Distracted Flying

Ultimately, flying is a series of distractions, one after another. Along the way, someone still has to fly the airplane.

Matt Johnson

Monday, November 18, 2024 at 08:00 AM ET

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Edited By: Omar Filipovic

No good career advice matters unless you remain alive and accident- and violation-free. Alamy

Key Takeaways:

The article illustrates through driving and flying anecdotes that "hands-free" communication causes significant cognitive distraction, leading to critical oversights and compromised safety.
In high-stakes environments like aviation, maintaining the "Aviate, Navigate, Communicate" hierarchy is crucial to prevent distractions from leading to a dangerous loss of focus on essential tasks.
Pilots must actively manage distractions, making communications concise and understanding that multitasking is ineffective, especially during critical phases of flight, to ensure safety.

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I was stopped at a four-way street intersection the other night, the kind with stop signs. Traffic was moderate, so, I had to wait my turn, as did others. In a perfect world, all four drivers would arrive at four different times, and it would be clear who has the right of way and should go first and who doesn’t. Simple. But this day was not perfect.

Along with all the other drivers, I was talking on my phone and came to a complete stop behind the car ahead of me. After it moved off, I moved up a bit, took its place, and stopped before the stop sign, nice and legal. I saw no movement, and started to move straight ahead, when suddenly I saw a huge dark pickup truck on my left “come out of nowhere” and enter the intersection, trying to turn left—into the same physical space I was about to occupy. We didn’t swap paint, but it was closer than I’d like.