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Briefing Note
1 Background
This briefing note discusses two closely related topics: pilot judgment and pilot
expertise. It begins with definitions of key terms. It then describes specific
perceptual-motor and cognitive skills that can be learned and used to improve pilot
judgment and thereby enhance pilot expertise.
2 Definitions
There are both general dictionary definitions of judgment and expertise and more
specific definitions provided by researchers and regulatory authorities. The dictionary
definitions may be thought of as one-dimensional because they apply to any usage
of the terms. When the notion of aviation is added to the one-dimensional definitions,
more specific terms such as pilot judgment and aeronautical decision making
emerge. These may be thought of as multi-dimensional or domain-specific
definitions.
2.1 Judgment
Defining judgment is not a simple task. Difficulty arises when trying to distinguish
among judgment, decision making, pilot judgment and aeronautical decision making.
The terms are often used interchangeably. However, Hunter (2003) differentiates
among them by introducing the concept of dimensionality as follows:
One-dimensional definitions:
Decision making (dictionary) — the act of determining in one’s own mind the most
suitable opinion or course of action.
Multi-dimensional definitions:
Pilot judgment (Jensen 1995) — the mental process we use in making decisions:
Rational judgment — the ability to discover and establish the relevance of all
available information relating to problems of flight, to diagnose these
problems, to specify alternative courses of action and to assess the risk
associated with each alternative.
Jensen (1995) defines pilot judgment in terms of a pilot’s skill repertoire, knowledge
and motivation to choose a “suitable” course of action. Similarly, the FAA’s definition
of aeronautical decision making includes both process and outcome components.
Hunter (2003) argues that pilot judgment and aeronautical decision making can be
used interchangeably to represent the multi-dimensional nature of these concepts in
the aviation world while the one-dimensional definitions of judgment and decision
making, while applicable, do not express the complexity of the concepts in an
aeronautical environment.
This briefing note adopts the multi-dimensional definition of pilot judgment. Under
this definition, a pilot’s expertise (skills and knowledge) can influence his or her
judgments. This is consistent with general research, which supports the idea that
experts make better judgments. Later, this BN discusses how training pilots to make
good judgments is important in enhancing expertise.
Diagnose problems
Choose and execute a suitable course of action within the available time
(Jensen, 1995)
2.2 Expertise
Expertise is “special skill or knowledge,” and an expert is “a person who has special
skill or knowledge in some particular field.” Traditionally, the number of flight hours
and years of flying experience have been considered to be sufficient indicators of a
pilot’s level of expertise. It is now known that flying experience alone may not be
enough to define an individual as an expert pilot. Research has shown that in order
to become an expert in virtually any domain, an individual must engage in extensive
and deliberate practice (about four hours per day) over an extended period of time
(usually 10 years or more) on a specific task or a skill set. Evidence suggests that a
general predisposition to engage in deliberate practice appears to be the most
distinguishing characteristic of “experts.”
Pilots defined an expert pilot as one who is highly motivated, confident (but not
overconfident), has superior learning and performance skills, applies those skills in a
changing environment and possesses a type of judgment described by many as
“natural.” To many pilots, the expert pilot becomes one with the machine and flows
within the “flying space.”
Pilots stated that the expert pilot has the following specific characteristics:
2) Is highly motivated to learn all there is to know about the flight domain and
constantly practices the relevant flying tasks
3) Has superior ability to focus on the primary task and change focus as necessary
5) Is highly cognizant of the aircraft’s condition including noise, vibration and engine
indications
6) Is always vigilant for the unusual, abnormal or emergency, and mentally makes
contingency plans
7) Has superior mental capacity for problem diagnosis, risk assessment and problem
resolution
8) Has excellent communication skills and applies them to each audience and
situation
9) Knows his or her own limitations and is motivated to keep a safe margin above
that limit
10) Has the discipline and strength of ego to acknowledge his or her limitations in
every situation and seek help from crewmembers to offset the limitations
Adaptive expertise is the ability to apply one’s expertise (knowledge and skills) to a
novel situation (implies the use of cognitive flexibility as discussed below). In order to
develop adaptive expertise, pilots must learn to understand the underlying principles
of a task at a deeper level. This, in turn, requires training that will enable pilots to
recognize situations that have changed or occur out of an expected context. It also
necessitates including problem-solving techniques as part of the training in order to
cope effectively with unexpected events. Adaptive expertise enables pilots to:
Deal with ambiguity and to understand how their current beliefs and
assumptions may affect their perceptions of a situation, particularly one they
have never experienced.
Experts will make better judgments than novices as long as the subject matter is
within their domain or specific area of expertise. Achieving expertise in aviation does
not happen overnight, and pilots must understand that it will only come with
deliberate practice of both perceptual-motor and cognitive skills.
Create meaningful situations that will expand the pilot’s experience base
(e.g., fly new routes, learn a new aircraft and obtain an additional rating).
Cognitive skills are those that involve mental processes such as comprehension,
judgment, memory and reasoning. The training and deliberate practice techniques
for perceptual-motor skills can also enhance cognitive skills. However, cognitive
skills are often more complex than perceptual-motor skills. Because cognitive skills
are complex, a number of concepts have been explored related to the limitations of
human cognition. Understanding and using these concepts will aid a pilot in making
better judgments and increasing his or her expertise.
Mnemonic devices are often used as recall or memory aids. Mnemonics can be
verbal, something such as a very short poem or a special word used to help a
person remember something, particularly lists. For lists, usually the first letters of
words or phrases are used to create a meaningful word that serves as a reminder of
larger lists of words or phrases. A common example from general aviation is FLARE
to help recall the key after-takeoff steps:
F = flaps set (if extended during takeoff)
L = lights as required
R = radar transponder on
Mnemonics should not replace the use of checklists, but they are often very helpful.
Pilots should use standard mnemonics whenever available, but pilots should also try
creating their own as they may have more meaning to the individual and will likely be
remembered more easily.
Schema is a mental structure that represents some aspect of the world. A schema
helps individuals to organize information and to expect future events based on
previous experiences of sequenced events. A schema helps to make certain tasks
more automatic and lessens cognitive load. Generally speaking, a schema is formed
without effort, but it is important for an individual to understand that he or she indeed
is using a schema and that it may not necessarily apply to every situation. A novice
pilot will have very poorly developed schema for flying since he has little experience
performing tasks such as landing an aircraft. The novice will have to use much of his
cognitive capacity to think about and perform a landing. On the other hand, an
experienced “expert” pilot will have very well-developed schema. An expert pilot may
have a general schema that is applied to any landing, but the expert may also have a
different schema for landings at each individual airport. The expert will have to think
very little about the processes of landing an aircraft. However, this can sometimes
affect performance negatively by introducing biases such as confirmation bias. Here,
the pilot has used a certain schema successfully many times, but on a particular
occasion something is different (e.g., an unusual runway change). The pilot may use
his normal schema and miss or misinterpret the “different” information because the
unusual information or situation was not expected. If the pilot does not recognize
differences between the actual world and his or her schema, problems can occur.
For this reason, it is essential that even the most experienced pilots:
Monitor the environment for information that does not fit into their schema.
Adjust their schema when necessary; the same schema will not work in all
situations.
Practice as many abnormal situations as possible; the more they practice, the
more developed their schema become and the more easily they can be
applied if the abnormal situations ever occur.
Cognitive flexibility is the ability to quickly and accurately restructure one’s current
thoughts and actions to respond adaptively to dynamic and ill-defined situations. An
expert is often able to recognize the need to change, whereas the novice may
continue with an approach that is inappropriate. At other times, experts lose
cognitive flexibility when they try to apply a schema or approach that has worked
many times in the past. To achieve cognitive flexibility, pilots must:
Maintain a mindset that is open to the possibility that the current situation may
differ in important respects from those experienced previously.
Be alert to subtle cues that signal the emergence of a problem, an event that
can cause a problem or entry into an unknown situation.
Have the ability to recognize that the course of action needs to be changed
and have the ego-strength to make the change when they determine it will be
beneficial.
In order to develop adaptive expertise, pilots must understand how they think
and how their current knowledge can be helpful or, at times, detrimental.
In order to develop metacognitive skills, one should practice monitoring thoughts and
actions by asking: “What am I focusing on now and what is the state of the situation
(e.g., aircraft attitude, flight path, altitude, velocity)?” Think about thinking.
6 Key Points
Pilot judgment and aeronautical decision making are similar terms, and are
multi-dimensional concepts that examine processes and outcomes.
The qualities of an expert pilot do not necessarily arise just from the number
of hours logged or the number of years of flying experience.
Mnemonic devices can help pilots remember information, but they should not
replace checklists.