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Situational Awareness Is Key Inside, Outside the Cockpit

A certified flight instructor offers tips for staying ahead of the aircraft.

The ADS-B installation requirement a few years back was supposed to make our crowded airspace safer. [Credit: Aspen Avionics]
Gemini Sparkle

Key Takeaways:

  • Pilots must prioritize visual scanning ("head on a swivel") and maintain strong situational awareness, balancing traditional observation with modern tools like ADS-B to avoid over-reliance on screens, especially as most mid-air collisions occur in VFR conditions.
  • Air traffic control can deny entry to busy airspace, and pilots at both towered and non-towered airports must be prepared for crowded patterns, understanding when to make personal decisions to divert or go around.
  • The tragic Watsonville mid-air collision underscores that even with communication and ADS-B, losing situational awareness or getting "behind the airplane" is extremely dangerous and can lead to fatal consequences.
See a mistake? Contact us.

The private pilot from a nontowered airport intended to fly to a towered airport to work on his radio skills while performing takeoffs and landings. At 10 nm out, he listened to the airport’s ATIS, noted the information for winds and runway in use, and set the altimeter. When he was approximately 6 nm out and over a VFR reporting point, he called the tower to request entry for touch and go.

“Cannot accommodate you at this time. Steer clear of the (insert name of airport) Class Delta airspace.” was the reply.

Meg Godlewski

Meg Godlewski has been an aviation journalist for more than 24 years and a CFI for more than 20 years. If she is not flying or teaching aviation, she is writing about it. Meg is a founding member of the Pilot Proficiency Center at EAA AirVenture and excels at the application of simulation technology to flatten the learning curve. Follow Meg on Twitter @2Lewski.

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