Flight Training - May 2014 - 58

ADVANCED PILOT»

CAREER PILOT

Sterile cockpit rules

A time to be quiet and a time to speak up
» By Natalie Bingham Hoover

THE GOOD BOOK says there
is a time to be quiet and a
time to speak up. No, I'm
not talking about the Bible,
although it says something
similar. I'm referring to that
great rulebook of flying, the
federal aviation regulations,
Part 121.542 specifically.
Otherwise known as the
"sterile cockpit rule," the
FARs state that no flight
crewmember may engage
in activities that are nonessential to flight during the
phases of taxi, takeoff, and
landing, and below 10,000
msl. In other words, during
these periods of high workload, it is not acceptable to
discuss the ballgame, eat a
turkey sandwich, or perform
any task that is not absolutely necessary to the safe
continuation of the flight.
I was serving as first
officer on a CRJ-200 with an
hour-long wait for takeoff.
For the first 15 minutes of the
taxi, the captain and I made
an honest effort to run taxi
checklists, check for normal
operation of systems, and
discuss everything related to
the upcoming flight. Good
intentions only last for so
long, however, and we soon
found ourselves discussing
our families, our hobbies,
and the last great movie we
had seen-anything to keep
us from being bored to tears
as we inched along at a maddeningly slow pace in line
behind 17 other airplanes
also creeping toward the
hold-short line. We continued chatting away until we

58 /

FLIGHTTRAINING.AOPA.ORG

realized that we were finally
second in line for takeoff.
The captain went through
his personal takeoff flow
while I doublechecked our
departure frequencies. We
never ran the official beforetakeoff checklist (a fact that
I realized but did not say out
loud since it was my second
week on the job). We started
rolling down the runway
when annunciator lights
began flashing and alarms
started sounding. Apparently, we had left the ground
spoilers deployed from the
taxi check but failed to put
them down again (something
that would have been accomplished on the before-takeoff
checklist). We ended up having to abort and wait in that
terribly long line again. We
explained the mistake to our
patient passengers who happily endured the additional
delay-at least that's what
should have happened.
Here's how it really went
down: When the alarms
started flashing on the
takeoff roll, my captain
immediately realized our
mistake and called for me to

retract the ground spoilers while he continued the
takeoff. Proper procedure
dictates that we should have
aborted, but I, being the
silent and nearly worthless
first officer, elected to keep
my mouth shut in favor of
keeping the captain and
the frustrated passengers
happy. We arrived at our
destination without delay or
any problems, and with an
airplane full of passengers
who never dreamed that two
such knuckleheads were at
the controls. I don't even
want to think about what
might have happened if we
had been wrong about those
flashing lights and continued
the takeoff anyway.
In hindsight, there were
several opportunities for
this mistake to have been
avoided. The problem is
that I was talking when I
should have been quiet and
quiet when I should have
been talking. During the
taxi portion of the flight, we
should have been reviewing our departure plan and
completing all the necessary
checklists. The personal

conversations could have
waited until the cruise portion of the flight, when we
were no longer under the
sterile cockpit rule. Now I'm
tempted to defend myself
and the captain by mentioning that staying awake and
alert is essential to the safe
continuation of flight. And,
by discussing things such as
family and hobbies that are
more engaging than reviewing our departure briefing,
we may have been keeping
our brains sharper and more
ready for the business of
flying. However, rules are
rules, and 121.542 states that
nonessential conversation
not pertaining directly to the
flight is to be avoided during
taxi, takeoff, and landing.
Another thing I find
frustrating about my performance on the flight is the fact
that I didn't speak up when
I realized we had missed
the checklist or should
have aborted the takeoff.
Why was I more concerned
about keeping peace in the
cockpit than safely flying
the airplane? I'm not sure
how to answer that question
other than to say that the
experience has helped mold
me into a more professional
pilot, one who is more than
willing to voice her concerns
about the flight. My new
motto comes straight from
the Good Book: Speak up
when it's necessary and be
quiet when it's not.
Natalie Bingham Hoover, ATP/
CFII/MEI, lives in Tennessee.
http://FLIGHTTRAINING.AOPA.ORG
Flight Training - May 2014

Table of Contents for the Digital Edition of Flight Training - May 2014
