I have no comment to make about the actions of these pilots or any others who may be in a similar situation. I have done stupid things before that, if you were to have observed them as they happened, most assuredly would have had you questioning my intelligence. Even so, I am not a stupid person. Perhaps we can all be guilty of ignorance sometimes (i.e. what is that noise? ).
Anyway, that leads me to what I wish to contribute. So, it seems to me that we should begin to examine such incidents as these to see how they can be mitigate and, hopefully, prevent them from happening to others in the future. It does seem to me that a possible simple solution should involve the warning itself. The truth is we can all think of times when we have allowed our mind to "block out" certain signals that we should normally be paying attention to.
In the two video examples presented here we are talking about audio noises that all those involved blocked out as unimportant to their task at hand. Most previous posts have been discussing the issues in terms of how to avoid this potential error. To this point we have been dealing with the; prevention of distractions, adherence to checklists as memory tools and various other PREVENTIVE measures for keeping us from becoming a member of such a club. I agree with all of these propositions. We should all be using such procedures. However, it also seems to me there is an equally fundamental potential solution to these type of events.
I am referring to the actual warning signal itself. Now, I understand that both examples given in this thread were dealing with certificated GA aircraft. In fact, the original video was in a foreign country with rules and regulations that may be very different from those we face with the FAA. However, whether it be certificated domestic, foreign or experimental aircraft the blaring horn that sounds the same no matter what the warning should be examined. With the capabilities we have today we should be able to relatively easily have these warning beeps, horns, buzzers, etc. changed to actual words that would have meaning when enunciated (yes, I do understand the bureaucratic obstacles involved in getting authorization for changes to certificated aircraft).
There really should be no reason why we could not have these beeps, horns, buzzers, etc. changed out to: "LANDING GEAR NOT EXTENDED!"; "RETRACT FLAPS!"; "RPM OVER-SPEED, TAKE CORRECTIVE ACTION" or any number of specific verbal warnings that are specific to whatever the current sensors will already be feeding that one little piezoelectric buzzer. For anyone who has flown behind any number of GPS, EFIS, TRAFFIC or various other electronic devices we use today, we are already familiar with these devices giving such specific aural warnings for "OBSTACLE", "TERRAIN, PULL UP!!", "TRAFFIC, MONITOR CLOSING RATE!" When I hear any of these verbal warnings in my ear I know without analysis what the warning is trying to communicate to me.
I know that most decisions made concerning whether some component of our aircraft will or will not be installed is based upon the ease, convenience or cost associated with installing that component. In my opinion none of these reasons should keep this change from taking place NOW as it relates to these types of enunciation warnings. Piezoelectric buzzers are simple no doubt. They are cheap to construct and install, at least they SHOULD BE. However, with the capabilities that more and more aircraft have with the instrumentation and intercoms installed, we should be able to make a transition to providing specific, definitive information about what exactly the sensor is trying to warn us about. Most all EFIS systems have audio capabilities, if not, the intercoms or enunciators on the market today surely have capabilities to provide verbal warnings. Perhaps not quite as simple as a buzzer activating at a certain voltage but if the system already has the capability to verbalize other warnings, getting them to also do so with landing gear or flap limit switch sensors, airspeed sensors or any number of other sensors that are feeding that little buzzer, should not be that big of a stretch in capabilities or complexities.
My .02.
Live Long and Prosper!
