Situational awareness has been making headlines in recent years (actually, it's the lack of situational awareness that tends to produce the headlines!), but the fact that it seems to be a current topic of discussion doesn't mean it's something new. The problem of losing situational awareness has been with us for as long as airplanes have been flying and will be with us as long as there is a human interface with a flying machine. The topic of situational awareness is a broad one. This paper, however, will concentrate on the indications of loss of situational awareness and how they apply in avoiding controlled-flight-into-terrain (CFIT) accidents. The indications of loss of situational awareness are events or other manifestations that are symptomatic of a loss of the big picture. In other words, just as pilots are taught to recognize the subtle indications of the onset of hypoxia, are there recognizable indications of a loss of situational awareness? The paper is divided into four parts. Part one, this introduction; part two, a brief discussion and review of the elements of situational awareness; part three, a review of four CFIT accidents and, the focus of this paper, the clues that flight crews can use to uncover a loss of situational awareness; and part four, a call for action. Except were specifically noted, references to an individual "pilot" and to "flight crews" are used interchangeably. Several accidents will be discussed in the following pages, either by reference or through the quoting of cockpit voice recorder (CVR) transcripts. There is no intent to imply responsibility, assign blame or criticize the actions of others, only an effort to learn from the accident and therefore enhance future flight safety.
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