(March 2012) Slipping gradually toward an accident is very common, but it is not the only way accidents happen. At the opposite end of the spectrum lie accidents in which a pilot who has always flown in a safe and professional manner makes one critical mistake. One area in which this type of accident is prevalent is controlled flight into terrain (CFIT). This type of accident can be the result of a pilot gradually getting used to flying lower and lower just for the thrill of it. However, it can also result from one isolated failure to keep track of the terrain, usually during a night flight. This is especially common here in the Southwest, where the general elevation of the terrain can be much higher than anticipated and sharp peaks often poke up out of otherwise level terrain.
CFIT
There are quite a few examples of experienced pilots colliding with terrain. In November 2007, two Civil Air Patrol pilots with a total of 53,000 hours of flight time and just about every certificate and rating available flew a new Cessna 182T with a Garmin G1000 glass cockpit into an 8,000-foot mountain 1,000 feet below the summit on a clear night. They were likely distracted because one pilot was demonstrating how to work the G1000 to the other pilot and failed to adequately plan the flight, including checking for terrain.
