Last January, the FAA changed internal policy on reporting potential pilot deviations. The stated goal was to discover “why adverse safety events happen” and identify the risks. The real-world fallout of this is pilots are getting warning letters in the mail for events they would have blown off in the past.
It’s become significant enough that the Air Line Pilots Association (ALPA) recently advised its members to voluntarily report even the most minor deviation from ATC instructions, even if it was the result of equipment failure or weather deviation. The form in question is similar to the NASA ASRS forms, but specific for heavy iron. ALPA says pilots who have been assured by controllers that the transgression is a minor one not worthy of FAA attention have found out later that they’ve been written up.
