Flight Performance - Level 3

A.  PILOT DECISION MAKING

Aeronautical knowledge, skill and judgment have been considered the three essential faculties that pilots must possess to be professional in the execution of their duties. The knowledge and skill have been taught in ground school and flight training programs, but decision making skills have usually been considered a trait that pilots innately possess or that is acquired through experience. In fact, good decision making skills can also be taught.

Training in decision making skills is being introduced as a part of the pilot training program. Pilots can learn good judgment just as thoroughly as they learn the mechanical concepts and basic skills of flying. But what is good judgment? It is the ability to make an instant decision which assures the safest possible continuation of the flight.

"Pilot judgment is the process of recognizing and analyzing all available information about oneself, the aircraft and the flying environment, followed by the rational evaluation of alternatives to implement a timely decision which maximizes safety. Pilot judgement thus involves one's attitudes toward risk-taking and one's ability to evaluate risks and make decisions based upon one's knowledge, skills and experience. A judgment decision always involves a problem or choice, an unknown element, usually a time constraint, and stress. " (Transport Canada: Judgment Training Manual).

The causal factor in about 80% to 85% of civil aviation accidents; is the human element, in other words, pilot error, a poor decision or a series of poor decisions made by the pilot-in-command. This concept is known as the poor judgment chain. One poor decision increases the probability of another and as the poor judgment chain grows, the probability of a safe flight decreases. The judgment training program teaches techniques; for breaking the chain by teaching the pilot to, recognize the combination of events that result in an accident and to deal with the situation correctly in time to prevent the accident from occurring.

How a pilot handles his or her responsibilities as a Pilot depends on attitude. Attitudes are learned. They can be developed through training into a mental framework that encourages good pilot judgment.

The pilot decision making training program is based on recognition of five, hazardous attitudes.

Anti-authority. This attitude is common in those who do not like anyone telling them what to do.

Resignation. Some people do not see themselves as making a great deal of difference in what happens to them and will go along with anything that happens.

Impulsivity. Some people need to do something, anything, immediately without stopping to think about what is the best action to take.

Invulnerability. Some people feel that accidents happen to other people but never to themselves. Pilots who think like this are more likely to take unwise risks.

Macho. Some people need to always prove that they are better than anyone else and take risks to prove themselves and impress others.

Pilots who learn to recognize these hazardous attitudes in themselves can also learn how to counteract them, can learn to control their first instinctive response and can learn to make a rational judgment based on good common sense.

The DECIDE acronym was developed to assist a pilot in the decision making process.

D - detect change.

E - estimate the significance of the change.

C - choose the outcome objective.

l - identify plausible action options.

D - do the best action.

E - evaluate the progress.

Using the DECIDE process requires the pilot to contemplate the outcome of the action taken. The successful outcome should be the action that will result in no damage to the aircraft or injury to the occupants.

When a pilot receives a license to fly, he is being given the privilege to use public airspace and air navigation facilities. He is expected to adhere to the rules and to operate an aircraft safely and carefully. He is expected to use good judgment and act responsibly. Decision- making is a continuous adjustive process that starts before take-off and does not stop until after the final landing is made safely. Positive attitudes toward flying, learned judgment skills, will improve a pilot's chances of having a long and safe flying career.

B.  HUMAN FACTORS-SUMMARY

The human factor is the most flexible, adaptable and valuable part of the aviation system. but it is also the most vulnerable to influences which can adversely affect its performance. Optimizing the role of people in the aviation environment involves ail aspects of human performance and behavior: decision making, the design of displays and controls and the cabin layout, and even the design of aircraft operating manuals, checklists and computer software.

Human factors is about people in their living and working situations, about their relationships with machines, with procedures, with the environment about them and with other people.

In most cases, accidents result from performance errors made by healthy and properly certificated individuals. The sources of some of these errors may be traced to poor equipment or procedure design or to inadequate training or operating instructions. Reduced levels of human performance capability and limitations in human behavior result in less than optimum performance

There would appear to be a direct relationship between workload and performance. At low levels of workload, such as during the cruise phase of long haul flights, performance is poor and the ability to react in an emergency is potentially negatively affected. The standard of performance increases as workload increases up to an optimum level of workload and performance. At extremely high levels of workload (overload), performance is again jeopardized. In the aviation industry, the concept of workload is of primary importance to-ensure that the demands of the task never exceed the capabilities of the pilot.

Recognition of human factors; is based on the effectiveness, the safety and the efficiency of the system and on the well being of crew members.

The central figure in the human factors equation is the pilot, or other crew member, who is the most critical but also the most flexible component of the system. However, people have limitations and are subject to considerable variations in performance.

Design of cockpit space is important to pilot performance. Comfortable seats designed to fit the human body, instrument displays designed to match the sensory and information processing characteristics of the user, controls with standardized movement, coding and location, are recognized as important factors in providing a compatible and comfortable working environment. Ail too often, pilot error can be attributed to knobs and levers that are, poorly located, that operate differently from one airplane to another, that are improperly coded.

The non- physical aspects, such as procedures, manuals and checklists, symbology and computer programs, are responsible for delays and errors if these are confusing, misleading or excessively cluttered in their presentation and documentation.

The effect of environmental factors, such as noise, heat, lighting and vibration, are recognized as causal factors in human error. More serious problems are associated with disturbed biological rhythms and related sleep disturbance and deprivation. The body operates on a circadian, or 24 hour, rhythm which is related to the earth's rotation time. It is maintained principally by the cycles of light and darkness, but also by meals and physical and social activities. Safety, efficiency and well being are affected by the disturbed pattern of biological rhythms occasioned by long range flight, irregular schedules and late night flights. Long distance trans-meridian air travel, especially, is responsible for sleep disturbance, disruption of eating and elimination habits that result in lassitude, anxiety, irritability and depression, ail symptoms of what is commonly called jet lag. Wide differences are found amongst individuals in their ability to sleep out of phase with their biological rhythms. The use of drugs or tranquilizers; to induce sleep is not recommended as they have a lasting adverse effect on later performance. The use of alcohol is also not recommended since it is a drug, a depressant and, while it does induce sleep, it interferes with deep sleep.