FAA Says No More Minesweeper Or Solitaire In Cockpit

If you like to pass the time playing minesweeper, or checking your Facebook updates while piloting a 900,000-pound aircraft 400 mph, you won't like the latest FAA decision. The agency has asked airlines to create policies to minimize cockpit distractions, including pilots' use of personal electronic devices. "There is no room for distraction when your job is to get people safely to their destinations," said DOT Secretary Ray LaHood. "The traveling public expects professional pilots to focus on flying and on safety at all times."

Comments

They need something to do

[Anonymous Coward]

"focus on flying and on safety at all times" is staring at a big blue sky of nothing for hours on end. That will put anyone to sleep. Let them keep their minds doing something, who really cares what they do.

Re:They need something to do

[Monkeedude1212]

Not only have autopilots worked incredibly well in the past, with a high success rate, but the idea is to keep Pilots awake by letting them exercise their mind while in flight.

Staring at the same blinky lights and widgets all day is going to be about the same as staring at the same blank blue sky.

A game of solitaire and Minesweeper shouldn't be that big an issue. Its like 10 minutes. If there was a catastrophic failure in that time there are systems in place to warn the pilots, like buzzers and alarms and warning sounds.

When was the last time we had an airliner NOT get people safely to its destination based solely on a Pilot being distracted?

Re:They need something to do

[gstoddart]

I have yet to hear of a single incident where some distracted pilot crashed and killed people. And so I am forced to ask if this ban/rule ACTUALLY makes any sense. In theory it seems good; but if nobody is actually dying from distracted pilots, wtf? Really.

Sometimes you regulate before people die.

In this case, the alarmingly distracted pilots last year who way overshot their destination point out how a distracted pilot could cause some serious problems -- up to and including death on a big scale.

As I recall, they couldn't even be hailed because they simply weren't paying attention -- " During that time, air traffic controllers and the airline's dispatchers made numerous efforts to contact the plane by radio and through text messaging devices." If you're so distracted you can't be reached by radio in the cockpit, something needs to be remedied.

I understand the pilots need to keep their brain engaged on something so they don't doze off, but they can't get so engaged as to lose track of what they're doing.

Boredom

[eln]

Correct me if I'm wrong, but don't modern airliners basically fly themselves once they're at cruising altitude? What are these pilots supposed to do, stare at the unchanging instruments for hours until their eyes glaze over and they pass out? Checking every gauge on the instrument panel every 5 seconds for 8 hours during a transoceanic flight might sound exciting to most of us, but I bet it isn't as great as it's cracked up to be.

Re:Boredom

[DriedClexler]

Exactly. This idea is superficially appealing, but doesn't recognize the reality of what a lot of modern piloting is like. It reeks of being an overreaction to the recent -- but extremely rare -- incident of pilots being so caught up in a distraction that they overshot their destination. This was an isolated incident of irresponsible -- and PAIRED -- pilots, who turned off many of the countermeasures that are supposed to prevent such a disconnect.

I am not a pilot, but realistically, I would think that pilots need to keep their minds engaged, even if it's not something related to flying the aircraft itself. It seems more harmful to *force* them to be bored, increasing the probability of e.g. falling asleep or "zoning out".

I can't accept that this was a reasoned decision by intelligent, safety-oriented professionals, rather than a directive from politicians above.

Not a lot to do on many flights...

[PatHMV]

Look, for most flights, there's just not a lot to do in between take-off and landing. What are the pilot and co-pilot supposed to do on long flights, where the auto-pilot is doing everything for several long hours, just sit there and stare into space? I'd rather they be keeping their minds awake and alert by playing a video game than getting bored and dozing off. What's next, will they ban reading and talking to each other in flight, too? I'm all for regulations about what they can and can't do just before, during, and after take-off and landing, but this categorical ban seems like good politics but bad policy.

It's SO boring!

[MacGyver2210]

I am currently doing flight training to a commercial pilot level. One of the things I do as a skills practice is fly on MS Flight Simulator using the VATSIM (Virtual Air Traffic Simulation) network - http://www.vatsim.net/ - and I routinely fly transoceanic flights. We fly with real airline callsigns, following real aircraft routes and timetables. The instrumentation and controls are (for the most part) the same as the real thing. The Flight Management Computers in the simulated planes are exactly the same as the real thing. If you have good equipment, the hands-on controls are almost the same. It's a fun way to pass the time and keep skills up to date...BUT:

It's so boring! Here is an example of what I look at for 9 hours without touching anything: http://www.flickr.com/photos/14584559@N03/4502059275/

When you've got 9+ hours of looking at nothing, and you only have to make radio contact once an hour (North Atlantic Track position reports) there is actually nothing to do. At most, you scan the instruments every couple minutes. Even on the flight sim, I usually resort to what we call "In-flight Movies" which is essentially pull up Hulu and watch something until we next have to change the aircraft controls, which is usually when leaving land or making landfall on the other side.

You have a cruising altitude which is held by a computer, and a heading which follows a little line on your on-board GPS, and a speed which is usually also controlled by a computer(or if not, it's setting a lever to a certain position and leaving it there). There is literally NOTHING for the pilot to do if they can't have some sort of distraction. Some real-world pilots I have flown with read a newspaper or magazine, some play with a Game Boy, DS, PSP, etc Some get up and walk through the passenger cabin just like a "How are you, how's it going?" sort of thing. Almost like a chef in a restaurant would come out to the dining area and ask how people's food is.

On top of the endless boredom, they don't get paid nearly enough. Pilots have one of the lowest returns on their education costs of any profession. Throw in the fact that their skills are there to protect hundreds of lives at a time, and you'd think they would be well-paid.

Making regulations that prohibit them from minor distractions in the course of this endless boredom will most likely lead to highly detrimental results. I would not be surprised to see that there were more incidents with pilots falling asleep than previously as these regulations begin to take effect.

Very disappointing, FAA. Maybe you could instead start regulating things that jack up travel prices, waste fuel, and cause extreme delays, like airlines selling more flights in and out of airports than the runways can physically accommodate in a given amount of time. Or like the stupid TSA requirements that we are subjected to as passengers on commercial airlines.

The airlines are failing, and it's their own damn fault. Unnecessary regulation like this is a waste of taxpayers' time and money, and pushes prospective customers and employees away from the industry.