A new booklet released by the ATSB today dispels the myth that experience will always protect pilots from an accident.
The booklet Experience won’t always save you: Pilot experience is not always a protection against an accident, is the latest release in the ATSB’s well-received Avoidable Accidents series.
“There’s a reverence for those who have been flying a long time,” said Dr Stuart Godley, the manager of the ATSB’s Research Investigations and Data Analysis. “We like to believe that they’ve got the right stuff, that they know themselves and their aircraft, and they can draw on their wisdom to keep themselves safe. There are many famous accidents where it appears that pilot experience has made all the difference.”
These were experienced pilots
who knew their business, but it wasn’t enough to keep them safe.
“However, a closer analysis of these accidents suggests that things other than experience alone have always also played a significant part in saving the day,” continued Dr Godley, “but they tend not to be emphasised in anecdotes and media.”
“On the other hand, fatal outcomes can and do happen to very experienced pilots, leading to questions of how could such a thing happen to someone with so much flying behind them.”
In creating this booklet, the ATSB has drawn on its investigation archives of 20 years to find case studies that illustrate how a fatal accident can happen to anyone, even those who have been flying for years. These examples cover a range of operations and aircraft types, and each one analyses the accident, breaking down the decisions and factors that contributed to the final, fatal result.
“These were experienced pilots who knew their business,” said Dr Godley, “but it wasn’t enough to keep them safe.”
In some of these occurrences, very experienced pilots were undertaking flying that involved much higher risk. It turned out that their flying experience alone was unable to help them avoid disaster. Other accidents involved experienced pilots who may have allowed factors other than their experience to influence their actions. In other examples, the pilot’s vast experience may have even led to decisions that, in hindsight, were associated with more risk than necessary.
As with all the Avoidable Accidents booklets, Experience won’t always save you is available for free. “The book can be downloaded from the ATSB website or we’re happy to mail free copies to anyone who would like them,” said Dr Godley. “We’ve had excellent feedback on these publications—they’re a useful resource to anyone involved in flying, but we feel that this newest booklet is especially important. The issues that it examines are something that all pilots need to think about and take into account.”
Please send requests for copies of the booklet via email to atsbinfo@atsb.gov.au