Effects of distance flown on pilot decision making in continued flight into deteriorating weather conditions.

INTRODUCTION: Continuing flight into adverse weather remains a significant problem in general aviation (GA) safety. A variety of experiential, cognitive, and motivational factors have been suggested as explanations. Previous research has shown that adverse weather accidents occur further into planned flights than other types of accident, suggesting that previous investment of time and effort might be a contributing factor. The aim of this study was to experimentally determine the effect of prior commitment on general aviation pilots' decision-making and risk-taking in simulated VFR flights. METHOD: Thirty-six licensed pilots 'flew' two simulated flights designed to simulate an encounter with deteriorating coastal weather and a developing extensive cloud base underneath the aircraft as it crossed a mountain range. After making a decision to continue or discontinue the flight, pilots completed a range of risk perception, risk taking, and situational awareness measures. RESULTS: Visual flight rules were violated in 42% of the flights. Prior commitment, in terms of distance already flown, led to an increased tendency to continue the flight into adverse weather in the coastal 'scud running' scenario. Continuing pilots perceived the risks differently and showed greater risk tolerance than others. These 'bolder' pilots also tended to be more active and better qualified than the others. CONCLUSIONS: There are undoubtedly multiple factors underlying any individual decision to continue or discontinue a flight. The willingness to tolerate a higher level of risk seems to be one such factor. This willingness can increase with time invested in the flight and also seems to be related to individual flight qualifications and experience. PRACTICAL APPLICATIONS: All pilots might benefit from carefully structured simulator sessions designed to safely teach practical risk management strategies with clear and immediate feedback.

In plane sight: Inattentional blindness affects visual detection of external targets in simulated flight.

Aviation places significant demands on pilots' perceptual and attentional capacities. The avoidance of other objects both on the ground and in the air is critical to safe flight. Research on automobile driving has revealed the occurrence of 'inattentional blindness' (IB) whereby objects clearly located within the visual field may not detected when drivers are concurrently engaged in another attention capturing task such as a cellphone conversation. Almost no comparable research has been conducted within the aviation domain despite the significance of both ground-based and mid-air collisions. The present study was designed to investigate the effects of diverting attentional resources away from the primary task of safely flying a simulated light aircraft from takeoff to cruising. Flight naïve students were trained to proficiency in a flight-simulator and flew two simulated flights with and without a competing attentional task. Detection of a variety of objects placed in the background was measured. The results showed that when distracted by an engaging cellphone conversation novice pilots failed to detect many of the objects located within the visual scene. Recognition accuracy was greater when pilots' attention was not diverted elsewhere. There was a reduction in time spent looking at some key flight instruments but not on others. Inattentional blindness poses significant flight safety risks and further research into both the stimulus and perceiver characteristics that promote or reduce inattentional blindness would be of significant benefit to aviation safety.

How to Observe Users' Movements in Virtual Environments: Viewpoint Control in a Power Wheelchair Simulator.

OBJECTIVE: We describe a networked, two-user virtual reality (VR) power wheelchair (PWC) simulator system in which an actor (client) and an observer (clinician) meet. We then present a study with 15 observers (expert clinicians) evaluating the effect of three principal forms of viewpoint control (egocentric-egomotion, egocentric-tethered, and client-centric) on the observer's assessment of driving tasks in a virtual environment (VE). BACKGROUND: VR allows for the simulation and assessment of real-world tasks in a controlled, safe, and repeatable environment. Observing users' movement behavior in such a VE requires appropriate viewpoint control for the observer. The VR viewpoint user interface should allow an observer to make judgments equivalent or even superior to real-world situations. METHOD: A purpose-built VR PWC simulator was developed. In a series of PWC driving tasks, we measured the perceived ease of use and sense of presence of the observers and compared the virtual assessment with real-world "gold standard" scores, including confidence levels in judgments. RESULTS: Findings suggest that with more immersive techniques, such as egomotion and tethered egocentric viewpoints, judgments are both more accurate and more confident. The ability to walk and/or orbit around the view significantly affected the observers' sense of presence. CONCLUSION: Incorporating the observer into the VE, through egomotion, is an effective method for assessing users' behavior in VR with implications for the transferability of virtual experiences to the real world. APPLICATION: Our application domain serves as a representative example for tasks where the movement of users through a VE needs to be evaluated.

Responding to an Unexpected In-Flight Event: Physiological Arousal, Information Processing, and Performance.

OBJECTIVE: The study was designed to investigate whether a simulated unexpected abnormal flight event can lead to startle and explore differences in behavioral responses between expected and unexpected abnormal flight events. BACKGROUND: Recent research suggests startle (an autonomic response to an acute stimulus) following unexpected abnormal flight events can impact pilot performance and can increase the probability of a negative outcome following the event. METHOD: Information processing, physiological measures, and performance differences between responses to expected and unexpected flight events were compared. General aviation (GA) pilots flew a series of flights in a fixed-base flight simulator including two experimental flights which included an unexpected and an expected, engine failure. During the flights, heart rate, eye tracking, and flight data were recorded. RESULTS: During the unexpected engine failure, pilots showed greater increases in heart rate and pupil dilation. Significant differences in scanning were evident with fewer areas scanned following the unexpected event. During the unexpected engine failure, performance was impaired when compared to the expected events. However, poor performance was not associated with higher levels of arousal. CONCLUSION: The study provides an empirical demonstration of impaired pilot response to unexpected events with associated symptoms consistent with the induction of startle. The present research builds on Landman et al.'s conceptual model of startle and surprise. APPLICATION: Standardized training protocols may not adequately prepare pilots to deal with the unexpected effects of startle in real-world encounters. Introducing greater variety into training events may be useful. The effects of startle in disrupting well-trained responses may also occur in areas other than aviation where critical events may occur unexpectedly or present in an unfamiliar manner.

The role of cue utilisation in reducing the workload in a train control task.

Skilled performance has been characterised, in part, by the capacity to accurately identify and respond to patterns as cues in the environment. The outcome is a reduction in cognitive load and a greater residual capacity to undertake concurrent tasks. The present study was designed to examine the relationship between cue utilisation and temporal pattern recognition in the context of a simulated, rail control task. Sixty-one university students undertook an assessment of cue utilisation and engaged in a rail control simulation. The appearance and movement of trains followed a consistent but implicit (undisclosed) pattern. Throughout the second half of the rail task, a secondary task was included. The results indicated that participants with relatively higher cue utilisation were more likely to identify the implicit pattern of rail movements, were more accurate and responded more rapidly under increased workload conditions. The results suggest that a propensity to identify patterns as cues may provide an opportunity to reduce cognitive demands, thereby facilitating performance in a novel task. Implications for selection and system design are discussed. Practitioner Summary: This study was designed to explain differences in the way in which people learn, particularly when tasks involve recurring patterns. Using simulated rail control, the results indicated that participants who display behaviour that is indicative of the utilisation of cues also recognise patterns in the movement of simulated trains. This enables them to manage trains more effectively, even while undertaking other tasks.

Immersion factors affecting perception and behaviour in a virtual reality power wheelchair simulator.

Virtual Reality based driving simulators are increasingly used to train and assess users' abilities to operate vehicles in a controlled and safe way. For the development of those simulators it is important to identify and evaluate design factors affecting perception, behaviour, and driving performance. In an exemplary power wheelchair simulator setting we identified the three immersion factors display type (head-mounted display v monitor), ability to freely change the field of view (FOV), and the visualisation of the user's avatar as potentially affecting perception and behaviour. In a study with 72 participants we found all three factors affected the participants' sense of presence in the virtual environment. In particular the display type significantly affected both perceptual and behavioural measures whereas FOV only affected behavioural measures. Our findings could guide future Virtual Reality simulator designers to evoke targeted user behaviours and perceptions.

Cue Utilization and Cognitive Load in Novel Task Performance.

This study was designed to examine whether differences in cue utilization were associated with differences in performance during a novel, simulated rail control task, and whether these differences reflected a reduction in cognitive load. Two experiments were conducted, the first of which involved the completion of a 20-min rail control simulation that required participants to re-route trains that periodically required a diversion. Participants with a greater level of cue utilization recorded a consistently greater response latency, consistent with a strategy that maintained accuracy, but reduced the demands on cognitive resources. In the second experiment, participants completed the rail task, during which a concurrent, secondary task was introduced. The results revealed an interaction, whereby participants with lesser levels of cue utilization recorded an increase in response latency that exceeded the response latency recorded for participants with greater levels of cue utilization. The relative consistency of response latencies for participants with greater levels of cue utilization, across all blocks, despite the imposition of a secondary task, suggested that those participants with greater levels of cue utilization had adopted a strategy that was effectively minimizing the impact of additional sources of cognitive load on their performance.

Can a glass cockpit display help (or hinder) performance of novices in simulated flight training?

The analog dials in traditional GA aircraft cockpits are being replaced by integrated electronic displays, commonly referred to as glass cockpits. Pilots may be trained on glass cockpit aircraft or encounter them after training on traditional displays. The effects of glass cockpit displays on initial performance and potential transfer effects between cockpit display configurations have yet to be adequately investigated. Flight-naïve participants were trained on either a simulated traditional display cockpit or a simulated glass display cockpit. Flight performance was measured in a test flight using either the same or different cockpit display. Loss of control events and accuracy in controlling altitude, airspeed and heading, workload, and situational awareness were assessed. Preferences for cockpit display configurations and opinions on ease of use were also measured. The results revealed consistently poorer performance on the test flight for participants using the glass cockpit compared to the traditional cockpit. In contrast the post-flight questionnaire data revealed a strong subjective preference for the glass cockpit over the traditional cockpit displays. There was only a weak effect of prior training. The specific glass cockpit display used in this study was subjectively appealing but yielded poorer flight performance in participants with no previous flight experience than a traditional display. Performance data can contradict opinion data. The design of glass cockpit displays may present some difficulties for pilots in the very early stages of training.

The effects of individual differences, prior experience and cognitive load on the transfer of dynamic decision-making performance.

Situational awareness is recognised as an important factor in the performance of individuals and teams in dynamic decision-making (DDM) environments (Salmon et al. 2014 ). The present study was designed to investigate whether the scores on the WOMBAT™ Situational Awareness and Stress Tolerance Test (Roscoe and North 1980 ) would predict the transfer of DDM performance from training under different levels of cognitive load to a novel situation. Participants practised a simulated firefighting task under either low or high conditions of cognitive load and then performed a (transfer) test in an alternative firefighting environment under an intermediate level of cognitive load. WOMBAT™ test scores were a better predictor of DDM performance than scores on the Raven Matrices. Participants with high WOMBAT™ scores performed better regardless of their training condition. Participants with recent gaming experience who practised under low cognitive load showed better practice phase performance but worse transfer performance than those who practised under high cognitive load. PRACTITIONER SUMMARY: The relationship between task experience, situational awareness ability, cognitive load and the transfer of dynamic decision-making (DDM) performance was investigated. Results showed that the WOMBAT™ test predicted transfer of DDM performance regardless of task cognitive load. The effects of cognitive load on performance varied according to previous task-relevant experience.

The effects of Crew Resource Management (CRM) training on flight attendants' safety attitudes.

INTRODUCTION: A number of well-known incidents and accidents had led the aviation industry to introduce Crew Resource Management (CRM) training designed specifically for flight attendants, and joint (pilot and flight attendant) CRM training as a way to improve teamwork and communication. The development of these new CRM training programs during the 1990s highlighted the growing need for programs to be evaluated using research tools that had been validated for the flight attendant population. METHOD: The FSAQ (Flight Safety Attitudes Questionnaire-Flight Attendants) was designed specifically to obtain safety attitude data from flight attendants working for an Asia-Pacific airline. Flight attendants volunteered to participate in a study before receiving CRM training (N=563) and again (N=526) after CRM training. RESULTS: Almost half (13) of the items from the 36-item FSAQ showed highly significant changes following CRM training. Years of experience, crew position, seniority, leadership roles, flight attendant crew size, and length of route flown were all predictive of safety attitudes. PRACTICAL APPLICATIONS: CRM training for flight attendants is a valuable tool for increasing positive teamwork behaviors between the flight attendant and pilot sub-groups. Joint training sessions, where flight attendants and pilots work together to find solutions to in-flight emergency scenarios, provide a particularly useful strategy in breaking down communication barriers between the two sub-groups.

Exploring human error in military aviation flight safety events using post-incident classification systems.

INTRODUCTION: Human error classification systems theoretically allow researchers to analyze postaccident data in an objective and consistent manner. The Human Factors Analysis and Classification System (HFACS) framework is one such practical analysis tool that has been widely used to classify human error in aviation. The Cognitive Error Taxonomy (CET) is another. It has been postulated that the focus on interrelationships within HFACS can facilitate the identification of the underlying causes of pilot error. The CET provides increased granularity at the level of unsafe acts. The aim was to analyze the influence of factors at higher organizational levels on the unsafe acts of front-line operators and to compare the errors of fixed-wing and rotary-wing operations. METHOD: This study analyzed 288 aircraft incidents involving human error from an Australasian military organization occurring between 2001 and 2008. RESULTS: Action errors accounted for almost twice (44%) the proportion of rotary wing compared to fixed wing (23%) incidents. Both classificatory systems showed significant relationships between precursor factors such as the physical environment, mental and physiological states, crew resource management, training and personal readiness, and skill-based, but not decision-based, acts. The CET analysis showed different predisposing factors for different aspects of skill-based behaviors. DISCUSSION: Skill-based errors in military operations are more prevalent in rotary wing incidents and are related to higher level supervisory processes in the organization. The Cognitive Error Taxonomy provides increased granularity to HFACS analyses of unsafe acts.

Putting the "we" into teamwork: effects of priming personal or social identity on flight attendants' perceptions of teamwork and communication.

OBJECTIVE: The study was designed to investigate the effectiveness of a manipulation derived from social categorization and social identity theory to promote greater cabin crew willingness to engage in intergroup communication and teamwork in airline operations. BACKGROUND: Failures of communication and teamwork between airline crew have been implicated in a number of airline crashes. METHOD: Flight attendants based domestically (n = 254) or overseas (n = 230) received a manipulation designed to prime either their social identity or personal identity and then read a brief outline of an in-flight event before completing a teamwork questionnaire. RESULTS: Flight attendants who received a social identity prime indicated increased willingness to engage in coordinated team action compared with those who received a personal identity prime. CONCLUSION: Priming social identity can enhance attitudes toward teamwork and communication, potentially leading to increased willingness to engage in intergroup cooperation. APPLICATION: Social categorization and social identity theories can be used to inform joint training program development for flight attendants and pilots to create increased willingness for group members to participate in effective communication and teamwork behaviors.

An objective approach to identifying diagnostic expertise among power system controllers.

OBJECTIVE: The present study investigated whether performance across a range of cue-based cognitive tasks differentiated the diagnostic performance of power control operators into three distinct groups, characteristic of novice, competence, and expertise. BACKGROUND: Despite its increasing importance in the contemporary workplace, there is little understanding of the cognitive processes that distinguish novice, competent, and expert performance in the context of remote diagnosis. However, recent evidence suggests that cue acquisition and utilization may represent a mechanism by which the transition from novice to expertise occurs. METHOD: The study involved the application of four distinct cue-based tasks within the context of power system control. A total of 65 controllers, encompassing a range of industry experience, completed the tasks as part of an in-service training program. RESULTS: Using a cluster analysis, it was possible to extract three distinct groups of operators on the basis of their performance in the cue-based tasks, and these groups corresponded to differences in diagnostic performance. CONCLUSION: The results indicate assessments of the capacity to extract and utilize cues were able to distinguish expert from competent practitioners in the context of power control. APPLICATION: Assessments of the capacity to extract and utilize cues may be used in the future to distinguish expert from nonexpert practitioners, particularly in the context of remote diagnosis.

Classification and prediction of pilot weather encounters: A discriminant function analysis.

INTRODUCTION: Flight into adverse weather continues to be a significant hazard for General Aviation (GA) pilots. Weather-related crashes have a significantly higher fatality rate than other GA crashes. Previous research has identified lack of situational awareness, risk perception, and risk tolerance as possible explanations for why pilots would continue into adverse weather. However, very little is known about the nature of these encounters or the differences between pilots who avoid adverse weather and those who do not. METHODS: Visitors to a web site described an experience with adverse weather and completed a range of measures of personal characteristics. RESULTS: The resulting data from 364 pilots were carefully screened and subject to a discriminant function analysis. Two significant functions were found. The first, accounting for 69% of the variance, reflected measures of risk awareness and pilot judgment while the second differentiated pilots in terms of their experience levels. The variables measured in this study enabled us to correctly discriminate between the three groups of pilots considerably better (53% correct classifications) than would have been possible by chance (33% correct classifications). CONCLUSIONS: The implications of these findings for targeting safety interventions are discussed.

Situational and personal characteristics associated with adverse weather encounters by pilots.

Weather conditions are significant hazards impacting the safe and efficient operation of aircraft. In this study, a large number of pilots were surveyed regarding weather events, and the circumstances associated with those events. Pilots completed a web-based questionnaire containing demographic questions, a risk perception scale, a hazardous events scale, and a pilot judgment scale. The pilots who reported a flight in which they penetrated weather without authorization or were concerned about the weather also completed 53 questions regarding their weather encounter. Usable data were obtained for 364 participants: 144 who reported flying into weather, 114 who experienced a flight on which weather was a concern, and 106 who reported no flights on which weather was entered or was a major concern. Significant differences were evident between the three groups on the measures of pilot judgment, personal minimums, and hazardous events where pilots flying into weather recorded the poorest scores (least conservative minimums, most hazardous events, and poorest judgment). Significant differences were also noted between the two weather groups for a number of circumstances surrounding the events. Compared to the in-weather group, pilots in the near-weather group had acquired greater instrument hours, were older, and were more likely to have an instrument rating. Their aircraft were more likely to have an autopilot. More pilots in the in-weather group (28%) reported that they would be much more careful in the future regarding weather, compared to 17% of the near-weather group. The study provides data not previously obtained on both the situational and personal characteristics that are related to involvement in different degrees of weather-related encounters. These data should promote a better understanding of these individuals and the situations in which they are involved, and should inform future research and intervention efforts.

A multiple-cue learning approach as the basis for understanding and improving soccer referees' decision making.

A significant proportion of all referee decisions during a soccer match are about fouls and misconduct. We argue that most of these decisions can be considered as a perceptual-categorization task in which the referee has to categorize a set of features into two discrete classes (foul/no-foul). Due to the dynamic nature of tackling situations in football, these features share a probabilistic rather that a deterministic relationship with the decision criteria. Accordingly, these processes can be studied on the basis of a multiple-cue learning framework as proposed by Brunswick (1955), which focuses among others on how people learn from repeated exposure to probabilistic information. Such learning processes have been studied on a wide range of tasks, but until now not (to our knowledge) in the area of judging sport performance. We suggest that decision accuracy of referees can be improved by creating a learning environment that fits the requirements of this theoretical perspective.

Localization of the equine IgG-binding domain in the fibrinogen-binding protein (FgBP) of Streptococcus equi subsp. equi.

Fibrinogen-binding protein (FgBP, also termed SeM) is a cell-wall-associated anti-phagocytic M-like protein of the equine pathogen Streptococcus equi subsp. equi, and binds fibrinogen (Fg) and IgG. FgBP binds Fg avidly through residues located at the extreme N terminus of the molecule, whereas the IgG-binding site is more centrally located between the A and B repeats. FgBP binds equine IgG4 and IgG7 subclasses through interaction with the CH2-CH3 interdomain region of IgG-Fc, and possesses overlapping Fc-binding sites with protein A and protein G. In this study, FgBP truncates containing defined internal deletions were used to identify a stretch of 14 aa (residues 335-348) critical for IgG binding. Protein chimeras consisting of the non-IgG-binding alpha-helical coiled-coil M5 protein fused to FgBP sequences were used to identify a minimal equine IgG-binding domain consisting of residues 329-360. Competition ELISA tests suggested that IgG does not compromise Fg binding and vice versa.

Under the weather: an evaluation of different modes of presenting meteorological information for pilots.

Understanding current and forecast weather conditions for a planned route of flight is vital for general aviation (GA) pilots. Weather information can be obtained from multiple sources and in multiple formats, ranging from abbreviated code provided by aviation weather forecasters to animated graphical displays available on TV and the Internet. The present study investigated the effectiveness of graphical displays of meteorological information. A commercially available graphical display was ergonomically redesigned and the original and redesigned displays were compared with an ordinary text statement. Recall of information was significantly affected by display type. Comparisons showed the ergonomically redesigned display to be superior to the ordinary text statement. Performance was affected by participants' general level of familiarity with evaluating data displays as measured by their area of study (sciences or humanities). The generalizability of the results to the pilot population is discussed.

Implicit perceptions of risk and anxiety and pilot involvement in hazardous events.

OBJECTIVE: The aim of the studies was to examine the role of implicit processes in aeronautical risk perception and risk taking. BACKGROUND: Aeronautical decision making consists of both explicit processes (e.g., comparing options, seeking information) and implicit, or intuitive, processes (e.g., immediate affective reactions). The present studies utilized a novel methodology, adapted from studies in social cognition, to examine the relationship between general aviation pilots' implicit reactions toward risk and their involvement in hazardous events. METHOD: The Implicit Association Test was used to measure pilots' (Study 1: N= 23; Study 2: N= 32) implicit associations between good and bad weather conditions and perceptions of risk and anxiety. RESULTS: There was a relationship between the pilots' implicit perceptions and previous involvement in hazardous aeronautical events as measured by D. R. Hunter's (1995, 2002) Hazardous Events Scale. The more weather-related hazardous events the pilots had been involved in, the less they associated implicit risk with adverse weather (Study 1) and the less implicitly anxious they were toward adverse weather (Study 2). CONCLUSION: The results show a relationship between implicit associations and risk-taking behavior. APPLICATION: Pilots may be involved in risk-taking behavior because they perceive less risk in, and are implicitly less afraid of, hazardous conditions.

Risk tolerance and pilot involvement in hazardous events and flight into adverse weather.

INTRODUCTION: According to Lopes [Lopes, L.L. (1987). Between hope and fear: The psychology of risk. Advances in Experimental Social Psychology, 20, 255-295] tolerance of risk may be governed by sensitivity to either the opportunities for gain or threats of loss involved. METHODS: In the initial study, qualified pilots were presented with 36 written flight scenarios that varied in the levels of opportunity and threat present. The pilots rated the likelihood that they would undertake each flight. Pilots were largely risk averse, as their ratings were all significantly influenced by threat. RESULTS: The pilots whose ratings were significantly influenced by opportunity had been involved in more hazardous aviation incidents than the other pilots. In the final study, 32 qualified pilots completed both the risk tolerance measure and a simulated flight into adverse weather. The pilots who continued flying into adverse weather were less risk averse compared to the pilots who diverted. This further highlighted the link between risk tolerance and risk-taking, and suggested that some pilots may fly into adverse weather because of a greater tolerance of risk. IMPACT ON INDUSTRY: The studies provide evidence that a measure of risk tolerance can predict potential accident involvement amongst general aviation pilots.