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Remarks: Consistency

Gemini Sparkle

Key Takeaways:

  • Airlines achieve higher safety standards due to frequent pilot flying hours and a rigorous, consistent application of standard operating procedures and operational profiles.
  • Inconsistency in applying knowledge and skills, particularly when transitioning to more complex aircraft, is a significant challenge to safety for general aviation pilots.
  • To improve consistency and safety, pilots should create and rigorously apply "profiles" – detailed mental frameworks for how to perform routine procedures – through dedicated development and extensive mental rehearsal ("armchair flying").
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There are a few reasons airlines are safer than general aviation. Now, airline pilots commonly fly at least 50 to 80 hours a month or more. Of course, mere frequency doesn’t necessarily make one better at performing a task, but that frequency when coupled with rigorous performance and a desire to improve one’s skill does.

Then, there’s that consistency, the rigor that’s applied to airline operations. We’ve talked about standard operating procedures, profiles, safety management systems, and other mechanisms used by professional flight operations. Sure, the average general aviation pilot has little interest in bulky procedures, but all those things exist for one reason: They improve safety.

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