Why We Make Mistakes

Our coverage of the FAAs Compliance Philosophy (April 2016 and April 2017 and in this issue) begs the question of how generally well-intentioned and experienced pilots fall out of compliance in the first place. A little research shows that falling onto the dark side can be slow and insidious with undesired side effects, eventually capable of triggering an incident or accident. …

Fred Simonds

Tuesday, August 01, 2017 at 12:00 AM ET

Verified

Key Takeaways:

Pilots frequently fall into noncompliance, both intentionally (due to anti-authority attitudes, perceived inefficiencies, or mission pressure) and unintentionally (through distraction or oversight), leading to a higher risk of incidents and accidents.
"Normalization of deviance" and "procedural drift" are key concepts explaining how unsafe practices gradually become acceptable norms over time when repeated without immediate negative consequences, influencing both individuals and organizations.
Habitual noncompliance with established procedures, such as skipping checklists or flight control checks, significantly increases the likelihood of critical errors, even among experienced crews, as tragically illustrated by the N121JM Gulfstream crash.
Maintaining flight safety requires diligent adherence to regulations and procedures, resisting the temptation for shortcuts, and cultivating a humble and disciplined approach to avoid the insidious "slippery slope" of noncompliance.

See a mistake? Contact us.

Our coverage of the FAA’s Compliance Philosophy (April 2016 and April 2017 and in this issue) begs the question of how generally well-intentioned and experienced pilots fall out of compliance in the first place. A little research shows that falling onto the dark side can be slow and insidious with undesired side effects, eventually capable of triggering an incident or accident.

Not only pilots are affected. Noncompliance can worm its way into company and organizational cultures as well, sometimes with even more disastrous outcomes. Let’s dig into this to see how we can avoid the slippery slope of even initially innocent noncompliance that often ends in serious incidents or accidents.