by Robert L. Sumwalt It&#39;s no secret. When a flight crew&#39;s attention is diverted from the task of flying, the chance of error increases. Over the years there have been dozens of air carrier accidents that occurred when the crew diverted attention from the task at hand and became occupied with items totally unrelated to flying. Consequently, important things were missed. Things like setting the flaps prior to takeoff, or extending the landing gear before landing. Things like monitoring altitude on an instrument approach, or using engine anti-ice for takeoff during a blinding snow storm. In 1981 the FAA enacted FAR 121.542 and FAR 135.100 to help curb the number of these accidents. Commonly known as the &quot;sterile cockpit rule,&quot; these regulations specifically prohibit crew member performance of non-essential duties or activities while the aircraft is involved in taxi, takeoff, landing, and all other flight operations conducted below 10,000 feet MSL, except cruise flight. (Click here to go to FAR 121.542 and 135.100 .) It&#39;s unrealistic to expect a crew to fly together for several days and never discuss anything except items related to flying the aircraft. In fact, experts have demonstrated that in order to be most effective, crews need to talk -- even if it is just merely &quot;get to know you&quot; sort of chat. The sterile cockpit rule is a good rule because it clearly defines when it is time to set aside non-essential activities and tend strictly to the task at hand -- that of safely operating the aircraft. In spite of the existence of the sterile cockpit rule over the past decade, pilots have continued to have accidents and serious incidents that perhaps could have been prevented. For the most part, disobeying the rule is not intentional. It just happens. But as this review shows, the consequences of non-compliance can be very serious. Truly, the sterile cockpit needs to be cleaned up. This reviewer used the ASRS database to find specific examples of problems related to non-compliance with the sterile cockpit rule. We carefully reviewed 63 reports that had been previously coded by analysts as having some relevance to the sterile cockpit rule. Here is a synopsis of the problems that we found that could be attributed to sterile cockpit violations:48% were altitude deviations 14% were course deviations 14% were runway transgressions 14% were general distractions with no specific adverse consequences 8% involved takeoffs or landings without clearance 2% involved near mid-air collisions due to inattention and distractions. The Culprits The way in which the sterile cockpit rule was broken in each report was tallied and analyzed. Some reports contained more than one culprit. Many of the reports contained acknowledgments like this:  &quot;If we [had] adhered to the sterile cockpit, this situation probably would not have occurred.&quot; (ACN 118974)  Following are the four most common reasons for non-adherence to the sterile cockpit r

RFT 588: Sterile Cockpit

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