“Nothing happened last time, so it must be fine.” Jonny Greenall explores normalisation of deviance and how pilots can gradually accept unsafe practices through repetition and familiarity. Learn why getting away with it before does not make it safe next time.

“I’ve Done It Before…” – The Danger of Normalisation of Deviance

An excerpt from Jonny Greenall’s upcoming presentation, “Killer Instinct”, at the EASA Rotor Safety Zone, EU Rotors.

Nothing happened last time…

“Nothing happened last time. Or the time before that.”

Sound familiar?

Perhaps you have taken a shortcut during a pre-flight inspection. Maybe you have operated outside a procedure because it was quicker, more convenient or seemed perfectly reasonable at the time.

Nothing happened. The aircraft flew. You landed safely. No damage, no incident, no problem.

So, next time, you do it again.  And again.

Eventually, something that you originally recognised as unacceptable becomes normal. You stop questioning it. You stop seeing it as a risk.

Welcome to the normalisation of deviance.

How bad habits become normal

Normalisation of deviance describes the gradual acceptance of behaviour that departs from established procedures or safety standards.

It rarely starts with a deliberate decision to be reckless. More often, it begins with a small deviation that appears harmless.

Perhaps a procedure seems unnecessary. Perhaps you are running late. Perhaps an experienced pilot shows you a shortcut, or you see colleagues doing something the same way.

When nothing goes wrong, the behaviour is reinforced.

The next time, it feels less risky. After several successful attempts, it may not feel risky at all.

But there is a fundamental problem with this reasoning:

The absence of an accident is not evidence that the behaviour was safe.

It may simply mean that, so far, you have been lucky.

“Was fine last time, so it will be fine this time”

This is where experience can work against us.

As helicopter pilots, we build experience through repetition. We learn how the aircraft behaves, how to manage changing conditions and how to recognise problems.

But repetition can also make us comfortable with practices that should never have become acceptable.

Accident investigation after a fatal accident whilst hot refuelling:

“The repeated violation of hot refuelling procedures observed in previous flights indicates a "normalisation of deviance".

It can become part of the culture.

And once a behaviour becomes normal within a team or organisation, challenging it can be more difficult than following it.

“That's how we always do it” is not a safety argument.

The danger of getting away with it

The really dangerous part is that the behaviour may appear to work perfectly well, right up until it doesn't.

Risk is not always obvious.

The conditions that made a shortcut appear harmless yesterday may be different today. A small change in circumstances can turn a familiar situation into a serious problem.  You may have completed the same manoeuvre dozens of times without an issue. That does not guarantee the next attempt will have the same outcome.

And if your safety margin has gradually reduced through repeated deviations, you may not even recognise how close you are to the edge.

The aircraft does not know that you have got away with it before.  It simply responds to the conditions and the inputs you give it.

Challenge the behaviour, not just the accident

Preventing normalisation of deviance is not just about telling pilots to follow procedures. It is about recognising how easily poor practices become embedded in everyday operations.

As pilots and instructors, we need to question our own habits, challenge unsafe practices and be willing to speak up when something is not right.

That includes challenging experienced pilots. Experience deserves respect, but it does not make anyone immune to bad habits or poor judgment.

If a procedure no longer makes sense, the answer is to question it through the proper channels — not quietly ignore it.

And if you see someone taking an unnecessary risk, do not assume they know something you do not.

They may simply have got away with it before.

The next time you catch yourself thinking, “I’ve done it before”, stop and ask yourself:

“Does that make it safe — or have I just been lucky?”

Because there is a big difference between experience and repeated exposure to risk.

I’VE DONE IT BEFORE — THAT DOESN’T MAKE IT SAFE.

This is another human factor explored in Jonny Greenall’s “Killer Instinct” presentation at the EASA Rotor Safety Zone during EU Rotors.