The Sterile Cockpit Concept: When Focus is a Choice

Imagine this: We’re on the jump seat in the cockpit of Eastern Airlines Flight 212 from Charleston to Charlotte, USA.

During the final stage of the flight, we can hear the pilots talk about all sorts of things like buying cars, trying to spot a local amusement park, the stock market, and the economic recession.

Flaps 50 is selected at a speed way above the limit, but neither the Captain nor the First Officer (FO) seem to pick this up.

We’re about 450 feet too low during the approach, and we’re only 624 feet above the runway elevation. 

Yet still, the cockpit atmosphere is super casual and laid back.

Moments later, the pilot flying increases the descent rate from 300 to 800 feet per minute, with 5 nm to go…

We now descend THROUGH the MDA without any standard calls being made, into ground fog ☁️

At this point, the pilots complete the before landing checks, and the captain says: “Yeah, we’re all ready, all we got to do is find the airport”.

Seconds later, the FO shouts in panic as he spots the ground through the fog. The plane hits the ground and crashes into a forest, where most of the plane goes up in flames 🔥

Of the 82 people on board, 72 died…

Pretty terrifying stuff right? Well, the NTSB and the FAA agreed. This accident led to the adoption of the sterile cockpit concept in 1981.

Nope, nothing to do with clean cockpit screens. Let’s talk about what it actually means ⤵️

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What is a Sterile Cockpit?

The sterile cockpit rule was originally designed by the FAA in 1981. It’s aim was to reduce accidents caused by distractions and interruptions, defined in FAR 121.542:

And:

We have our own implementation here in Europe as well, which essentially says the same thing as the FAA:

Sounds pretty straight forward right? Basically, don’t talk about recessions, cars, or anything else that’s not relevant to flight safety while you’re on an approach or in any other safety critical phase 🛬

Many operators have slightly more strict rules on this, like considering the ‘sterile’ zone anything below 18,000 feet.

For helicopters, these criteria are often more specific due to the nature of various helicopter operations.

For HEMS in the UK for instance, most manuals dictate a sterile cockpit:

• below 300 feet during the day ☀️
• below 500 feet during night time 🌙

These can be more strict, depending on your location and operator. If you’re unsure, check your OPS manual ✅

The 5 Benefits of a Sterile Cockpit

The whole point of the sterile cockpit concept is to improve overall flight safety, and help crews with problems they might encounter during critical phases, but in what ways? 💡

1) Enhanced Focus

Less pointless chatter = less distraction = improved focus ⬆️

It’s all well and good to have a great vibe between crew members, but the burden of it can show when you’re trying to concentrate and the other crew member is distracting you with pointless conversation.

Of course there is a balance here, which we’ll cover later.

2) Better Communication

One of the main benefits of having no conversations that benefit flight during those critical phases, is that anything that does get raised can be assumed to be immediately relevant.

This makes communication more straight forward, and helps to reduce barriers for you to speak up about things that actually require challenging or attention 🧠

3) Increased Situational Awareness

Having a shared mental model with other crew members is one of the main requirements to work together effectively and to be aware of your surroundings.

If you have different perceptions of reality that don’t really match, it’s much easier to end up as part of the accident statistics 📊

4) Promotes Adherence to SOPs

The promotion of a sterile cockpit, whether through a pre-flight briefing, company training, or discussions amongst pilots within companies, encourages adherence to SOPs.

If having a sterile cockpit becomes one of those things that is part of the ‘this is how we do things here’ list, it becomes much easier to actually make those standard calls, and check the things you’re supposed to check 👀

5) Improves Decision Making

Timely and effective decision making is only possible by having the things mentioned above. Adherence to SOPs, situational awareness, focus, and effective communication are all directly linked to crews that make good decisions 💡

Decisions are only as good as the data that is used to make them. This data will be of much higher quality if non-relevant conversations aren’t in the way.

The 5 Challenges of Creating a Sterile Cockpit

Right, so what’s in the way here? What are the barriers you could face when you’re trying to have a sterile cockpit?

Here are the biggest hurdles:

1) Cultural Differences

While regulation is pretty static, people often have weird and wonderful opinions of those regulations.

Depending on which part of the world you’re in, what company you fly for, and who the crew is that you’ll be flying with, you might find it difficult to actually convince others that having a sterile cockpit is something that should be adhered to.

This is especially true in environments where you might fly with the same people often, and relationships between crew members are very ‘matey’ 🍻

Having time for humour and jokes is fine, but a line needs to be drawn somewhere. This is where different perspectives on this topic can easily clash.

2) Potential for Miscommunication

If you don’t set clear boundaries and expectations, there is potential for miscommunication. What is considered ‘critical’ information, and what isn’t?

Within cultures that have had years to hone these expectations, this could be a non-issue. However, for cultures where multi-crew principles are quite new and not very well established yet, crew members might find it difficult, or worse: unnecessary, to adopt this.

3) Tension Between Crew Members

Similar to the above, if different people have different ideas on what ‘safety relevant’ means, or disagree on the premise altogether (yep this still happens), you can get tension between crew members.

If someone (rightly or wrongly) feels that they aren’t allowed to speak about things that they deem important, or they feel on edge, you’ll get a reduction in communication. This is obviously the opposite of what the sterile cockpit concept strives for, so this needs to be managed carefully.

This is especially true in settings where crew members in the cabin are not necessarily part of the aviation culture we are all used to (like in HEMS or air ambulance).

4) Delayed Problem Solving

The items mentioned above (cultural barriers, miscommunication, and crew tension) all have the same effect: they reduce the effectiveness of a team.

Solving problems is how we as pilots make sure that flight safety levels do not go down when shit hits the fan 💩

If crucial information is not being raised, or if crew members feel like they can’t speak up or challenge you, you simply won’t be aware of information you haven’t seen yourself. Not a good thing. Which is why this requires training, awareness, and briefing if it’s not clear.

5) Discipline is Required

And then there’s the elephant in the room: Complaining (or simply talking) about your home situation, your pay, the economy, your annoying neighbour, or that asshole in HR, is a way of coping with stress for many people 😬

Now, this is where discipline comes in. There’s a place and a time for everything. You might be surrounded by people who think it’s ok to talk about that stuff during the approach phase. And even if they don’t think it’s ok, they might do it anyway.

It requires professionalism and a healthy balance of discipline to draw the line somewhere. Where is your company’s line, and how does it compare to yours? 🛑

How to Implement the Sterile Cockpit Concept

Right, so how can you implement or reinforce the sterile cockpit concept into your company culture, or cockpit? Here are 5 great things to start with ⤵️

Awareness and Training

Like many things in aviation, it all starts with awareness and training. If sterile cockpit awareness is missing in your workforce, start training it. If everyone is very aware already, but there’s no training or notes in the OPS manual, it might be time to put some SOP’s in place.

Only through reinforcing good habits, and discouraging bad ones through OPC’s, line training, briefings, and conversations can you get to a stage where it’s ingrained in a company culture.

Lead By Example

Don’t expect others to adhere to anything if you’re not leading by example yourself. The sterile cockpit concept is a perfect example, as a conversation always requires at least 2 people.

If you don’t think it’s appropriate to talk about a specific topic during a critical phase, don’t start any, and clearly communicate your views if someone else does.

Foster Open Communication

This one’s a delicate balance. It’s important to make sure people can openly say things that need saying and feel like they can challenge you. While at the same time making sure conversations are relevant and concise during critical phases of flight.

Clearly Define Expectations

If you think your colleagues are too relaxed about having a sterile cockpit, openly communicate this in either the brief or debrief 📋

If you’re flying with non-pilots, this is even more important, as it might not be obvious to those individuals that this is an expectation / SOP.

Promote Team Cohesion

As mentioned earlier, there’s a time and a place for fun. Being too strict and serious about every little thing does not help team cohesion. Instead, it can be helpful to take the opportunities to have some silliness when the situation allows for it, and when it’s appropriate.

Having a good relationship and bond with your crew helps with working together when things get tough, whether that’s during the approach or before even stepping into the aircraft.

Conclusion

Having a sterile cockpit rule isn’t just about quieting down the cockpit: It’s about enhancing focus and ensuring safety during critical flight phases.

It aims to reduce distractions and maintain clear, relevant communication when it really matters.

There’s a way to go overboard with this, and finding a balance between professionalism and companionship is important to keep the most important thing at number 1: Flight safety.

Ready to learn from real aviation decisions, mistakes and challenges? Get our latest Notes from the Cockpit sent straight to your inbox, twice a month ⤵️