Originally Posted by
SmoothOnTop
When I was young, confident, complacent and "it can't happen to me" pilot, I wasn't a perfect steward for a sterile flight deck (sightseeing comments, to my crew members, were my vices).
Reading a cvr transcript back then changed my ways.
About 5000 aircraft (all operations) are airborne over the U.S. at noon on a typical day, 1 crew not observing sterile flight deck procedures below 10,000 msl is one too many!
How many professional crews engage in this behavior?
If you have a crew member that likes to yap in sterile, except for conversations regarding flight, stay quiet.
She/he might get the hint. Then lead by example, when you complete the climb checks after passing 10 or 18k, talk up the non-critical stuff. Descending back through 18 or 10k, shut the non flight stuff off.
Please use this recent cvr transcript as a trigger to reflect on your own behaviors...
Yeah, I had the same thoughts looking at that transcript. In the regionals it is VERY, VERY common to violate sterile...almost universal. At my company we recently raised it to 18K on the descent, which is pretty annoying, but oh well.
I'm trying to be more compliant.