Professional Pilot, October 2018

Managing flightdeck startle and surprise The goal of training and CRM is to improve decision making and implementation Training in non technical skills is required to recognize and manage situations that can occur in a sudden event U nexpected aviation occurrences and associated pilot reactions often ranging to uncertainty and fear are major contributors to loss of control LOC in flight Such strong emotions can prevent pilots from using the complex reasoning decision making and event management strategies often involving acronyms or mnemonics traditionally taught learned and put into effect Automation and envelope protection systems in aircraft provide substantial and proven safety benefits However evidence indicates that when faced with unexpected and challenging situations pilots may have difficulty rapidly transitioning from being monitors of very reliable systems to being active authoritative decision makers manually controlling the aircraft 68 PROFESSIONAL PILOT October 2018 Startle and surprise compared Technical or automation malfunctions unusual environmental changes and other in flight events similarly unanticipated are accompanied by startle surprise or both At a minimum their effects can be distracting disrupting normal operations and eroding safety margins More critically they can lead to flawed or hasty decision making Practiced procedures and skills may impulsively be replaced by the first solution that comes to mind The result is destabilization of the aircraft a consequence associated with all categories of pilot license ratings and experience levels While often used interchangeably the terms startle and surprise describe very different responses to unanticipated conditions the former being principally physiological and the latter largely emotional Understanding their conceptual behavioral and physiological characteristics can help pilots to overcome their adverse consequences Startle has 2 components a reflex and a response Startle reflex is a brief 1 3 sec involuntary defense to a sudden intense or threatening stimulus such as the sound of a compressor stall the flash of a lightning strike or illumination by a laser A startle reflex elicits an acute increase in stress and may be accompanied by combinations of eye blinks contraction of facial and neck muscles head ducks arrested body movement freezing increased blood pressure respiration rate and brief disorientation as well as fear or anger Startle response involves behavioral and physiological reactions which can result in task interruption and substantial cognitive impairments ie deficiencies in information processing that can last significantly longer than the startle reflex up to 15 sec to 1 min Pilots are more susceptible to startle when functioning at high arousal stressed anxious threatened or intensely concentrating or very low arousal tired resting drowsy or about to fall asleep levels Surprise is an emotional intellectual response to unexpected events that are momentarily difficult to explain cognitive mismatch It forces a person to increase sense making efforts in pursuit of understanding of ones situation Surprise relates specifically to an inability to comprehend a mismatch between expectations and new information Example mismatches include automation or subtle technical failures that are baffling such as absence of an expected event automation mode confusion multiple system alerts or failure indications miscommunications etc Surprise may be accompanied by increased arousal heart rate and blood pressure as well as forgotten operating standards freezing and or loss of situational awareness FLIGHT OPS AND SAFETY Unanticipated events in aviation vary in type and frequency but most occur with inconsequential effect Successful event handling depends on flexible defenses which are learned and practiced By Don Van Dyke ATP Helo CFII F28 Bell 222 Pro Pilot Canadian Technical Editor