verified

Key Takeaways:

The FAA's updated airline pilot training rules, a direct result of the Colgan Air crash, mandate enhanced instruction in critical areas such as stall/upset recovery and crosswind landings.
General Aviation (GA) pilots should apply these safety lessons by prioritizing personal rest and health before flights, much like new airline flight/duty time rules.
A key takeaway for GA pilots is to actively increase hand-flying time to prevent the degradation of basic airmanship skills caused by over-reliance on cockpit automation.

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The FAA’s major overhaul of training rules for airline pilots, formally adopted with a new final rule on Tuesday, came as a long-overdue reaction to the deadly Colgan Air Dash-8 Q400 crash in Buffalo, New York, almost five years ago. Earlier changes, also prompted by the Colgan disaster, have altered flight and duty time regulations for airline pilots and increased the minimum number of flight hours to become an airline first officer.

The question GA pilots should be asking is, what can we learn from the FAA and airline industry’s efforts to improve safety? It turns out, quite a lot.