Aeronautics using safety vests
to safeguard preflight inspections

It is a nightmare scenario: a preflight inspection cut short or compromised, leading to items missed or forgotten as the inspector is repeatedly interrupted in the middle of the inspection. The result could be disastrous.

It sounds like a very dangerous practice. Yet that is what Division of Aeronautics pilots were up against, until recently. Nothing terrible ever happened, thankfully, but the potential for disaster was certainly there.

“This is very unsafe and unheard of in most flight departments,” explained Aero’s Tammy Schoen.

“The pilots need one hour, uninterrupted, to do their preflight planning before a flight,” Schoen said. “They were frequently interrupted because other employees didn’t know they were doing critical work.”

“So, we (Tammy and Training’s Renae Beal) came up with the idea of having them wear their yellow safety vests when inspecting the planes, and that means they cannot be interrupted during that time.” Much like a quarterback wearing a red jersey during practice means “hands off – leave me alone.”

Aeronautics Administrator Jeff Marker said the pilots can complete their preflight more effectively and efficiently, which significantly reduces the chance of error and improves safety. This is a great improvement.”

Published 11-15-19