Keep those NASA forms handy

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.

Editorial Staff

Monday, August 04, 2014 at 12:00 AM ET

Verified

Key Takeaways:

The FAA's updated internal policy on reporting pilot deviations has significantly increased scrutiny, leading to pilots receiving formal warnings for incidents previously considered minor.
Consequently, pilot associations like ALPA are now advising members to proactively self-report even the slightest deviation from ATC instructions, regardless of the cause, as controllers' assurances of minor status are unreliable.
Pilots are warned that a wide range of incidents, from minor low-altitude alerts to missed radio calls, can trigger a report, and are advised to review ATC tapes if they dispute fault.
The author views this shift as a detrimental move away from the trust-based NASA ASRS model, predicting it will create pilot anxiety, controller frustration, and an overload of trivial reports.

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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.