Rusty pilots, lighter-than-normal aircraft and new procedures have combined to create some anxious moments for passengers and crews as the airline industry coped with the coronavirus pandemic, according to Bloomberg. The news agency said the Commercial Aviation Safety Team, made up of representatives from the FAA, unions and airlines, has issued about 50 safety warnings about the unusual factors operators face in coping with the pandemic. Takeoff weights have been dramatically reduced because of the scant passenger loads and aircraft have been scraping tails and busting initial altitude assignments after takeoff. There has also been an uptick in course deviations and other in-flight anomalies reported to the Aviation Safety Reporting System (ASRS), the tip line run by NASA that allows flight crews to report incidents anonymously.
This is a companion discussion topic for the original entry at https://www.avweb.com/aviation-news/airline-incidents-spike-amid-covid-concerns