REVIEW: Aeronautical Decision Making 

The aeronautical decision making process involves evaluating four risk elements: 

Pilot — Your fitness to fly must be evaluated including competency in the airplane, currency, and flight experience.


Aircraft — The airplane's performance, limitations, equipment, and airworthiness must be determined.


Environment — Factors, such as weather, airport conditions, and the availability of air traffic control services must be examined.


Operation — The purpose of the flight is a factor which influences your decision on undertaking or continuing the flight. 
  
   

Accurate perceptions of the four risk elements are essential to maintaining good situational awareness. 

Pilots use aeronautical decision making (ADM) to consistently make the best decision in response to a given set of circumstances. AC 60-22 is a good source of information on ADM. You should introduce your students to ADM concepts from the very first flight. 

Accidents are usually the result of a series of mistakes, commonly referred to as the accident chain. Pilots can use ADM to break the accident chain, by making proper decisions, before it leads to an accident or incident. 




Situational awareness is the accurate perception of the operational and environmental factors which affect the aircraft, pilot, and passengers during a specific period of time. Obstacles to maintaining situational awareness include:

Fatigue


Stress


Work overload


Complacency 


These factors can cause you to fixate on a single item that is perceived as important rather than maintaining an overall awareness of flight conditions as the flight progresses. 

Complacency presents another obstacle to maintaining situational awareness. When activities become routine, your students may have a tendency to relax and not put as much effort into performance. Accurate situational awareness is a key element in effective ADM. 

 




   
 REVIEW: Judgment 

In any situation, judgment consists of:

recognizing and analyzing pertinent information.


evaluating alternatives.


making timely decisions about necessary actions. 
  
   

Practical experience enhances judgment. You can give your students decision-making experience through simulated emergencies and through scenarios specifically designed to improve their decision-making process in certain aspects of flight. These lessons should be started early, and continued throughout training. You also can teach judgment by example. For instance, if you continue a lesson despite nearby thunderstorm activity, your students probably won’t develop an adequate respect for the danger of thunderstorms 



REVIEW: DECIDE Model 

The DECIDE model stands for: 

Detect that a change has occurred that needs attention. 

Estimate the need to counter or react to change. 

Choose a desirable outcome for the flight. 

Identify actions which could successfully control the change.

Do the necessary action to adapt to the change. 

Evaluate the effect of the action countering the change


REVIEW: Hazardous Attitudes

Anti-Authority — Individuals with this attitude don't feel that rules apply to them. They often resent someone else telling them what to do. 


Impulsivity — People who are impulsive feel the need to do something – anything – as quickly as possible. They often don't take time to evaluate the options and possible risks before acting, which can lead to incorrect decisions. 


Invulnerability — These people feel that bad things only happen to others. Their thought pattern is, "It won't happen to me." 


Macho — Some pilots feel the need to continually demonstrate that they are better than others. They take unsafe actions just to prove they can do it. Many incorrectly think that the macho attitude is only associated with men. Women are just as susceptible to this attitude. 


What is essential in maintaining good situational awareness? 

A. Continually scanning for traffic (Incorrect)

B. Admitting to ATC when you've made a mistake 

C. Having an accurate perception of the four risk elements (Correct)



Having an accurate perception of the four risk elements — the pilot, the aircraft, the environment, and the type of operation — is essential to maintaining good situational awareness.



Your student, Scott, receives a clearance from ATC to taxi to 35 left and hold short. He is unclear if ATC told him to hold short of the runway. He contacts ATC to clarify the instructions. What element of communication is Scott using? 

A. Inquiry (Correct)

B. Advocacy (Incorrect)

C. Effective communication 



Inquiry is the ability to seek information from many sources. Good decisions are based on good information. Clarifying an ATC clearance is a good use of cockpit resource management (CRM) skills.


Resignation — People who give up easily when faced with difficult circumstances demonstrate this attitude. They feel that they have little effect on their own destiny – that events happen due to fate or bad luck

Crew resource management (CRM) is defined in AC 120-51 as the use of all available resources, information, equipment, and people to achieve safe and efficient flight operations. CRM emphasizes good communication and other interpersonal relationship skills. Some pilots associate CRM solely with flight crews and airline operations, but CRM principles also have direct application to the general aviation cockpit. 

     
 REVIEW: Crew Resource Management 

Many CRM concepts can be used to enhance the safety of single-pilot and general aviation operations. 

Pilot-in-command responsibility


Communication


Resource use


Workload management


Situational awareness