The sterile cockpit

Fly as a pilot for long enough and there will be times when you don’t hear a call to you or hear external communications that could be of vital interest to you.

In the instructing game an instructor needs to converse with the student in the air. The question is how much talk is too much and how much is too little. More importantly, when to patter. It is best to brief the student on the ground so there is minimum chatter in the air.

In the air the place to have a sterile cockpit could be during take-off and landing, both outbound and inbound in tower controlled airspace, in CTA, during low visibility flight, inbound and outbound on a night flight and during instrument flight.

The reason for this is two-fold. One to ensure the pilot hears radio calls directed to him and to also hear radio comms that may affect his flight. The other is to simply allow the pilot to concentrate on the job at hand – flying the aircraft safely. Doing all the checklist items undistracted also comes to mind.

All of this can well be compared to a motorist driving and manoeuvring in heavy traffic in unfamiliar territory.

In the US there is more than one documented airline accident where the crew members were talking about anything but shop. The probable cause summary noted that excess non-essential chatter probably contributed to the accident. The FAA brought in Federal Air Regulation Part 121.542 that in effect outlaws non-shop chatter during critical phrases of flight.

In general aviation we have not yet got to that stage here but one can safely bet that non-shop chatter and distractions have caused events and certainly contributed to more than one runway incursion.

On the subject of the engine it can be a good idea to have your headset off, in a sterile cockpit, when starting the engine(s). By doing that a pilot has the opportunity to hear the start up process and noises like a starter motor that has not disengaged, the whine of a slipping alternator belt or unusual noises from forward of the firewall that could be as simple as an electric priming pump not working or a cylinder not yet on line. Get a smooth running engine after start-up and then put your headset on. The extra time at idle power will help the engine warm-up process.

And the way to get a sterile cockpit? An instructor could say to the student “Let’s have a bit of quiet until we hit cruise or the edge of CTA.

But by all means talk to me about essential items”.

The pilot in command of a passenger flight has to exercise a bit of the Captain and Commander thing by briefing them before start up and saying, in a friendly but positive voice, something like, “Look folks I am going to be busy listening to the control tower during the taxi and take-off so it is vital that I don’t miss any of their calls. I would appreciate a bit of quiet until we get to cruise altitude. If you see another aircraft near us then by all means point it out”.

Using the passengers as a kind of human radar can be part of what is called passenger resource management (PRM). Outbound or inbound a pilot can play a game with the passengers in a small plane by promising an ice cream to the passenger who points out the most other aircraft. This keeps the passengers busy so they do not interrupt the pilot in his departure or arrival duties.

How much talk is too much and how much is too little?

For students going for a commercial pilots licence sometimes the instructor or ATO will do the reverse of a sterile cockpit and talk to the student with the view to distracting them from important duties or even to not hear radio calls. The smart student will be aware of this technique and, with a smile, simply ask the Instructor or ATO to be quiet so that they can “get on with the job”.

GA or airline. The sounds of silence. The sterile cockpit.

Contact Dave by email at [email protected]