![The FAA sent a notice to pilots warning them not to disable TAWS aural alerts as the tool can be a critical safety feature in avoiding CFIT accidents. [Credit: Jason McDowell]](https://flyingmag1.b-cdn.net/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2023/04/Jason-McDowell-mountains1-1-e1681405985630.jpeg?width=1200&height=560)
Question: In ground school we’re learning about controlled flight into terrain. I get it if you are flying at night or accidentally go into a cloud, but we learned [it] can happen in VFR conditions. If you can see outside and what’s coming, shouldn’t you be able to avoid it?
Answer: Like most aviation accidents, controlled flight into terrain (CFIT) usually has multiple causal factors. FAA Advisory Circular 61-134 has some good information to help understand how this happens, but basically, it boils down to a lack of situational awareness. Don’t let the airplane go anywhere your brain hasn’t arrived at 10 minutes earlier.
You have to be very careful when multitasking in the airplane. Perhaps you are head down in the radio or working the tablet and do not notice that you’ve drifted off altitude or heading until it is too late to prevent impact. Or perhaps you’re distracted with the autopilot and don’t notice you are in a descent.
CFIT can happen in a crewed situation too. In 1972 Eastern Air Lines Flight 401 crashed into the Florida Everglades at night while the entire flight crew was preoccupied with a burnt-out landing gear indicator light. In the process of addressing the light the captain bumped the yoke on the aircraft, which disengaged the autopilot, and the aircraft drifted down without the crew noticing until it was too late.
Failure to comply with minimum safe altitudes also plays a role. You may have heard about pilots who tried to do a scud run, staying low to avoid clouds, and instead they collided with trees or a hillside.
A lack of pilot currency can also lead to CFIT—for example, when a pilot is attempting to fly in low visibility, such as at dusk or night, and mistakes house lights on a darkened hill for stars in the sky. Unfamiliarity with the terrain can also be a factor, especially when mountain flying and the pilot turns down the wrong canyon and finds themself in a place too tight to get out of, or the aircraft is not gaining altitude and lacks the space to climb to avoid the terrain ahead.
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