Definition
The recurring mistakes pilots make when scanning the flight instruments during instrument flight. The main ones are fixation (staring at one instrument too long), omission (leaving an instrument out of the scan), and emphasis (relying too heavily on one instrument while undervaluing others).
Plain English
These are the typical bad habits pilots fall into when looking around the instrument panel. They include locking onto one gauge, forgetting to check another, or trusting one too much. Each habit causes the pilot's mental picture of the aircraft's situation to drift away from reality.
Context Anchor
Used in instrument flying training when learning how to look across the flight instruments and keep the airplane under control without outside visual references.
Derivation
“Cross-check” combines “cross,” meaning across or from one side to another, with “check,” meaning to inspect or verify. In instrument flying, the idea is that the pilot checks one instrument against others instead of trusting one indication by itself.
Why Pilots Care
These errors can lead to loss of altitude, heading, or airspeed control and increase the risk of spatial disorientation.
Intuition Check
Do not read “common” as “minor” or “safe.” These errors happen often, but they can still lead to serious loss of control if the pilot does not correct the scan. A cross-check error is usually not a broken instrument; it is a problem in how the pilot is looking at and using the instruments.
Example Sentence 1
During the debrief, the instructor pointed out that fixation on the attitude indicator was one of the student's most common cross-check errors.
Example Sentence 2
During the approach briefing the instructor pointed out how common cross-check errors often appear when transitioning from en route to terminal navigation.