Sterile Flight Deck Operations Are More Important Than Ever

Too often, during the most critical points of a trip, distractions on the flight deck can play a key role in aviation incidents and accidents – sometimes leading to tragic results. And now, say experts, the issue is especially relevant.

“In my opinion, a sterile cockpit is more important today as we transition from stick-and-rudder flying to more monitoring the aircraft flight path through automation,” said Dan Boedigheimer, Ph.D., CEO of the Advanced Aircrew Academy and vice chair of NBAA’s Safety Committee. “Monitoring is more a mental process than a physical one. Violations of sterile cockpit procedures are a distraction to the mental process of monitoring the flight’s progress.”

According to some experts, distractions were less likely in the days before high automation, when pilots were very task-saturated with hand-flying the airplane. “Today, thanks to automation, it is much easier to get distracted due to the ‘more relaxed’ environment,” said Bryan Burns, president and CEO of the Air Charter Safety Foundation.

According to FAR 121.542 and FAR 135.100, a.k.a. the “Sterile Cockpit Rules,” flight deck crew members are prohibited from performing non-essential conversation, duties, or activities while the aircraft is involved in any ground or flight operations below 10,000 MSL.

“In any type of operation, a sterile cockpit is an integral part of an SMS,” Burns said. “Even in Part 91, single-pilot operations, the pilot should ask the passengers to observe a sterile cockpit, at the very least below 3,000 feet.”

“Here’s where CRM (crew/cockpit resource management) can be a huge asset,” said Robert Cruz, Aviation Safety Captain for a large corporate flight department. “Learning how to stop interruptions effectively has tremendous value. Sterile cockpit procedures should be part of the preflight briefing.”

“Also briefing passengers and flight attendants on sterile cockpit procedures and how to approach the pilots passively – making their presence known and waiting for the crew to address them first,” he continued. “Pilots may appear not to be busy, but in fact may be task saturated at that moment.”

It’s Called ‘Airplane Mode’ for a Reason

Of course, on today’s flight deck, it’s not only conversations and interruptions that can take your mind off of the task at hand. One of the biggest potential distractors may be in your pocket right now – your phone.

Pilots may think they can ignore the ring – but psychologist Robert Cialdini says in his book “Influence, The Psychology of Persuasion,” it’s virtually impossible. A phone ringing takes precedence in our mental queue, Cialdini says. It goes to the front of the line by kicking in several subconscious neural triggers. And if one of those things is an important item on a checklist or a radio call, it may cause more than an inconvenience.

“The first item on our company checklist is to silence all personal devices before we start the engines or begin a descent,” says Matthew Simmonds, aviation captain with Pepsico Aviation, NBAA Domestic Operations Committee Member and former Part 135 Sub-Committee chairman. “That’s not a typical sterile cockpit rule, but it’s ingrained in our operations.”

“We make sure that nothing is intruding into the sterile cockpit environment,” he continued. “No interaction with anything outside of critical aircraft operations and communications.”

Simmonds says that recently, he’s had instances where any distraction in the cockpit could have resulted in a go-around at the least. Most recently, he said that while on an approach into Atlanta, he and the other captain were monitoring ATC and heard them talking to an aircraft that was rolling out on the runway.

“We were listening to ATC and watching the aircraft’s progress down the runway. We were already briefing ourselves on a go-around,” Simmonds said. “It turned out to be a non-issue, but had we been distracted during that approach, it may have become a more serious situation.”

Train Like You Fly…

s no surprise to anyone reading this that situations like Simmonds described are precisely why we spend hours and hours sweating it out in a simulator. And, while you’re primarily in there to hone those best-practice skills, sim time is a great time to reinforce sterile cockpit procedures.

That being said, there are situations where the simulator can get so busy that it becomes difficult to spot lapses in sterile cockpit procedures.

“In the simulator, you are always in the window of the definition of when a sterile cockpit is required,” Boedigheimer said. “Formalized training on the issues of sterile cockpit procedural non-compliance is critical so crews understand why the rule is so important in high workload situations.”

And while we’re on the subject of practicing sterile flight deck procedures, a crucial pre-start-anything item is clearly defining who the “captain” is on each flight. While it may seem elementary to most of us, in situations where you are flying alongside anyone you are not familiar with – including FAA check pilots – make it clear who is responsible for giving the “we are now operating in a sterile cockpit environment” command.

Identify Flight Deck Quiet Time

Obviously, the ideal time to remind crew members and passengers about the need to follow sterile cockpit procedures is during the boarding and pre-engine start phases of every flight. But, as hard as we try, there are times when we become distracted and can forget when it’s “quiet time in the cockpit.”

Simmonds said to help him and his co-captain remember to set up small physical or aural cues.

“It could be something as simple as turning up the volume on the VHF COM we are using or turning on the interior lights pre-taxi,” Simmonds explained. “I turn the volume up on the VHF COM channel so the controller is a bit louder than anyone on the flight deck. That’s a reminder that we’re practicing sterile cockpit procedures.”

Of course, not all casual conversations on the flight deck are forbidden. In fact, experts have demonstrated that in order for flight crews to be the most effective, pilots need to talk – even if it’s just merely keeping each other more alert during long cruise legs of a trip. Monitoring displays can dull you to distraction.

Just make sure that when the descent starts, you put a stop to any non-essential conversation.