AVIATE – NAVIGATE – COMMUNICATE vs MANAGE – MONITOR –INTERVENE – The two hierarchies that save flights

By Captain Bassani - ATPL/B-727/DC-10/B-767 - Former Air Accident Inspector - SIA PT. https://www.personalflyer.com.br - captbassani@gmail.com - Mar/2026

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Dear aviators,

“Aviate – navigate – communicate” and “manage – monitor – intervene” only gain real meaning when we look at what actually happens on the line and in the simulator.

In the classical model, the hierarchy aviate – navigate – communicate remains fully validated by decades of accident investigation. In many cases, the problem was not the absence of SOPs, but the fact that the crew stopped flying the aircraft while trying to solve navigation, communication, or automation issues. Studies from NASA, the NTSB, and the Flight Safety Foundation show that many serious events begin with a loss of attitude or trajectory control, typically in contexts of workload saturation, distractions, or attention being diverted to radio communications or the FMS.

More recent literature adds a second conceptual layer: manage – monitor – intervene.

Managing means configuring and anticipating: automation modes, flight profiles, and task sharing. Monitoring means continuously verifying that the overall system — crew and automation — remains aligned with the intended plan. Intervening requires operational courage to simplify, disconnect automation, go around, or even decline a clearance when parameters move outside the “green box.”

Studies on monitoring show that roughly 80% of analyzed accidents include some component of monitoring or challenge failure. In many situations this occurs because the pilot monitoring becomes absorbed by administrative or secondary tasks and stops exercising effective supervision of aircraft trajectory and energy state.

Skybrary Aviation Safety and several operators emphasize the importance of making the go-around an almost automatic consequence when stabilized approach criteria are not met. The objective is to reduce subjectivity and the cultural pressure to “save the landing.” Operational concepts such as the monitored approach reinforce that monitoring is not a subordinate role. It is a command function. The pilot monitoring must have the authority to call deviations and demand intervention, including taking control of the aircraft if necessary.

Ultimately, this is not about replacing one mantra with another. The message is more demanding.

Aviate – navigate – communicate defines what comes first.

Manage – monitor – intervene defines how to ensure that automation, pressure to complete the profile, or comfort with “almost within limits” do not pull us away from that priority.

When training, LOFT and EBT scenarios, and line data such as FOQA and trajectory analysis are systematically used to reinforce this dual hierarchy, rewarding early intervention rather than stubborn continuation, we will see fewer unstable approaches carried to completion and more timely, disciplined decisions aligned with the priority we have always stated:

fly first, then navigate, then communicate. 

Note: If this content contributes to your operational awareness, share it with your peers.

By spreading technical knowledge among pilots, we extend the safety culture beyond a single cockpit.

Each useful piece of information shared helps strengthen flight safety across aviation worldwide. Safe flights!

Captain Luiz BASSANI

Sources

Air Line Pilots Association. (2017). Mentor matters: Aviate, navigate, communicate. Air Line Pilot Magazine.

Flight Safety Foundation. (2015). A practical guide for improving flight path monitoring.

Skybrary Aviation Safety. (2025). Prioritisation for pilots.

Skybrary Aviation Safety. (2025). Go‑around decision making.

Skybrary Aviation Safety. (n.d.). Unstable approaches.

Skybrary Aviation Safety. (2022). Monitored approach.

Skybrary Aviation Safety. (n.d.). Enhancing flight‑crew monitoring skills can increase flight safety.

U.S. National Aeronautics and Space Administration. (n.d.). Human factors guidelines for remotely piloted aircraft systems.

U.S. National Aeronautics and Space Administration. (n.d.). Human factors guidelines for UAS in the national airspace system.

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