Professional Pilot, January 2016

Not use any system displaying an inoperative flag or other failure indication Commit to standard operating procedures Commitment to SOPs and dedicated use of checklists enhances the visibility of non normal or unusual events Standardization offers greater opportunity to detect hazards and to reach decisions in a controlled environment with appropriate actions Train practice and refresh Training and practice significantly reduce the vigilance decrement reduce the false alarm rate and may improve sensitivity for many sustained attention tasks Training improvements may also reduce mental workload associated with task automaticity Trained or expert crew exhibit better detection of low salience targets a reduction in false alarms improved sensitivity and a significantly reduced vigilance decrement In some cases the vigilance decrement is eliminated or not apparent 20 PROFESSIONAL PILOT January 2016 Use caffeine sensibly and hydrate often Numerous studies have shown that caffeine in the form of coffee tea or soft drinks increases vigilance and improves performance in sleep deprived individuals especially those who do not normally consume large doses Ensure that filtered water is available at all times for hydrating flightdeck crew Avoid unapproved countermeasures The military use of certain non FDA approved vigilance decrement countermeasures such as amphetamines caffeine gum and others is well documented However their use by civilian pilots is discouraged and is strictly prohibited in certain jurisdictions Conclusion Flightdeck challenges arise from an environment which is time limited stressful and dynamic The last frontier is not technology but rather human factors Instead of technology acting as the safety net for the pilot the pilot is recast as the safety net for technology NTSB has expressed concern that todays recurrent training process basically recertifies pilots rather than teaching them new skills or sharpening old ones Operating near the edges of a flight performance envelope demands vigilance specialized knowledge and skills that need understanding education and practice Factors resulting in unnoticed departure from desired automated flightpath management may include distraction fatigue workload disorientation misunderstanding inappropriate commands or system malfunction On detecting flightpath deviations the first action often taken by pilots is to revert to manual flying believing it to be the best alternative to fully automated flight This decision may occur at or near catastrophic loss of control inflight LOC I when the skills required to regain control may fall beyond pilot capabilities Malfunctioning systems further complicate critical situations by only alerting fault conditions without providing the actions recommended to restore safe flight Effective sustained vigilance offers the earliest opportunity for pilots in the cockpit to avoid or intercede in such a chain of events Vigilance is also an essential element of Pilot Flying PF Pilot Monitoring PM engagement At least part of effective crew resource management CRM training is learning to accept appropriate prompting or correction by a fellow crewmember Understanding the logic underpinning the prompt is essential to this acceptance To some extent technology has altered roles from where automation acted as a safety net for the pilot to one where the pilot becomes the safety net for automation Understood practiced and managed vigilance returns the flightcrew from reactionary followership to anticipatory flightdeck management Monitoring lapse case studies Aircraft Year location fatalities Failure to monitor Dominant causal factor Other causal factor Boeing 737 300 2007 EGHH 0 Autothrottle disconnect Inattention Lockheed L 1011 1 1972 Everglades FL 99 FL250 Distraction Workload Bombardier DHC8 400 2009 KBUF 50 Low speed indication Distraction Fatigue Boeing 757 1995 SKCL 159 Flightpath High workload Expectation confusion loss of situational awareness disorientation distraction Boeing 737 800 2009 EHAM 0 Low speed indication Autothrottle mode High workload Confirmation bias distraction Airbus A340 2011 N Atlantic 0 Flight path parameters Autopilot selection Startle Distraction Airbus A330 203 2009 Atlantic 228 Speed inconsistencies Angle of attack Flight path parameters Startle Distraction inattention LFPG 0 Low speed Subtle Incapacitation Distraction fixation loss of scan Boeing 737 4Q8 2007 Indonesia 102 Flightpath Disorientation Tunnel vision De Havilland DHC8 1995 NZPM 4 Flightpath Lack of attentional resource Distraction complacency tunnel vision Situation recovered Source UK CAA 2013 Don Van Dyke is professor of advanced aerospace topics at Chicoutimi College of Aviation CQFA Montreal He is an 18000 hour TT pilot and instructor with extensive airline business and charter experience on both airplanes and helicopters A former IATA ops director he has served on several ICAO panels He is a Fellow of the Royal Aeronautical Society and is a flight operations expert on technical projects under UN administration