Flight Safety Essay, Research Paper

If you knew that today was the day an accident would occur you probably wouldn’t

even bother getting out of bed. Since this is never the case and a lapse in awareness can

be deadly, situational awareness (SA) is your best defense against unforeseen accidents.

The following is a brief discussion of what causes loss of SA and some hints to avoid

these pitfalls.

From the very first flight lesson, navigation is taught as your highest priority as a pilot.

Communication, sightseeing and all other tasks involved in flight are taught to be

subordinate to this. Keeping awareness of your current situation and anticipating what

will or could happen in the near future is a time consuming task but critical to your

survival.

Monitoring is critical to your survival and focus is an area where it is

exceptionally easy to become distracted by a single input and lose awareness of your

surroundings. Unfortunately, humans have limits to how much we can see and hear at the

same time. If we had to put our monitoring goal into one rule, it would be: Be aware of

what you need to and ignore everything else. That’s very easy to say and probably

impossible to do. While it may sometime become necessary to tune out distractions and

devote your attention to a single event, you must never concentrate solely on one thing

and ignore everything else for long.

? Focus on a broad region — keep the big picture

? Focus on a narrow region — pay attention to detail

? Focus on the right information — don’t get sidetracked or distracted

Once you are properly focused you must properly evaluate what your senses are

telling you. Comprehension is key to evaluation, once you interpret and comprehend

what is happening you must assess the importance of all inputs and prioritize them

accordingly. Once you accomplish this you now are aware of your current situation.

Anticipation is key to maintaining situational awareness for future projection. You

must use all information available and project multiple eventualities to prepare for any

events that may occur in the future. Normally this is a fairly simple predictable process

and is a lifesaver in tasking situations. You must consider future contingencies as well

and these may save your life. Events such as emergencies, equipment failures, and

unplanned maneuvers by other aircraft are examples of useful projections. Thinking

through the ‘what’, ‘where’, ‘when’, and ‘who’ of a potential unexpected occurrence may

be just enough prior planning to make the difference between success and failure.

Finally have a plan. All of the SA and future projections in the world are useless

unless you consider alternatives in advance and at least mentally implement them to

judge their effectiveness. No matter how much you focus, evaluate and, plan many

other variable will compete for your attention. Here are some traps that may try to steal

your SA and ways to avoid them.

Focus on the right Information at the right time. A lapse in judgment can occur at any

time to anyone. Keep your priorities straight. If flying watch your altimeter lest the

ground come up and smite thee. If on the ground, pay attention to street signs and right of

way indicators.

If something doesn’t feel right it probably isn’t. The human senses though limited,

present you with enormous amounts of information. After through observation and

planning you may think everything is going well but can’t shake the nagging feeling

something is out of place, listen! It may mean the difference between life and death.

Missing an approach or being late for dinner is a small price to pay for ensuring you and

passengers eventually arrive safely at the intended destination.

Be wary of both task saturation and boredom. Studies show that boredom is at least as

likely to cause lapses in judgment as task saturation if not more so. Human nature is such

that unchallenging situations quickly invoke boredom and a loss of focus. Always realize

this and ensure you are vigilant.

Habits can be good and bad. Training is a major part of a pilot’s daily routine. Some

tasks or performance levels may actually increase likelihood of error in an emergency or

other task saturating situation simply due to the required response. Add a cross check to

ensure the procedure you are following is applicable to the situation.

Preconceived notions and expectations may reduce your assessment of a situation. This

occurs in conjunction with anticipation and while an integral part of your decision

process don’t fall into the trap of believing that because a certain response is designed to

alleviate an in-flight problem that it will actually be successful. Continue to assess your

current situation and react according to what is happening not what is expected. This also

occurs during the listening process. Don’t believe something that was said because you

expect it, Listen!

The longer something takes it is less likely to be completed without error. As humans

we do not perform mundane tasks exceptionally well. Boredom and distraction are

continues foes that we must strive to overcome. Recognize this and pay extra attention to

longer tasks or if distracted force your attention back to ongoing events to ensure they are

proceeding according to plan.

Reliable systems aren’t always reliable. Airplanes are more reliable now than anytime

in history. Automation and technological improvements have made flying safer and less

complex than ever before. Just because a system is designed to control some aspect of

flight and backup systems are available don’t believe it will be totally reliable 100

percent of the time. The one time you assume it works correctly will be the time it fails

and you fail to notice.

Distractions come in many forms. Aircraft are complex equipment systems and the

environment they operate in is very dynamic. Here is a compilation of reports from 1978

and typical distractions during a flight.

Type of Distraction Number of Reports

Non operational activities Paperwork Public address Conversation Flight attendant Company radio 7 12 9 11 16

Flight Tasks ChecklistMalfunctionsTraffic watchATC communicationsRadar monitoringStudying approach chartLooking for airportNew first officerFatigueMiscellaneous Total 22 19 16 6 12 14 3 10 10 2 169

Now that you’re scared witless, here are some tips to improve your SA and make flying a

safer and more enjoyable experience.

? focus attention on details while keeping the big picture

? anticipate, stay ahead of the airplane

? consider contingencies, have a plan for the ‘what if situations

? have a plan for handling distractions, especially malfunctions

? use all available resources for awareness

And by the way, have a safe flight.

Bibliography

REFERENCES

http://www.crm-devel.org/resources/paper/chappell.htm

http://avstop.com/Stories/NIGHTFLYING.htm

http://www.cami.jccbi.gov/AAM-400/spatial.html