Airline pilots say the domino effect of COVID-19 - travel restrictions, low customer demand, fewer flights and, thus, less time in the cockpit - made them 'rusty' and contributed to a plethora of minor in-flight errors over the past year, the Los Angeles Times reported.
The newspaper noted several incidents that took place where the pilots admitted that not having flown "in a few months" affected them. They included:
- 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.
- A first officer forgetting 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 were among at least a dozen incidents since May of 2020 where the pilots said they were rusty after being away for a while, especially back in the spring of 2020 when capacity on planes dipped to five percent of what it was in 2019.
In one incident, a first officer said "I felt that my recollection was strong enough, but in reality, I should have taken some time to review" the procedures, in an anonymous report, the Times reported.
But the time away from the cockpit does not pose an "elevated risk to the flying public," experts say.
"It is such a regulated industry and there is so much redundancy in every aspect of it," Aircraft Owners and Pilots Association Senior Vice President Richard McSpadden Jr. told FOX Business. McSpadden added that since pilots are "very disciplined and very well trained" they "typically understand that they have to slow down" and take their time, he said.
Airlines for America, the industry trade organization representing the leading U.S. airlines, told FOX Business that "commercial air travel is the safest form of transportation in the world."
"A4A member carriers have stringent policies to ensure and maintain pilot proficiency during this period of reduced operational demand," an Airlines for America spokesperson said.
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