How does the word “short” contribute to incidents?

I’ve mentioned before that one of my favorite monthly reads is the “Callback” safety bulletin produced by NASA Aviation Safety Reporting System. I just received notice in my inbox that this month’s bulletin, “Short Takes” is available for viewing. Here is the URL to read the safety bulletin for yourself:

http://asrs.arc.nasa.gov/publications/callback/cb_344.htm

As the email they sent to me describes, many of the descriptions from aviation incidents include the word “short”. In fact, they state that in over 17,000 of the ASRS narratives the word “short” appears somewhere in the incident. Short takeoffs, short landings, short approaches, short layovers, short rests, short staffing….you get the picture. Here’s an example from a “short field takeoff and landing” incident:

Because of recent heavy rains our landing strip had a wet area in the middle of the strip. This necessitated short field landing and takeoff procedures. My approach was a few feet to the left. My left wingtip caught some cornfield plants causing my plane to turn to the left and skid to a stop.

This has made me think about how I operate and how the word “short” might play into my operation. And more importantly what steps I can take to minimize this. I’m all in favor of long layovers and long runways.

Enjoy the read and feel free to comment about you can take steps to minimize the word “short” in your flying.

Fly Safe (and long).