Dozens of US airline pilots reported making ‘mistakes’ because they are ‘rusty’ after returning to the skies after months of blockade due to the pandemic, a NASA watchdog reported.
Air travel has had the lowest demand in decades as a result of COVID-19, which halted many international flights as countries tried to contain the virus.
Now, pilots who have returned to the captain’s seat have told NASA’s Aviation Safety Reporting System that, since May, they have made dozens of “mistakes” because they are out of practice.
Mistakes include forgetting to turn off the parking brake at takeoff, making three attempts to land the plane on a windy day, choosing the wrong runway and forgetting to turn on the anti-icing mechanism that prevents altitude and speed sensors in the air freeze.
To date, there have been no reported incidents of pilots out of practice causing accidents that have injured passengers.
Although aviation experts say they are confident in flight safety, they warn of the need for pilots to return to work after months away to receive extra training sessions, with some U.S. airlines starting to provide them.
Dozens of pilots told NASA’s anonymous Aviation Safety Reporting System that they made ‘mistakes’ because they were ‘rusty’ as a result of fewer flights during the pandemic. In the photo, a Boeing 767-323 cargo jet takes off from Los Angeles International Airport on January 13, 2021. It is unclear which airlines the pilots flew to
Aviation experts say they are confident in the skills of pilots and the airlines that provide them with extra training after months of blockade
An officer, who did not activate his defrost system, told NASA’s watchdog: ‘Since I hadn’t flown in a few months, I was rusty. I felt that my memory was strong enough, but in fact, I should have taken the time to review the standard operating procedures, as reported by The Los Angeles Times.
Another pilot accidentally lined up to land on the wrong track, while a different pilot accidentally turned off the autopilot and a first officer made an unusually steep turn after misinterpreting the instruments in the cabin.
In each case, the pilots and first officers blamed the errors for being out of practice.
In September, a first commercial jet official reported that he had miscalculated the distance to the runway during a landing and caused the plane to descend a lot. Instead of aborting the landing and going around the airport for another attempt – the safest option – the first officer made last-minute adjustments to land.
“Contributing factors included mild turbulence, requiring constant energy adjustments,” said the first official.
They added: ‘Furthermore, the lack of recent flight time due to the license – this was my first approach / landing in several weeks in addition to the very limited flight time in the last six months.’
During an incident in October, when a pilot forgot to take the rest out of the parking lot, they said it had been ’40 days since my last flight ‘.
They added: ‘We are flying less, so we need to be even more attentive. Better attention to detail. ‘
NASA’s aviation security reporting system it was developed so that pilots and other members of the airline’s crew could anonymously report mechanical failures and human errors, without fear of reprisals from aircraft manufacturers or the airline’s management.
International and domestic flights plummeted and, in the case of some destinations, stopped altogether last year. Making many pilots feel out of practice when they went back on air. In the photo, a JetBlue Airways Airbus A320-232 taking off from Los Angeles International Airport on January 13, 2021
The Federal Aviation Administration (FAA) prohibits pilots from flying in a commercial jet, unless they have performed three takeoffs and three landings – either on an airplane or in a simulator – in the past 90 days
Airline experts have long recognized that when pilots are inactive for long periods, their skills decline quickly and are prone to making mistakes, such as flying too fast or too high during a landing or forgetting to get control tower clearance. air traffic before descending to a lower altitude.
The Federal Aviation Administration (FAA) prohibits pilots from flying in a commercial jet, unless they have performed three takeoffs and three landings – on an airplane or simulator – in the past 90 days.
But the FAA changed that requirement twice in the past year, giving pilots more leeway, although so far no U.S. airline has reported that a pilot needs to use it.
In April and May, the number of daily takeoffs in the U.S. dropped to about 75% below pre-pandemic levels.
In recent months, the number of takeoffs has increased to 43% below the pre-pandemic period, according to industry data.
As a result, some pilots returned to work after an absence of up to four months.
Last week, Delta Air Lines announced that it planned to bring back about 400 pilots by the summer in the hope that the distribution of COVID-19 vaccines would increase travel demand.
Aviation experts say there are enough backup systems in modern passenger jets to prevent minor carelessness from becoming a serious accident.
Richard G. McSpadden Jr, senior vice president of the Aircraft Owners and Pilots Association’s Air Safety Institute, said: ‘The key to flying safely is frequency. You are not that smart if you haven’t flown in a while.
However, the International Air Transport Association, a commercial group for airlines in the world, reported a sharp increase in the rate of airplanes making ‘unstable approaches’ last spring, which usually occurs when pilots attempt to land at very high speed. or without enough momentum and have to make last minute adjustments.
The airline group reported that the rate of ‘unstable approaches’ jumped from about 13 or 14 for every 1,000 flights before the pandemic to more than 35 per 1,000 in May.
The problem of unstable approaches increased at airports around the world in the spring and summer of 2020, the group said, but the rate has returned to pre-pandemic levels in recent months.
But many experts say they are not concerned. Kenneth P. Byrnes, president of the Flight Training Department at Embry-Riddle Aeronautical University, said that commercial passenger jets always fly with a pilot and a co-pilot to reduce the pilot’s chances of error.
He said: ‘I am comfortable with the security requirements. I don’t think there is an imminent danger. ‘
Mark Searle, global safety director for the International Air Transport Association, said he believed the pilots were aware of the need for more training.
“If they adhere to the standard operating procedures we practice, I don’t think there is much of a problem,” he said.
The Aircraft Owners and Pilots Association recently offered a series of videos on its website to help pilots out of practice improve their flight skills.
The series includes tutorials on how to use the radio to communicate with an air traffic control tower and tips for making a smoother landing.
American Airlines, one of the largest airlines in the world, was also concerned about the pilots’ lack of practice, so it began to make more frequent analyzes of its pilot performance data.
The 2020 pilot data showed no loss of proficiency, said Kimball Stone, senior vice president of flight operations for American Airlines.
“There was no skill degradation,” he said.