Dirty Dozen Lesson #1: Beware of autopilot  

I was a few years into my EMS career, working as a field technician on an AW119KX out of a remote base. I came in for my shift, went out to do my preflight, came back inside, and started doing inventory and whatever else needed doing. Then I sat with the nurses, had a cup of coffee, and let the nurse know I needed to go do my preflight. 
 
She looked at me funny and told me I’d already done it. 
 
I had no memory of it. I’d been so deep in the routine that the monotony got to me, and I forgot I did it that day. The one I did before, the day before that, the day before that, and the other hundred I’d done all blurred together. Same aircraft, same walk-around, same checklist, same result every time. Little was ever wrong, so my brain went into autopilot. 
 
You know when you get in the car after a long day of work and drive home on the same route, then look back and think “I don’t even remember driving the car, but I’m here?” That’s how complacency gets you. The routine becomes so automatic that you go through the motions without being mentally present, and you don’t even realize it’s happening until something snaps you out of it. 
 
Complacency doesn’t announce itself. It feels like competence, and that’s what makes it dangerous. 
 
Ed Bolen, President of NBAA, said it well: “Complacency is our enemy and vigilance is our responsibility.” 
 
So how do we stay vigilant? How do we, as individuals and as leaders, break through complacency before it breaks us? 
 
I started doing my preflights backwards. It sounds odd, but it forced my brain to actually engage instead of following the same worn path. I’d pick one system each day and really dig into it, not just glance at it but look at it like I’d never seen it before. I started asking myself “what would I miss if I wasn’t paying attention right now?” 
 
For leaders, it’s about building those pattern interrupts into your operation. Rotate inspection assignments. Pair people up who don’t usually work together. Ask your team what they’re not looking at anymore because it’s “always fine.” Create an environment where someone can say “I need fresh eyes on this” without feeling like they’re admitting weakness. 
 
And this isn’t just for maintenance. Think about the pilot who’s flown the same approach into the same airport five hundred times and stops really seeing the checklist items anymore. The controller who’s worked that same sector so long the traffic patterns feel predictable, until they’re not. Complacency lives anywhere routine lives.  
 
That day at the helicopter, I didn’t cause an incident. But I knew I was losing the edge that job required, and eventually I made the decision to move on. Not because I failed, but because I recognized the complacency wasn’t going to fix itself.  
 
The routine will lull you to sleep if you let it. Don’t let it. 
 
Part 1 of a 12-part series on the Dirty Dozen in aviation maintenance by Anneke Tucker, originally published on her LinkedIn page. Tucker is an FAA-certificated A&P mechanic, IA, and 23-year aviation maintenance veteran. She is currently a consultant at Attain Aviation, specializing in Part 145 certification, quality systems, workforce development, and human factors in MRO environments.