Welcome to your first SEMET Safety Update looking at safety data from 2025. As always, a big thank you to everyone who continues to report and engage with the safety system—your input is key to maintaining a high standard of operational safety.

The Numbers

We saw a reporting rate of 2.8% of movements, a continued positive trend compared to previous quarters. Encouragingly, this matches the rate from the same period in 2024. While we’re still just shy of our target, the consistent upward movement is a sign that the safety culture is gaining momentum.

Let’s keep the reports coming—every submission contributes to proactive safety management.

*SEMET Aviation Safety reports rate as a percentage of movements*

Report Categories

As expected, System/Component Failures (SCF) continue to make up the largest share of reports. However, there was a noticeable uptick in ‘Other’ (OTH) category submissions this quarter.

Digging deeper into OTH:
Most of these had Human Factors at their root—particularly rushing and distraction. These typically occur during high workload periods or time-pressured scenarios. While they don't always result in incidents, they create vulnerabilities that can compound under stress.

This is particularly applicable to us at SEMET and broadly in General Aviation for example:

Time pressure from scheduled aircraft and instructor slots can increase stress.
Unexpected poor weather may divert attention.
De-icing delays add to time constraints and stress levels.
Passengers seated close to the pilot can be a source of distraction.

Case Study: LTMA Airspace Infringement

This event was very helpfully reported to us by the pilot involved. Due to the pilots great participation and openness in discussing the event we gained a valuable insight and learning opportunity.

We are able to share this event with the club, hopefully aiding awareness and reducing the likelihood of a similar event happening.

Summary of the Event and Role of Distraction in the Infringement

A student pilot conducting a solo qualifying cross-country flight inadvertently infringed the London Terminal Control Area (LTMA-1). The infringement occurred when the aircraft was detected at 2,900 feet AMSL, which is 400 feet above the LTMA base of 2,500 feet, approximately 5NM northwest of Blackbushe.

The student had planned a route passing within 1.4NM of LTMA-1 and appears to have intended to climb to 2,800 feet, leaving little room for navigational error.

Role of Distraction:

Distraction was a key factor in the infringement:

The student encountered unexpected widespread cloud, which caused visual and mental distraction.
They were simultaneously making a radio call and passing a turning point, increasing workload.
The student recalled not completing their full turn point procedure, likely due to task overload.
These distractions led to reduced situational awareness, resulting in the aircraft unintentionally entering controlled airspace.

Root Cause:

Inadequate threat and error management during flight planning, particularly regarding airspace proximity and weather risk.

In summary, the infringement resulted from a combination of inadequate planning and in-flight distraction, with the student becoming overloaded and losing situational awareness near controlled airspace.

A key learning point for the club as a whole here was to ensure threat and error management principles are applied diligently to every flight. Identifying threats at the planning stage is vital in giving the pilot situational awareness to aid decision making and workload management.

Reducing Risk

The previous above event is just one of numerous human factors related events we see reported at SEMET every month. So, what can we do to avoid similar stress or distraction related situations?

Recognising the Warning Signs

Feeling behind schedule and tempted to “catch up”
Skipping or abbreviating checklist steps
Losing track of what’s been done or said during cockpit activity
Difficulty focusing or re-engaging after interruptions

What We As Pilots Can Do

Pause and Reset: Take a short moment before task transitions to mentally reset and avoid reactive decision-making.
Stick to the Process: Follow standard procedures even under pressure—shortcuts often introduce more risk than they save in time.
Prioritise Clearly: Use “aviate, navigate, communicate” to guide task management.
Protect the Cockpit Environment: Reduce distractions during high workload phases such as taxi, departure, and approach.
Pre-empt Distraction: Brief potential disruptions and your response in advance—especially during unfamiliar or busy operations.

These human factors themes are currently incorporated into many stages of our training. Further development can be gained via one of our valuable Single Pilot Resource Management courses at SEMET.

Look out for the next available course date and be sure to contact Operations if you are interested!

Further Resources

If you would like to read further into the topics discussed above, please follow the links provided:

Pilot Safety Event Contribution

This editions contribution from our pilot community is an event involving smoke in the cockpit experienced by one of our instructors and student.

Adam has very kindly written his reflections the day and hopefully you find this informative giving you an idea of what may happen during an event like this.

‘Thoughts on a smoke event.’

During a routine Exercise 7 (Climbing) flight from Blackbushe in a Cessna 172 with student Ollie, a former Australian policeman, the aircraft experienced a violent nosewheel shimmy immediately after touchdown on Runway 25 in crosswind conditions. While decelerating, smoke and the smell of burning electrics emerged from the avionics bay. I released the brakes to reduce the shimmy but it persisted. Prioritising safety, I applied firm braking to exit the runway via Taxiway Delta as quickly as possible.

Upon stopping, the smoke intensified. I attempted to radio the tower but discovered complete radio failure. Suspecting an electrical short in the radio stack, I squawked 7700 briefly before shutting down the engine and electrics. Both occupants evacuated promptly.

The fire brigade inspected the aircraft and found no fire. The aircraft was later towed for maintenance. I filed a safety report and debriefed the student, explaining my decision-making throughout the event. Ollie remained calm and responsive.

In post-flight reflection, I considered whether holding the aircraft off longer, avoiding brake use, or stopping on the runway would have been better. However, I judged exiting at the taxiway safe and essential and abandoning the aircraft essential given the unknown source of smoke and loss of comms.

Ultimately, I believe the correct safety decisions were made under time pressure, minimizing risk to personnel and airfield operations.

It was found to be a defective GNSS Com/Nav box that resulted in the smoke. This shows how important Adam’s actions were in shutting down and isolating the electrics to prevent a worse situation.

Many thanks to Adam for sharing his event contributing to safety by allowing others to reflect on it.

Keep It Coming

The more we know, the safer we grow. Whether it’s something that made you uncomfortable, a near-miss, or a system quirk—if it catches your attention, it’s worth reporting.

We are only as safe as you makes us.

Submit A Safety Report

Here’s to a safe and successful Summer of flying.
The SEMET Safety Team

SEMET Safety Update Spring 2025