Sorting Through the Noise

More than ever, we’re peppered with information meant to improve our situational awareness, but that actually can distract from it if we aren’t careful. Particularly when flying alone, you must be both the eyes and ears of a flight while keeping the airplane upright and on course.

This can be challenging and requires a keen understanding of how to sort and filter information during every phase of flight. All it takes is a time or two when you are feverishly behind the airplane mid-flight to understand that you don’t need to process deeply every piece of information provided to you.

Broadly, you can sort it into two buckets. 

1. Instructional
This type of information takes priority. It typically comes from ATC and tells you, or another airplane in the sky, what to do. Prioritizing this information first focuses your mind on the immediate task at hand and what to expect next.  

2. Advisory
This information can run the gamut of conditions on the ground and in the air: weather updates, emergencies, FBO and flight school briefings, and more. ATC transmits this information to be helpful, and it is good to know, but you can become overwhelmed if you try to digest and relate to every update coming through the radio.  

In many cases, the airplane gives you more immediate information about flight conditions, but even that can be overwhelming if you lose sight of what to prioritize. 

Here’s an example. In sequence for an approach, controllers might need to offer delayed vectors. Sometimes, the controllers will take you through your approach path instead of giving you an intercept angle. If you have a glass cockpit, it might automatically sequence to the next leg.

If you are laser-focused on reloading the approach, it’s easy to panic, get behind the airplane, and drift off course instead of simply complying with the delayed vectors and waiting for the right time to reload the approach.  

In this scenario, even with things going awry, you can take a step back, safely and calmly reestablish yourself, and add the approach back at a more appropriate time. Without the approach loaded, under VFR, you still have dependable auxiliary information to help situate yourself (e.g., looking outside if you’re following traffic to understand the flow of things and using visual cues to keep yourself properly aligned).   

It all looks painfully obvious when you read it, but even the best pilots can develop habits that leave them susceptible to momentary information overload caused by changing and unexpected events. 

Observing other pilots is an excellent way to identify and kick bad habits for sorting information. It’s surprising how much you can learn about yourself and your tendencies by watching someone else at the controls. When you don't have PIC responsibility, you'll see clearly when a pilot is tactical with time or beginning to fall behind the airplane.    

If this isn’t an option, try chair flying your next trip and think about the most critical information you need to consider for each phase of the flight. That’ll ensure you don’t miss the forest for the trees. As the FAA suggests, the goal for the pilot is to understand how to monitor, manage, and prioritize the information flow to accomplish specific tasks.