After the recent string of air carrier accidents and incidents involving violations of sterile cockpit rules, the National Transportation Safety Board (NTSB) is recommending the FAA use cockpit voice recorders (CVRs) to check up on pilots on a regular basis. Before, CVRs were only used in accident or incident investigations. Now, though, the FAA will use these devices to review routine flights to ensure pilots are maintaining a sterile cockpit. The Air Line Pilots Association (ALPA) and many line pilots are upset about this, claiming the new use of CVRs is an "invasion of privacy." One ALPA spokesperson also commented that he believes this will cause a distraction in the cockpit because pilots will be afraid to speak up about safety issues. Those are ridiculous arguments.
Get over it, you big babies! You shouldn't be participating in non-pertinent discussion during sterile periods anyway. If you just follow the rules, you won't have a problem. It's simple. ALPA's outcry reminds me of habitual drunk drivers protesting field sobriety checkpoints. If you're doing something wrong, you'll be upset when someone calls you on it. If you're doing what you're supposed to be doing, you won't notice any difference! The only pilots that have a problem with this idea are the violators.
Maintaining a sterile cockpit is crucial to flight safety. And because many pilots can't get that through their heads, the FAA is stepping in. God bless them. Pilots have repeatedly demonstrated that they're incapable of following sterile cockpit rules consistently, and that's why Big Brother is stepping up oversight. That's fair, and it makes perfect sense. For airline pilots, all you need to do is follow the rules. That's what you should've been doing in the first place because your passengers place trust in you to be people of integrity. If you don't agree with sterile cockpit rules, get over it. A rule is a rule, and all rules can be traced back to safety, so following them is not a matter of debate.
ALPA's non-sensical and downright silly arguments will likely continue, like a rowdy child being sent to time-out. It's embarrassing, really. I read an airline pilot's blog, and he wrote of a recent flight where he texted his dispatcher via ACARS to inquire about the score of a football game. He was angered when his dispatcher replied that management had decided sports scores are a distraction to flight operations. He commented that his anger became a distraction during the descent and approach and had the audacity to blame this on the company. The problem wasn't with the company, it was with his childish attitude and tantrum. Check the score after you land, act like an adult, and focus on flying.
The FAA monitoring CVRs on a routine basis is anything but an invasion of privacy. Do airline pilots think the flight deck of an airliner is their own personal living room? Pilots aren't entitled to privacy on the flight deck. It's the company's jet being used to haul hundreds of passengers in a complex and very public environment. Who says pilots have a right to privacy in that domain? And what would they even need privacy for? They shouldn't be discussing non-pertinent information anyway. I can't think of any reason that a pilot wouldn't want the FAA to hear him saying things like "Flaps 15," or running a checklist. So, what's the problem? Big Brother still wants to hear you saying those things. Just leave out the conversation about dinner plans. That's reasonable, right? Considering how many lives are at stake?
Ideally, pilots wouldn't require oversight by the FAA because they'd always follow the rules, but they don't. So, the FAA has to implement less-than-ideal solutions (like this one) to get things back on track, or at least closer to the track. It's a good, fair solution to a pilot-created problem. Stop whining, follow the rules, and the FAA will leave us all alone.
