The Only Constant

Change can be good. It can also soak up your mental bandwidth and force you into reacting instead of planning.

Sunday, December 17, 2023 at 08:00 AM ET

Verified

A glance back down the conga line from the parallel taxiway before takeoff often can tell you a lot about how long your flight plan will last before ATC amends it. Take your time, write down the details and don't let the changed routes or procedures force you to cut corners.

Key Takeaways:

Instrument flying frequently involves substantial, rapidly changing conditions, making effective workload and flight path management critical for safety.
Key strategies for managing in-flight changes include meticulously writing down clearances, proactively slowing down the pace when needed, and setting "gates" to ensure all criteria are met before progressing through flight phases.
Prioritize "Aviate, Navigate, Communicate" to counter distractions, and thoroughly re-evaluate checklists, aircraft configuration, and fuel status after any significant reroute or change.
Pilots should not hesitate to communicate "unable" to Air Traffic Control if a request compromises safety or overloads the cockpit, ensuring a safe and deliberate approach to complex situations.

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Instrument flying is a challenging combination of rigid rules and a flexible operating environment. When changes occur, threats present themselves. Staying ahead of the aircraft and managing the flightpath is critical to ensure a safe outcome and avoid potential deviations.

I try to find inspiration for safety topics in my day-to-day flying. While I try to squeeze as much general aviation flying in as I can, airline flying vastly outweighs my logbook entries as of late. So, when I find myself in a situation where I could imagine any pilot being tripped up, I attempt to turn on the ole mental tape recorder and see where the threats lie, and what went right and what went wrong while we worked through it. Such an event occurred to me recently. The names and locations have been changed to protect the innocent.