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) signifies a violation of aviation regulations, with ATC issuing a "possible PD" (Brasher Warning) as a report, not a judgment, to facilitate safety and collect information.
When notified of a "possible PD," pilots should respond professionally in-flight and, after landing, call ATC with a cooperative attitude after reviewing the incident, understanding that all communications are recorded. Filing a NASA ASRS report is strongly recommended.
The Flight Standards District Office (FSDO) may follow up to discuss the event, focusing on learning and prevention, though penalties are possible for significant infractions; PD reporting also helps identify safety trends for systemic improvements.

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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.”