Leading Edge #14: In-Close Approach Changes

I was arriving at Wichita with the GPS set up for the ILS Runway 1R approach. About 10 miles from the final approach fix, approach control called: "9PT, change in runway, expect the ILS 1 Left, fly present heading to intercept the localizer."My world got really busy, fast.I was facing what safety researchers call an in-close approach change (ICAC). Set up and briefed to fly one procedure, without warning I was cleared to fly another with little time to prepare. It can be a scramble to get everything done while converging with the airport ... and the ground. Done incorrectly, it becomes what investigators call an ICAC event.NASA reported on ICAC Events in a recent issue of Callback (Nov. 2007; 280 KB Adobe PDF file), the newsletter of the Aviation Safety Reporting System (ASRS). Administered by NASA, the ASRS was created to learn more about accident prevention by gathering and analyzing data from the many situations where risk was greatly increased but which did not result in a reported mishap. (Accidents form the basis of most safety studies.) Known best as an FAA enforcement immunity system, the "get out of jail free" provision of filing an ASRS report was added later, solely as a way to encourage pilots, mechanics, controllers and flight crew to file reports so more data is available from which to learn. (Immunity protection only applies to unintentional, non-criminal acts; protects the reporter from penalties but does not keep enforcement action or citations off their record; and immunity can be invoked only after five years following a prior violation). By far, airline and corporate pilots fly more hours than personal and business pilots; reflecting that, the ASRS database is populated primarily by airline-pilot reports.

Callback recently featured a NASA review of ICACs reported by airline crews in 1996-2007. In that period there were 313 ICAC reports -- a pretty significant tally. Examples of these incidents are unstabilized approaches, track or heading deviations, speed deviations, controlled flight toward terrain (CFTT), loss of separation or airborne conflicts, wake-vortex encounters, loss of aircraft control, breakdown in crew coordination, and other safety concerns. The reports "reflect a multiplicity of factors that contributed to the incidents: flight crews 'behind' the aircraft, divided attention in the cockpit, FMS programming/reprogramming issues, rushed flight crews, untimely ATC clearances, distraction, and other factors." November's Callback is definitely worth a read.

Most flying hours are logged by airline and corporate crews, but most IFR pilots fly single-pilot, at least part of the time. What do a lot of aircrew ASRS reports tell us about single-pilot ICACs?The graph below shows the most frequent contributing factors from the ICAC reports. With the exception of one -- breakdown in CRM [crew resource management] -- none of the contributing factors differentiates between a crew and single-pilot airplane. Re-titled SPRM, for single-pilot resource management, a strong case can be made the "CRM" factor applies to the single-pilot cockpit as well. Remember, all these reports came from professional pilots with at least one additional, professional, cockpit crewmember to share the workload. Every reported contributing factor in ICACs applies at least as strongly in the single-pilot cockpit.

What can we do to handle ICACs? The keys are preparation and flexibility. Here are some ICAC checklist templates you can tailor to the airplane you fly. Remember, you're doing this in an already high-workload environment, in a short period of time while converging with the airport and the ground, often with a lot going on the radio. Committing your personalized checklist to memory is vital, but so is double-checking your work with a printed checklist in case you missed something in the rush.In a non-GPS airplane or approach, here's what you may have to do during an ICAC:

The wondrous capability of GPS-based navigation brings with it greater complexity in an ICAC. Here's the sequence you may need to follow, depending on the equipment in your airplane:

Here are some ideas to reduce the workload of an ICAC:

Fly safe, and have fun!