Distracted Flying
Pilots and air traffic controllers are just as susceptible to distractions while flying or directing flight traffic as people are when driving vehicles. But distractions on a plane or the control tower can create consequences even more dramatic than those on the road. The National Transportation Safety Board (NTSB) has reported many instances of cell phone usage causing distracted flying accidents including a “… bantering personal phone call about a dead cat while directing traffic.” The NTSB report noted that during the time the controller was on the phone, he made several errors. For example, after he made the handoff of the Piper to Newark tower for flight following, he failed to provide the pilot the new frequency for two minutes. When he finally did call with the new frequency, he spoke very quickly; the pilot then read back an incorrect frequency to the controller, but the controller did not notice the error. Because the pilot was on the wrong frequency, no one could warn him about the approaching collision.
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