Departure Briefing: Prepared when things go wrong

Last month, two or three tragic events shocked the pilot community: a mid-air collision in Washington DC, the crash of a Learjet 55 just one minute after take-off and the crash of an RV-10 during base-to-final in Fullerton. All accidents occurred either during climbing or descending flight near airports. The NTSB will investigate the causes. Nevertheless, we would like to take up a topic in this context that Mike Ginter from the AOPA Air Safety Institute addresses in his video as a “GA Pilots Take-away”.

Ready for departure?

You have started your aircraft, taxied off and completed the run-up. There is one last important step: a solid departure briefing. Although we learned it in training, accident statistics show that some pilots have not done a departure briefing, whether for lack of time, routine or simply because they forgot.

If the engine fails during the ascent or a door opens, we quickly reach the limit of our capacities. This can have dire consequences. Therefore: the departure briefing is a must for every flight, no matter how short, whether it’s landing training or a local flight. It’s not enough just to work through the before-takeoff checklist.

Departure Briefing: Expect the unexpected

The departure briefing just before take-off plays a key role in ensuring safety. It is always tailored to the current situation and to the departure location and direction, depending on the wind direction. During this briefing, the pilot verifies his intentions and, in particular, mentally rehearses his reaction to abnormal situations. The various points are to be pronounced loudly and clearly and not just gone through in one’s mind. We start with the big picture and work our way down to the small details, i.e. what are the general dangers, how do I behave in the event of an engine failure on the ground, below 1000 feet or above 1000 feet? We remind ourselves to immediately move the control forward to avoid a stall in the event of a power loss after take-off.

Why say the briefings out loud?

The phenomenon of remembering information better when speaking aloud is called the “production effect”. When you speak information aloud, you activate the motor and auditory areas of your brain in addition to the visual and cognitive processing. This creates multiple links in your memory that make it easier to retrieve the information later.