Aviator performance in week-long extended flight operations in a helicopter simulator

Psychological, physiological, and biochemical correlates of aviator crew performance, stress, and fatigue were measured in a week-long flight schedule in a helicopter simulator. Three two-man crews of rotary wing aviators performed 14 h of precision instrument flight on each of 4 successive days and 10 h on the 5th day. Missions involved repetitions of 2-h standardized day and night flight profiles that were occasionally interrupted by simulated emergencies. Aviator performance measures included meeting assigned airspeeds, altitudes, headings, turn rates, and navigation requirements. Pilots slept 4 h each night. Baseline data were collected prior to, and recovery data after, the extended flight schedule. Pilots maintained simulator flight parameters to within acceptable tolerances of assigned headings, airspeeds, and altitudes, even into the morning of the 4th day of the schedule. However, cognitive and judgmental errors were made. Even though flight surgeons deemed them unsafe to fly by the 3rd night, pilots continued to fly well to the 5th day.     

The mental health of pilots: An overview

The impact and long-term psychological consequences of the 11th September 2001 terrorist attacks in the USA involving commercial aircraft are likely to be far-reaching. Pilots were directly affected by these events though it is too early to comprehend the specific psychological and occupational repercussions. While psychologists have written much on the selection of commercial and military aircrew, surprisingly little has been published on the mental health of pilots. They are a unique occupational group in terms of their selection, training, lifestyle, frequent competency and medical checks, as well as the nature and changing demands placed on them. Their 'office' is normally a cramped flight deck on board an aircraft at altitudes of thousands of feet. While some aspects of their job and lifestyle appear attractive to some, their working conditions are, at worst, inhospitable and unpleasant. This paper provides an overview of current research on the mental health of pilots, gathered from a number of different fields and specialities within commercial and military aviation. The review covers their lifestyle, psychological requirements for medical certification, psychological problems amongst air crew, personality factors, disruption to personal relationships, reactions to incidents and accidents, alcohol and drug misuse, suicide by aircraft and environmental challenges. Flight crew should have easy access to psychological support; however, many pilots are distrusting of mental health professionals. Further research is needed to improve an understanding of mental health issues among pilots, especially in order to better understand the psychological impact of the terrorist attacks upon them.     

THE EFFECT OF FEEDBACK ON THE ACCURACY OF CHECKLIST COMPLETION DURING INSTRUMENT FLIGHT TRAINING

This study examined whether pilots completed airplane checklists more accurately when they receive postflight graphic and verbal feedback. Participants were 8 college students who are pilots with an instrument rating. The task consisted of flying a designated flight pattern using a personal computer aviation training device (PCATD). The dependent variables were the number of checklist items completed correctly. A multiple baseline design across pairs of participants with withdrawal of treatment was employed in this study. During baseline, participants were given postflight technical feedback. During intervention, participants were given postflight graphic feedback on checklist use and praise for improvements along with technical feedback. The intervention produced near perfect checklist performance, which was maintained following a return to the baseline conditions.     

Co-operation processes in dynamic environment management: evolution through training experienced pilots in flying a highly automated aircraft

Dynamic environment management (process control, aircraft piloting, etc.) increasingly implies collective work components. Pragmatic purposes as well as epistemological interests raise important questions on collective activities at work. In particular, linked to the technological evolution in flight management, the role of the 'collective fact' appears as a key point in reliability. Beyond the development of individual competencies, the quality of the 'distributed' crew activity has to be questioned. This paper presents an empirical study about how experienced pilots co-ordinate their information and actions during the last period of training on a highly automated cockpit. A task of disturbance management (engine fire during takeoff) is chosen as amplifying cognitive requirements. Analysis focuses on the transitions between the main task and the incident to be managed. Crew performance and co-operation between two pilots are compared in three occurrences of the same task: the results are coherent with the hypothesis of a parallel evolution of the crew performance and its internal co-operation, and show that prescribed explicit co-operation is more present on action than on information about the 'state of the world'. Methodological issues are discussed about the possible effects of the specific situation of training, and about the psychological meaning of the results.     

Differential Sensitivity of Using Simulators Versus Actual Aircraft to Evaluate the Effects of a Stimulant Medication on Aviator Performance

The comparability of simulator versus aircraft results was examined with a quasi-experimental approach. Flight data from 10 UH-60 pilots, who flew a helicopter simulator, and 10 pilots who flew an aircraft were pooled to assess the influence of the flight platform on Dexedrine® versus placebo effects in two 40-hr periods of sustained wakefulness. Overall, performance under Dexedrine® was better than performance under placebo, but consistent stimulant and fatigue effects were observed across both flight platforms less than one third of the time. Sensitivity was lower in the aircraft, likely because of differences due to environmental influences (weather, temperature, and turbulence) and other factors (radio traffic and, possibly, anxieties about safety). Thus, simulator studies, although desirable in terms of cost and safety, may overestimate the impact of stressors (e.g., fatigue) as well as the potential benefits from fatigue countermeasures (e.g., Dexedrine®). Conversely, in-flight studies may underestimate these types of performance effects. As a result, caution is advised when attempting to generalize findings from one flight platform to the other.     

飞行中惊吓和惊奇的管理——拓展的Landman模型

在飞行活动中,飞行员的惊吓和惊奇反应是导致飞行失控的重要因素。惊吓和惊奇反应可能使飞行员熟练训练过的操作程序和技能被遗忘,取而代之的是不适当的直觉性的行为或草率的决策。现有的使用飞行模拟器的研究表明,Landman模型对减轻飞行员惊吓和惊奇的训练有重要价值。在Landman模型的基础上,我们加入了飞行员心理能力的个体间差别（即拓展的Landman模型）,因此拓展的Landman模型对于飞行员的选拔和训练将具有重要意义。     

Age and airline accidents

The issuance of a commercial pilot's license is contingent upon the fulfillment of stated minimum flight time. These requirements imply that total flight time and aircraft flight time can be equated with safety. For this reason, aircraft accidents involving licensed, professional pilots become difficult to explain. This study examined the relationship of pilot experience to accidents by comparing pilots' age and experience in 188 accidents involving corporate/executive pilots. The more severe accidents were expected to involve younger, less experienced pilots. The data in this study, however, refute this expectation. The age, aircraft time, or total time difference between groups was not significant. More research, both in the field and under controlled conditions, may bring in the psychological concept of cognitive dissonance.     

影响直升机飞行员飞入IMC的心理因素——一项基于三十年间NTSB事故报告的研究

气象因素对通航运行安全有重要影响,以此可以明确“直升机飞行员飞入仪表气象条件将会威胁飞行安全”这一基本事实。然而从近30年来美国国家运输安全委员会所记录的200起在仪表气象条件下的直升机事故来看,有近一半的飞行员有意地飞入仪表气象条件。这驱使研究者探究这一行为背后的心理因素。基于大量的文献,总结出飞行员的知识/经验、决策动机、情景评估、风险管理、认知偏差和社会压力能够合理地解释这一行为。     

Assessing the influence of operational factors on the perceived structure of real-world scenes viewed during low-altitude, high-speed flight

Previous research indicates that pilots of most jet-fighter aircraft attend to similar elements of the natural flight environment when flying at low altitudes. However, some evidence suggests that differences may exist for pilots of certain specific types of aircraft. The present experiment examined the influence of operational factors on the perceived structure of real-world scenes viewed during low-altitude flight. Multidimensional scaling analyses with stimuli consisting of videotape segments of low-altitude flight over a variety of real-world terrains revealed differences in perceived environmental structure for pilots assigned to different types of jet-fighter aircraft. These results provide evidence that perceptual learning evolves differently under different operational conditions and suggests that training programs should be designed to reflect those differences.     

Impact of automation on aircrew communication and decision-making performance

Increasing levels of automation are being introduced into the cockpit. Yet, it is difficult to predict the impact of these automatic systems on other elements of flight, such as crew communication and the ability to arrive at an effective decision. This study attempted to clarify the relation among these variables. Forty-eight pilots were assigned to two-person crews and asked to fly a simulated mission in either automated or manual conditions using a low-fidelity simulator. The scenario was designed to require crewmembers to arrive at a collective decision based on information obtained about an evolving simulated disaster. The results indicated that the introduction of automation was not associated with better performance. However, several significant differences were observed in the communications of crews flying in the automated versus manual conditions. The results are discussed in terms of their implications for communications training for advanced technology aircraft.     

飞行员风险知觉的影响因素及加工机制

风险知觉作为风险管理的核心成分,显著影响飞行安全。本文首先综述了飞行员风险知觉的影响因素,发现飞行环境、飞行员特征和组织文化等均会对飞行员的风险知觉产生影响。其次,借鉴汽车驾驶员危险知觉模型,比较飞行员与汽车驾驶员的差异性,并结合影响飞行员风险知觉的因素提出飞行员的风险知觉是一个包括风险识别、风险评价和行为倾向的三阶段加工过程,且采用串行和并行相结合的方式进行加工。最后,就飞行员风险知觉加工机制和影响因素研究的不足提出建议。     

Pilot personality and crew coordination: implications for training and selection

The performance of pilots can be construed as a product of skill, attitude, and personality factors. Although a great deal of effort within the aviation community has been focused on ensuring technical expertise, and new efforts highlight attitudes associated with crew coordination, personality factors have been relatively unexplored. Further, it is argued that past failures to find linkages between personality and performance were due to a combination of inadequate statistical modeling, premature performance evaluation, and/or the reliance on data gathered in contrived as opposed to realistic situations. The goal of the research presented in this article is to isolate subgroups of pilots along performance-related personality dimensions and to document limits on the impact of crew coordination training between the groups. Two samples of military pilots were surveyed in the context of training in crew coordination. Three different profiles were identified through cluster analysis of personality scales. These clusters replicated across samples and predicted attitude change following training in crew coordination.     

Personality characteristics of fighter pilots and ground personnel

The training of fighter plane pilots is expensive, yet instruments are rarely used to screen potential pilots prior to flight training. Hence, a measure that can differentiate fighter pilots from other military personnel is needed. This study was an investigation of personality traits that are contributing factors for becoming a pilot in the Air Force, which could serve as screening tools. One hundred and twelve males were recruited from the Air Force university in Taiwan. Follow-up was conducted 2 years later with 73 students who became pilots and 39 who became ground personnel. A further 53 male military personnel of the same age served as controls. Structural equation modeling was used to show that pilots were more extraverted and less neurotic than the ground personnel, and more extraverted than the controls. Paternal overprotection had an indirect association with becoming a pilot through the mediation of the personality traits of extraversion and neuroticism. Mental health was not associated with becoming a pilot. The optimal cut-off point of 4/5 on a scale of extraversion resulted in a high sensitivity (96%) for differentiating between fighter pilots and controls. Independent of psychosocial stressors (mental health), extraversion is associated with the biological mechanisms of an individual, and plays a unique role in the process of becoming a pilot. Therefore, an extraversion index can be used for screening potential military pilots prior to flight training, as a means of reducing costs and managing human resources.     

Air force officer qualifying test validity for predicting pilot training performance

The AFOQT was validated for the prediction of pilot training criteria. Subjects were 7,563 men and women selected for pilot training on the basis of educational attainment and AFOQT scores. Criterion variables included daily flight training grades, check flight grades in subsonic and transonic aircraft, and overall academic performance in the 53 week pilot training course. Test validities were presented as observed, corrected for multivariate range restriction, and corrected for multivariate range restriction and unreliability. The Aviation Information and Instrument Comprehension tests, measures of job knowledge, were most predictive of daily and check flights in the initial subsonic jet aircraft. This reflects the relative greater importance of prior job knowledge early in training. The Scale Reading test, a measure of perceptual speed, was most predictive for daily and check flights in the advanced transonic training aircraft. The Arithmetic Reasoning test, a good measure of general cognitive ability, was most predictive of aeronautics in ground school. The development of an improved pilot selection composite is suggested by the results of the validity analyses.The views expressed are those of the authors and not necessarily those of the Department of the Air Force, Department of Defense, or the Government of the United States.     

Vigilance decrement during a simulated general aviation flight

This study examined pilots' vigilance during an extended general aviation flight as measured by their capacity to exercise control over the aircraft during a planned flight. Thirty‐one qualified pilots flew a flight simulator from Wagga Wagga to Bankstown, Sydney, a distance of 207 nautical miles. The flight comprised five separate legs, although three legs were subjected to analysis. On the basis of attentional resource theory, it was hypothesised that task performance would differ based on the requirement for memory retrieval. Consistent with the hypothesis, the results revealed a deterioration in those tasks for which there was a substantial requirement for memory retrieval. Further analysis revealed that the deterioration in performance was best predicted by pilots' perception of the workload associated with the flight and their perception of their ability to exercise control over aircraft during normal conditions. The implications are discussed in terms of system design and training. Copyright © 2010 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.     

National culture and flight deck automation: results of a multination survey

Attitudes regarding flight deck automation were surveyed in a sample of 5,879 airline pilots from 12 nations. The average difference in endorsement levels across 11 items for pilots flying automated aircraft in 12 nations was 53%, reflecting significant national differences in attitudes on all items, with the largest differences observed for preference and enthusiasm for automation. The range of agreement across nations was on average four times larger than the range of agreement across different airlines within the same nation, and roughly six times larger than the range across pilots of standard and pilots of automated aircraft. Patterns of response are described in terms of dimensions of national culture. Implications of the results for development of safety cultures and culturally sensitive training are discussed.     

Influences of APOE ε4 and expertise on performance of older pilots

Little is known about how APOE ε4-related differences in cognitive performance translate to real-life performance, where training and experience may help to sustain performance. We investigated the influences of APOE ε4 status, expertise (FAA pilot proficiency ratings), and their interaction on longitudinal flight simulator performance. Over a 2-year period, 139 pilots aged 42-69 years were tested annually. APOE ε4 carriers had lower memory performance than noncarriers (p = .019). APOE interacted with Expertise (p = .036), such that the beneficial influence of expertise (p = .013) on longitudinal flight simulator performance was more pronounced for ε4 carriers. Results suggest that relevant training and activity may help sustain middle-aged and older adults' real-world performance, especially among APOE ε4 carriers.     

航线驾驶安全行为多维评价量表的构建

结合现代航线驾驶工作特性及CRM和TEM模型基础上, 通过文献分析、专家访谈和开放式问卷调查, 筛选出现代航线飞行员驾驶安全所必备的27种关键行为特征, 构成中国文化背景下航线驾驶安全行为评价量表的检测项目。对118名中国航线飞行员测评数据的验证性因素分析表明, 由自动化系统认识、领导和管理、情境意识与决策、人际交流与合作技能组成的四维模型优于其他假设模型, 且在四个飞行阶段中均具有良好的信度和结构效度。以其中86名飞行员的安全绩效考核(安全规章、飞行作风、飞行技能和机组管理)数据和飞行员在每个飞行阶段的驾驶安全行为总体表现为效标变量, 以航线驾驶安全行为评价量表四个维度上的驾驶行为特征为预测变量分别进行层次回归分析, 结果表明: 航线驾驶安全行为多维评价量表具有良好的预测效度; 四个维度变量对维护不同飞行阶段的驾驶安全行为分别具有显著的贡献性, 且这种贡献性因飞行阶段的任务不同而有所差异。航线安全驾驶行为多维评价量表的构建, 不仅为航线飞行员安全驾驶行为规范性评估、机组驾驶行为问题诊断以及安全绩效考核提供了一套客观有效的评价工具, 而且也为有针对性的设计航线飞行员选拔模式和有效实施机组人员非技术性技能/CRM训练提供了一个良好的理论基础。     

Cockpit-cabin communication: II. Shall we tell the pilots?

In a previous article (Chute & Wiener, 1995), we explored the coordination between the "two cultures" in an airliner's crew: cockpit and cabin. In this article, we discuss a particular problem: the dilemma facing the cabin crew when they feel that they have safety-critical information and must decide whether to take it to the cockpit. We explore the reasons for the reluctance of the flight attendant to come forward with the information, such as self-doubt about the accuracy or importance of the information, fear of dismissal or rebuke by the pilots, and misunderstanding of the sterile cockpit rule. Insight into crew attitudes was based on our examination of accident and incident reports and data from questionnaires submitted by pilots and flight attendants at two airlines. The results show confusion and disagreement about what is permissible to take to the cockpit when it is sterile, as well as imbalances in authority and operational knowledge. Possible remedies are proposed.     

Effects of workload preview on task scheduling during simulated instrument flight

Our study examined pilot scheduling behavior in the context of simulated instrument flight. Over the course of the flight, pilots flew along specified routes while scheduling and performing several flight-related secondary tasks. The first phase of flight was flown under low-workload conditions, whereas the second phase of flight was flown under high-workload conditions in the form of increased turbulence and a disorganized instrument layout. Six pilots were randomly assigned to each of three workload preview groups. Subjects in the no-preview group were not given preview of the increased-workload conditions. Subjects in the declarative preview group were verbally informed of the nature of the flight workload manipulation but did not receive any practice under the high-workload conditions. Subjects in the procedural preview group received the same instructions as the declarative preview group but also flew half of the practice flight under the high-workload conditions. The results show that workload preview fostered efficient scheduling strategies. Specifically, those pilots with either declarative or procedural preview of future workload demands adopted an efficient strategy of scheduling more of the difficult secondary tasks during the low-workload phase of flight. However, those pilots given a procedural preview showed the greatest benefits in overall flight performance.