Pilots making in-flight errors say they’re ‘rusty’ because of pandemic
A pilot preparing to pull a passenger jet away from an airport gate forgot to disengage the parking brake, damaging a part of a towing vehicle that was trying to pull the plane to the runway.
Another pilot had so much trouble landing a passenger jet on a windy day that it took three tries before the plane touched down successfully.
In another incident, the first officer forgot to turn on the anti-icing mechanism that ensures the altitude and airspeed sensors on the outside of the plane are not blocked by ice. Luckily for the passengers, the plane completed its flight without problems.
These incidents are among at least a dozen flying errors and mishaps since May that pilots and first officers have attributed, at least in part, to being out of practice because the COVID-19 pandemic — which pushed air travel demand to the lowest levels in decades — had kept them away from flying for a while.
“Because I had not flown in a few months I was rusty,” the first officer who forgot to activate the antiicing mechanism said in an anonymous report to a safety reporting system run by NASA. “I felt that my recollection was strong enough, but in reality I should have taken some time to review” the standard operating procedures.
Aviation experts and airline representatives acknowledge that when pilots are inactive for several months, their skills and proficiency deteriorate. Among the most common errors are coming in too fast or too high during a landing or forgetting to get clearance from the air traffic control tower before descending to a lower altitude.
“The key to flying safely is frequency,” said Richard G. McSpadden Jr., senior vice president at the Aircraft Owners and Pilots Association’s Air Safety Institute. “You are not as sharp if you haven’t flown for a while.”
Since the start of the COVID-19 pandemic, airlines have dramatically reduced the number of daily flights on some routes and, in some cases, eliminated service to low-demand destinations.
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 risen to 43% below pre-pandemic times, according to industry data.
As a result, some pilots have been brought back to work after being away for up to four months.