Learning from Airline Pilots' Mistakes

Learning from Airline Pilots’ Mistakes

Stephen Pope

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

Verified

Key Takeaways:

New FAA airline pilot training rules, prompted by a past crash, require extra instruction in critical areas like stall/upset recovery and crosswind landings, which General Aviation (GA) pilots should also prioritize.
GA pilots should adopt personal rest requirements, similar to airline flight and duty time rules, to ensure they do not fly when fatigued, stressed, or unwell.
To prevent the atrophy of fundamental airmanship skills, both airline and GA pilots should spend more time hand-flying rather than solely relying on 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.