Plain English Meaning

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.

Full 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).