Complacency kills

By Ken Lusch

Lack of experience kills. We all know of the pilot who has 10 to 100 hours of flying time and does something wrong due to his or her lack of experience. The accident report usually states “due to pilot error.”

As a graduate of the United States Air Force Accident Investigation school, I had to read many mishap reports where inexperience got more than one pilot into trouble they could not get out of. It makes sense, doesn’t it?

Kind of like that teenage driver who takes the car out for the first time and side swipes a car (ok, I thought I was further away than I really was). But the pilots that puzzle me the most are the ones with LOTS of experience who never came home.

Complacency also kills. I looked up the meaning of “complacency kills” online and this is what I found: “It finds vulnerability in the comfort of past success and plants itself in the crevices. It waits for you to develop over-confidence, to lose sight of the dangers around you, to become unaware of the deficiencies you have developed.”

This is the pilot who has 1,000 to 10,000 hours of flying time. He has been there and done that. She has been in trouble and gotten out of it. That is, until that complacency creeps into the “crevices” of their flying —manifesting in over-confidence and an unawareness of their deficiencies.

Let me give you an example that might hit home.

The U.S. Air Force has its biennial “Gunsmoke” gunnery competition for the best of the best from Air Force fighter units around the world. Many years ago, during the competition, a major mishap stopped the competition when a fighter aircraft went down on the gunnery range.

When the word got out that day who perished in the jet, no one could believe it. You heard the talk: “He was one of the best pilots I ever flew with.” “This guy was a top-notch pilot.” “He was so good he never went through dry on a bombing run.” “He would pride himself on hitting his parameters EVERY TIME.”

It turned out that this pilot would never go through dry on a bombing run ever again. Complacency killed this pilot. He was totally off his bombing parameters during his attack on the target, but would not go through dry. He still attempted to release his weapon, even though he was “too tight” to the target. Yes, he did not go through dry on his “last pass” as he released his weapon and then crashed at 12 o’clock to the target.

What would cause this pilot to do what he did? I say complacency.

Remember we all have those “crevices” that hide our deficiencies, our over-confidence, and our lack of vision for the dangerous.

To new pilots: Keep learning, keep flying, follow the rules, and don’t take chances.

To the old heads: Keep learning, keep flying, follow the rules, and don’t get complacent.

Fly safe!