www. The Windsock is the aviation community on the web!

This third column picks up on the theme of the first two, namely the interaction between the pilot and the environment, and the influence of this relationship on safe flight. We have looked briefly at the impact of some basic human emotions and also some of the physical limitations of the human and how these may have contributed towards some accidents.

As aircraft become more sophisticated and airspace busier, the pilot is being put under increasing pressure to perform. Recent accident statistics show that an increasing number of accidents are caused by “human error”. Further analysis will show that a large number of these can be further attributed to inadequate human psychological performance.

In the next few columns we look in brief at some of our psychological equipment. To properly understand how we function, we need to view how the human being has adapted to our technologically advanced environment.

We are the products of millions of years of evolution. As the environment evolved, so did our ancestors, adapting to the rigors of food gathering, shelter, clothing and safety. We also learned to talk and write, so transmitting our learned wisdom to future generations. They understood the changing environment, and learned all the necessary tricks to adapt at around the same rate at which the changes were occurring. Over the past few generations, however, this cozy arrangement has been thrown out of rhythm by the incredible speed at which the environment has changed, and now there is a huge gap between what we know and what we are. We have moved into a high-tech society for which many of us are psychologically rather poorly prepared.

On a personal level we are now faced with stress, time pressures, overwork, boredom, violence and many other factors in our everyday lives. In most cases we have adapted, learning how to cope with stress, prioritising, moving with fashion and getting on with one another. Some people thrive in this high-pressure environment but in some cases our attempts to cope can lead to erratic or dysfunctional behaviour that may surface under stress or pressure. The cockpit is an ideal place for this errant behaviour to incubate, and it is only in the past 15 years or so that these problems have been identified and labeled. The generations of CRM (Crew Resource Management) courses have attempted to target problem behaviours and provide tools to alleviate the problems associated with them.

In the first column I gave a short summary of some areas where we sometimes perform below standard as a result of our psychological profile as humans. In many areas the pilot can be trained to cope with these inadequacies, in others they can be supplied with generic “tools” that can be applied. I will run through a number of these in the next few columns.

1. “We are egotistic, often responding to the presence of others by doing silly things in aircraft.”

It is not unusual for humans to be proud of their achievements; after all it drew the most attractive female to the best hunter a million years ago! The pilot with a new licence is no different and, depending on the individual, we respond in very different ways. Some are under-confident, others overconfident, some boastful while others hide their achievements. We are all very different, and our response to a similar situation will be quite different. Obviously discipline is called for and a healthy dose of respect for the fallibility of the human being. The accident below is, unfortunately, all too typical:

The pilot of a light twin had just obtained his Commercial Pilot Licence. Even though the ink was hardly dry, he recruited 3 of his friends and flew off into the sunset for a nearby resort where they were to watch a music show and do a little gambling. The area surrounding the airfield is renowned for its lack of lights, and this “black hole” effect can be quite disorientating, even to the experienced pilot. Even though he was advised by the Flight Briefing Officer to delay the midnight departure until first light, he and his passengers were in good spirits and elected to depart. After takeoff the aircraft rolled inverted and crashed.

Great truth: Know your limitations! Respect them at all times, lest the ground rise up to smite thee.

2. “We often respond poorly to stress, especially if we have to make decisions under pressure. In fact, stress may prove to be completely debilitating under certain circumstances.”

The management of stress forms a large part of most Cockpit Resource Management courses, and airline pilots are continually reminded of the problems associated with stress. Just as alcohol and flying don’t mix well, stress and flying can be a fatal cocktail. Operating under pressure was discussed in the first column so I will not elaborate further here.

Some psychological elements that can cause stress are personal problems, job security, task pressure, anger/fear response and excessive workload. Add to these other physical and physiological stresses and it is quite possible to overload our rather fragile human pilot.

Here are some “great truths” and some tools for survival.

GT #1: We need stress to survive. Stress is not necessarily “bad”; it keeps our bodies and minds alive. Only when stress is disruptive and distressing does it start to affect our operation as flight crew.

Tool # 1: As I mentioned in the first column – do a “self-test” of your condition. Am I feeling under pressure, under stress, emotional? Why? Eliminate the sources if possible, or plan around them (plan ahead!), accommodate the changes.

GT #2: Too much stress is bad for you. Once the stress effects become overwhelming, our situational awareness suffers, the capacity for logic and reasoning shrinks and we react badly – most often we perform even worse. Thus we need to keep stress at a manageable level.

Tool #2: Go back to basics. When was I feeling OK? When were things going well? What has happened in the meantime? Eliminate, plan, accommodate the things that happened between then and now.

GT #3: Stress is cumulative. An increase in stress occurs with the addition of each new stress. It might take but a small straw to “break the camel’s back” – to put you over the edge. Once we have reached “break point”, our situational awareness suffers and we begin to perform very poorly. In effect we revert to actions that will ensure “survival”.

Tool #3: Firstly, fly the aircraft. Keep it upright, pointing the right way, maintain a safe airspeed, keep away from the rocks. Engage the autopilot! Talk to the tower, scan the instruments and navigation equipment. Right? Only now you can have a look what was causing the problem. Something has been adding to the stress. Is it the weather? Is it your concern about the fuel situation? Prioritise the problems and stress, dealing with each one in the correct order. If the ATC is a stress, “confess” that you are under pressure and need some help. Try to eliminate the flight safety issues first, dealing with the personal issues later. Maintain situational awareness at all times.

GT#4: The effect of prolonged stress is incapacitation. Keep adding stress and our ability to cope can collapse. Our inability to cope in a stress overload is manifested in different ways - some withdraw, some freeze, some scream and shout. Some behave unpredictably and/or irrationally. The bottom line is – we are operating below standard, perhaps dangerously.

Tool #4: Again, do a “self-test”. Are you being logical? Are you reacting appropriately given the situation? Do you feel angry at someone or something? These are pointers to your stress level. If you can identify that you are under extreme pressure, follow Tool #3.

GT #5: Anger and Fear responses come from the “fear or flight” responses of old. They are hormone-driven and the response is generally quite emotional. They were appropriate to escape from danger or defend oneself in times gone by, but are probably inappropriate in the cockpit! Knowing the effects on our performance of this type of stress can help, and training in these areas is beneficial.

Tool #5: Adrenaline is powerful stuff. It makes you think and respond quickly, but sometimes inappropriately. Has something made you mad? Identify what it is, check if your response is appropriate for the occasion and then go back to flying again. Breathe deeply, flex your arms and legs, stretch, look out the window, look at your passengers – are they angry too? Probably not. Focus on the flying. Has something scared the daylights out of you? Same adrenaline, same after-effects. Focus on the flying – are you out of danger, have you sorted out the problem? If not, get to it! If you have, then as above. If the incident needs reporting, tell ATC.

As you become a survivor of many “fight or flight” situations, you learn to adapt to the adrenaline surges that come with stressful situations. In many cases you can arm yourself with proper preparation, organisation and practice!

GT #6: Too little stress is also bad for you. We need to keep busy. If there is nothing to keep you awake then you also perform poorly. Ask any long-haul pilot! Keep yourself busy with ongoing monitoring, cross-checking instrumentation, fuel use, etc. A good standby is always a review of the emergency checklist and handbook (if your aircraft can fly itself!). Author Richard Bach asks how we would perform if we knew that our engine was programmed to fail at least once in every 500 hours. We certainly would spot a lot more forced landing fields!

The rather tragic accident below has a number of lessons attached. See if you can identify them.

A Private Pilot is on long finals at a major airport on a VFR flight plan. The weather is CAVOK, and the various airline jets inbound are requesting visual approaches. Pilot: "ATC this is ABC, I don't know what is wrong with my fuel gauges, but they are indicating "empty". My flight log says that I should have lots of fuel, but the gauges are reading empty".
ATC replies: "Are you declaring an emergency, because if you are I am going to have to file an incident report?"
Pilot: After a short pause; "No, I don't want to declare an emergency".
ATC: "In that case orbit to the left and report again finals".

The light aircraft ran out of fuel and crashed on short finals.

Comments to my email are welcomed!

3. Unless we are well trained, we are poor managers of time and workload and find it difficult to prioritise.

The management of Time and Workload and Attention – one of the more difficult tasks of the pilot, especially as this is normally tied to decision-making. Human performance in the cockpit is generally determined from the management of these aspects. Our environment is now so busy that past adaptive techniques are no longer effective.

A low workload implies lots of time available and lots of attention can be paid to the task at hand. A VFR flight out of controlled airspace in visual conditions allows you to really enjoy the flying. However, being very busy, with little time to spare implies a high workload and reduction in attention. An ILS to minima in driving rain and high winds is an incredibly demanding task, occupying all your attention. So we need to manage workload to make best use of the time available, manage time to improve attention, pay proper attention to make sure we fly properly! Complicated? Yes, but vital to survival in today’s jungle.

You might remember how quickly things happened during your first few flights, and how you gradually caught up with proceedings to finish ahead of the game at the end of the training. This implies that training, conditioning and practice allowed you to handle more workload, manage the time available and pay attention where it was required.

Delving into theory, we find that behavioural scientists Rasmussen and Jensen speak about 3 levels of performance that correspond to the level of familiarity with the task: skill-based, rule-based and knowledge-based levels.

In simple terms, the more familiar you are with a task, the quicker you will perform it accurately and the more time you will have to develop your situational awareness.

This theory can be adapted to suit our environment - the busy cockpit – as follows:

Skill-based behaviour: this behaviour is rapid and instinctive, generally related to well-learned techniques such as applying the correct rudder in the event of an engine failure. Not much thinking is generally required here, as most of the behaviour is governed by “muscle memory”, although errors can be made under conditions of high stress or distraction.

Just after takeoff in your C172 the engine stops. You immediately throttle back, lower the nose and set up a glide. Not much thinking required here!

Rule-based behaviour: many situations require behaviours that are governed by “rules” that are stored away in your brain or have been learned during your training. These rules may take the form of the following:

Once in the glide, you you methodically complete the “engine failure” checklist items from memory.

You get to minima on an instrument approach. You do not have visual reference so you go-around. You apply power, rotate the aircraft and reconfigure the aircraft for the climb. You then comply with the missed approach procedure.

You are on the downwind and notice that you are overtaking a slow aircraft ahead. You alter course to maintain separation.

All these behaviours above are rule-based. This behaviour is not generally instinctive and requires some thought. The bulk of the behaviour is governed by pre-determined rules – “if ….., then …..”. If you choose a wrong rule, or recall the procedures incorrectly, then your behaviour will be incorrect. Decision-making here is a bit more complex, but knowledge of the rules and procedures will speed up the process (more about time management later).

Knowledge-based behaviour: this form of behaviour is the time-consuming one. Here we have to actively think, calculate or analyse a situation before we can react.

You need to make a decision about the state of the aircraft after you lose one engine on your light twin during the climb to altitude.

You have to calculate fuel consumption versus ground speed to see if you can make an en-route alternate when the weather turns sour on a navigation.

All of these require some form of analytical decision-making. They also absorb time and attention.

So where is this leading? The more familiar you are with procedures and rules, the quicker and more accurately you will perform the tasks. If you have to think carefully about everything due to being uncertain or unfamiliar with the task or rules, you are residing in the “knowledge-based” area, and this will eat into the time available. As a result, the workload increases, your decision-making will become difficult and your situational awareness will suffer. If you have practised an emergency action enough times, it then is very familiar and you will know what to do when it happens – you have formed a “knowledge loop”.
Great Truth: Know your aircraft. Know what to do in the event of emergency situations. Know your abnormal and emergency checklists and practise the actions until they are a “knowledge loop” and, in some instances, reside in your “muscle memory”. The more knowledge loops a pilot possesses, the quicker the information can be accessed and the more time and attention available to fly the aircraft, solve the problems and make decisions. Thus, increased knowledge will allow more time to become available for other things and allow you to pay more attention to the situation

Great Truth: Practice makes perfect. Rehearse the emergency procedures often. Sit in the cockpit and let your fingers run through the actions. The next time you are faced with an identical problem on the aircraft – you simply “know what to do”!

Inflight, the situation is more critical. Here are some tools that may be used to manage the process of decision-making.

1. Prioritise! The next section refers to techniques to use.
2. Utilise expert resources where possible. Save time by requesting radar vectors from ATC, obtain information from passengers about the status of the cabin, passengers and airframe, if possible, delegate duties to others in the aircraft.
3. Critically analyse decisions. Follow up on your decisions, looking further down the line at possible implications. Play “devil’s advocate” to your own decisions. It is never too late to change your mind!
4. Avoid distraction. Also discussed later.
5. Summarise: At the end of the event, look back at what you did, check if you have done everything required and look ahead at events still to come.

4. We are very easily distracted

Distraction goes hand-in-hand with time and workload management. If we cannot concentrate on the task, we will perform it poorly. Being interrupted in the middle of a procedure or checklist can be disastrous. In the cockpit, distractions are very common – ATC will wait for the busiest moment to call you, a passenger will ask you a question or demand attention at the same time as you are doing something important. This is life, Jack!

Due to our limited brainpower we generally find it difficult to do more than one (thinking) thing at a time. It is also quite difficult to pay attention to multiple inputs (although my wife is quite good at that!).

In the previous section we saw that “skill based” actions are generally stored in “muscle memory” and we can perform a number of tasks instinctively. For example we can fly and talk to the ATC at the same time, we can change a radio frequency while turning onto the downwind (after the lookout!). The “rule” and “knowledge” based areas, however, required some fierce concentration and logical thinking. It stands to reason that these occupy a lot of attention, and distractions are best avoided during these thinking sessions.

The key here is prioritisation. Prioritising means actioning the important items first (whatever you perceive them to be). This means that you should arrange your workload in such a way that tasks, checklists, communication and so on are covered in order of importance.

Some tips:

Never let the flying take a lower priority to the other things going on in the cockpit or on the radio. Fly first, dedicate enough time to make sure your situational awareness (SA) is maintained. The first thing to suffer when busy is the SA. Not good! Aviation, Navigate, Communicate – in that order.

When you find yourself getting busy, put the autopilot on. This frees up some processing power to deal with the workload. Monitoring is easier than doing!

If you are doing something procedural (checklist items, map reading, filling in the navigation log), make sure you complete all the actions. If interrupted, start at the beginning again. This is especially true when doing a checklist. It is so easy to skip an item or two.

If a passenger interrupts, tell him or her politely to wait until you are finished with your procedure. A good preflight passenger briefing often clears this problem up before you start.

If ATC is distracting you during a critical time, two words (with an optional third) will do the trick – “Stand by (please)”.

Pace yourself. Make sure that you maintain your stress level at an optimum, keep your workload down to a manageable level, pay attention to things that are important.

As you can see, the four headings above refer to some psychological aspects of our operation. There are more to come in later columns. We have still to deal with the following:

We are generally easily persuaded to perform above our capabilities

Some of us are quite happy to take unnecessary risks in order to save face or generate “adventure”

We also worry easily and often lose the “big picture”.

Risk management

Judgement and poor judgement chains

Safety window

Communication problems

Interpersonal problems (I’m OK)

The field is large and it is not my intention to cover it exhaustively. This column is designed to get you to think about your own operation and develop a “toolbox” full of spanners and screw drivers for all occasions.

Fly without stress!

Mike Malherbe

Email: mikemal

BUY MIKE MALHERBE'S LATEST BOOK

Above the Clouds - "the complete passenger guide"

To many people air travel is a necessary evil, tolerated only because of its convenience. There are, however, a large number of passengers who really enjoy the experience and prefer flying to any other form of travel. This book is designed to provide you with an insight into your flight. It will guide you from the technical side of your aircraft to the legal aspects of your ticket purchase, from the stress of your check-in for the flight to the implications of bad weather and turbulence.

This book is written by Norman Nel, an internationally acclaimed speaker, author and businessman who is also a private pilot, and Senior Training Captain Mike Malherbe, who has been involved with flying for more than twenty years and has extensive training and experience in the field of psychology and human factors training.

For purchases or enquiries, contact Mike Malherbe on: mikemal