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The FAA, prompted by “several notable and high-visibility events” in recent months, is urging pilots to practice extra vigilance during visual approaches and consider rejecting air traffic control (ATC) requests if they might add too much workload, the agency said in a recent safety bulletin.
“As the [National Airspace System] continues to grow in use and complexity, efforts have been ongoing to prevent unsafe operations such as runway incursions, unstable approaches, altitude and route deviations, and runway identification errors,” the FAA safety alert for operators (SAFO) said. “In light of recent events, the [FAA] identified the need to ensure all operators and pilots understand and evaluate the risks associated with the acceptance and execution of visual approaches.”
ATC’s primary task is to prevent collisions, the SAFO said. Effective pilot communication is a key component, particularly if ATC requests complicate visual flight rules (VFR) operations.
“ATC supports the pilot-in-command’s (PIC) authority to declare ‘unable’ when a clearance reduces the safety margin,” the SAFO said. Examples include “inadequate time to recalculate landing performance, reconfigure avionics, brief the new approach procedure, or stabilize the approach,” the FAA added.
The SAFO also implied that while ATC is primarily responsible for ensuring safe traffic separation, pilots must play an active role.
“Due to radar limitations, volume of traffic, controller workload or communications frequency congestion, air traffic control may be unable to provide traffic information services,” the SAFO said. “Pilots should consider requesting information about other aircraft including azimuth in terms of the 12-hr. clock, altitude, distance, type and direction of travel, or request radar vectors to avoid traffic conflicts.”
The agency’s SAFO recommends operators ensure their training and safety programs emphasize risk-mitigation strategies such as practicing “increased vigilance while operating at airports with published [VFR] routes in the vicinity of approach and departure paths,” and “requesting an instrument approach to reduce the likelihood of misalignment with VFR traffic, runways or taxiways and maintain a stabilized approach.”
Operators should leverage their safety management systems (SMSs) to review current procedures and training and address any gaps.
The SAFO does not reference any specific accidents or incidents. The highest-profile recent occurrence—January’s mid-air collision of an American Eagle Bombardier CRJ-700 regional jet, American Flight 5432, and a U.S. Army Sikorsky Black Hawk helicopter near Ronald Reagan Washington National Airport (DCA)—involved VFR operations.
Details released by the NTSB so far suggest the helicopter was slightly off its assigned course and the CRJ crew, conducting a visual approach to DCA’s Runway 33, was never told the Black Hawk was in the area.
The accident, which killed all 67 occupants on both aircraft, prompted the FAA to stop mixed-aircraft flying near DCA and review airports with similar operations.
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