ABSTRACT
All pilots like to be ‘Situationally Aware’. Ask them what they mean by this and many will obligingly proffer a response along the lines of ‘we like to be aware of our situation when we are flying …’. A slightly more helpful observation was provided by one pilot who commented ‘you should never take your aeroplane somewhere where your head hasn’t already been’. On a good day flight crew will often comment upon being ‘ahead of the aircraft’; on a bad day they will lament about ‘being behind the aircraft’.
