Pilot Deviations

Wednesday, October 28, 2020 at 09:07 AM ET

Verified

Expectation bias or simply a lack of paying attention can cause any of us to make mistakes with potentially serious safety consequences

Key Takeaways:

A Pilot Deviation (PD) is defined as a pilot's action violating Federal Aviation Regulations; ATC will issue a "possible PD" (Brasher Warning) and document the incident with a Mandatory Occurrence Report (MOR).
Pilots receiving a "possible PD" should respond professionally, carefully consider their words during any follow-up contact with ATC (as conversations are recorded), and are strongly encouraged to file a NASA ASRS report.
The deviation process, potentially involving the Flight Standards District Office (FSDO), aims to foster learning and improve systemic safety, with outcomes ranging from a discussion to certificate action; attempts to evade being identified are ineffective.

See a mistake? Contact us.

Simply fly long enough and you’ll eventually make a boneheaded or innocent mistake that gets in ATC’s way. Those may say a Pilot Deviation (PD) is where they “screwed up” or “ATC is blaming me for…” I’ve personally heard it put in many different—often creative—ways; I should keep a list.

Here is how the FAA defines it in FAA Order 8020.11D, “Aircraft Accident and Incident Notification, Investigation, and Reporting;” Chapter 1, “General Information;” Paragraph 7, Definitions: “Pilot Deviation (PD) – An action of a pilot that results in the violation of a Federal Aviation Regulation (FAR) or a North American Aerospace Defense (Command Air Defense Identification Zone) tolerance.”