Aeronautical Decision-Making

Decision-Making in a Dynamic Environment pitfalls that come with the development of pilot experience. These are classic behavioral traps into which pilots have A solid approach to decision-making is through the use of been known to fall. More experienced pilots, as a rule, try analytical models, such as the 5 Ps, 3P, and DECIDE. Good to complete a flight as planned, please passengers, and meet decisions result when pilots gather all available information, schedules. The desire to meet these goals can have an adverse review it, analyze the options, rate the options, select a course effect on safety and contribute to an unrealistic assessment of action, and evaluate that course of action for correctness. of piloting skills. All experienced pilots have fallen prey to, or have been tempted by, one or more of these tendencies in In some situations, there is not always time to make decisions their flying careers. These dangerous tendencies or behavior based on analytical decision-making skills. A good example patterns, which must be identified and eliminated, include is a quarterback whose actions are based upon a highly fluid the operational pitfalls shown in Figure 2-15. and changing situation. He intends to execute a plan, but new circumstances dictate decision-making on the fly. This type Stress Management of decision-making is called automatic decision-making or Everyone is stressed to some degree almost all of the time. A naturalized decision-making. [Figure 2-14B] certain amount of stress is good since it keeps a person alert and prevents complacency. Effects of stress are cumulative Automatic Decision-Making and, if the pilot does not cope with them in an appropriate In an emergency situation, a pilot might not survive if he or way, they can eventually add up to an intolerable burden. she rigorously applies analytical models to every decision Performance generally increases with the onset of stress, made as there is not enough time to go through all the options. peaks, and then begins to fall off rapidly as stress levels Under these circumstances he or she should attempt to find exceed a person’s ability to cope. The ability to make the best possible solution to every problem. effective decisions during flight can be impaired by stress. There are two categories of stress—acute and chronic. These For the past several decades, research into how people are both explained in Chapter 17, “Aeromedical Factors.” actually make decisions has revealed that when pressed for time, experts faced with a task loaded with uncertainty first Factors referred to as stressors can increase a pilot’s risk of assess whether the situation strikes them as familiar. Rather error in the flight deck. [Figure 2-16] Remember the cabin than comparing the pros and cons of different approaches, door that suddenly opened in flight on the Mooney climbing they quickly imagine how one or a few possible courses of through 1,500 feet on a clear sunny day? It may startle the action in such situations will play out. Experts take the first pilot, but the stress would wane when it became apparent workable option they can find. While it may not be the best of the situation was not a serious hazard. Yet, if the cabin door all possible choices, it often yields remarkably good results. opened in IMC conditions, the stress level makes significant impact on the pilot’s ability to cope with simple tasks. The The terms “naturalistic” and “automatic decision-making” key to stress management is to stop, think, and analyze before have been coined to describe this type of decision-making. jumping to a conclusion. There is usually time to think before The ability to make automatic decisions holds true for a drawing unnecessary conclusions. range of experts from firefighters to chess players. It appears the expert’s ability hinges on the recognition of patterns and There are several techniques to help manage the accumulation consistencies that clarify options in complex situations. Experts of life stresses and prevent stress overload. For example, to appear to make provisional sense of a situation, without help reduce stress levels, set aside time for relaxation each actually reaching a decision, by launching experience-based day or maintain a program of physical fitness. To prevent actions that in turn trigger creative revisions. stress overload, learn to manage time more effectively to avoid pressures imposed by getting behind schedule and not This is a reflexive type of decision-making anchored in meeting deadlines. training and experience and is most often used in times of emergencies when there is no time to practice analytical Use of Resources decision-making. Naturalistic or automatic decision-making To make informed decisions during flight operations, a pilot improves with training and experience, and a pilot will find must also become aware of the resources found inside and himself or herself using a combination of decision-making outside the flight deck. Since useful tools and sources of tools that correlate with individual experience and training. information may not always be readily apparent, learning to recognize these resources is an essential part of ADM Operational Pitfalls training. Resources must not only be identified, but a pilot Although more experienced pilots are likely to make more must also develop the skills to evaluate whether there is automatic decisions, there are tendencies or operational 2-21