The sterile cockpit

The sounds of silence

Did you hear centre calling you? How many times have instructors asked that of a flight student? And all because there was excess chatter in the cockpit. Sometimes the sounds of silence, otherwise known as the sterile cockpit, can be a good thing.

People like to converse and none more so than in an aircraft cockpit. Passengers talk with each other and the pilot. Instructors talk with students. Students talk with instructors. The down side to this is there can be excess non-essential chatter in the cockpit that in some cases can preclude hearing vital external comms like centre or the tower calling, or even engine noises.