You Are The Judge

The little voice inside the pilot’s head nagged on and on: “Headwinds higher than forecast...groundspeed lower than planned...maybe you should recalculate your fuel?” The simple fact is pilots too often fail to act on their internal voices until it’s too late. Accident reports, NASA ASRS submissions and down-and-dirty, true-flight confessions in hangar flying debriefs tell the sad tale. According to NTSB data and analysis by the AOPA Air Safety Institute and the Flight Safety Foundation, improper decision-making—judgment failings, many of them—underpin the majority of the 75 percent of accidents attributed to “pilot error.” It’s not smart to ignore that little voice questioning why you’re ignoring your own best instincts. There are many scenarios where that little voice can start yammering in your ear, perhaps most especially whether there is sufficient fuel aboard.

Key Takeaways:

• Ignoring a pilot's "little voice" or intuition, which signals potential problems, is a leading cause of aviation accidents, often attributed to "pilot error."
• This internal warning system is crucial in various scenarios, including unexpected weather, misheard ATC instructions, conflicting visual cues, and fuel management issues due to changing flight conditions.
• Pilots are urged to actively heed these doubts by communicating with ATC or Flight Service, confessing uncertainties, correcting their course, or diverting to prevent severe consequences.
• Prioritizing the investigation and resolution of any internal questions or anomalies, rather than pushing through or hoping for improvement, is paramount for flight safety.

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