The US National Transportation Safety Board has released a video emphasising the need for stricter adherence by pilots to standard operating procedures.
In the 9min video, the agency cites several accidents to which a contributing factor was failure to follow procedures.
The video is "primarily targeted at pilots", but also intended to be "used by airlines, regulators, pilots and aviation safety professionals to reinforce just how critical procedural compliance is to flight safety.
The agency says its investigators have found that common deviations from standard procedures involve those related to stabilised approaches and conversation in the cockpit.
It notes that Asiana flight 214, a Boeing 777-200ER, crashed into a seawall at San Francisco International airport due partly to the "crew's failure to follow a number of procedures", notes the video.
"This was one of more than a dozen airline or commercial charter planes crashes in the last ten years involving crewmembers' failure to follow procedures," says the video.
The Asiana accident led to the deaths of three passengers and caused injuries to nearly 50.
The video also cites the 2009 crash of Colgan Air flight 3407, a Bombardier Q400 that stalled, then crash near Buffalo, killing 50 people.
"The captain engaged in non-pertinent conversation during a critical phase of flight, which is contrary to procedures and distracted them from their flying duties," says Cox.
The NTSB calls the 2014 crash at Birmingham of UPS flight 1354, an Airbus A300-600 freighter, a "prime example of the captain and the first officer failing to follow checklists and make the proper callouts".
That crash killed the captain and first officer.
The NTSB's video comes out a few days after Indonesian investigators, in their report on the crash of Indonesia AirAsia flight QZ8501, recommended the airline "re-emphasise" procedures for taking control of an aircraft during critical phases of flight.
Investigators determined the captain did not formally announce an intention to take control of the aircraft from the first officer.
As a result, the captain attempted to push the aircraft's nose down with the stick -- the proper response to a stall -- while the first officer pulled back on the stick.
The resulting dual inputs largely cancelled each other out, the report found.
It added that the captain failed to properly activate a mechanism that would have granted him exclusive control of the aircraft.
The A320 stalled and crashed, killing all aboard.
Source: Cirium Dashboard
