Scheduling and rostering: The unpredictability of flying (when and where the pilot has to fly), as well as time zone changes and night flying can all lead to stress for a pilot.
Anxiety of courses and checks: Pilots are under constant scrutiny, and there is constant change, new knowledge and information to assimilate. The fear of failure can cause anxiety and increased stress levels.
Career achievement: Striving for personal goals & ambitions can be a beneficial form of stress, but if those goals are not realized, it could turn negative for the pilot.
Insufficient Flying: Factors such as too many pilots, too little work and seasonality can lead to lack of practice anxieties.
Responsibility and decision making: Most pilot like to be the one making the decision, and tend to thrive on challenges. This can be seen as a positive, motivation form of stress.
Interpersonal problems: Problems with cabin staff and other aircrew can cause stress in the workplace.
Managerial and organizational issues: Issues such as style of management, lack of support, conditions of employment, scheduling and moral can all contribute to stress.
Domestic status: Disruption at home and issues such as family health and economics can have a tremendous impact on pilot performance.
Fatigue and flying issues: Factors such as sleeping patters, poor preparation and recovery from flight and the length of trips can lead to fatigue and stress issues.
Environmental: Heat, noise, vibration, low humidity in the cockpit can cause ongoing stresses for the pilot.
Coping
“We all possess a repertoire of psychological mechanisms or defenses which we evoke to combat stressful or unpleasant experiences” Sloan & Cooper, 1984
Reaction to stress can be a positive or negative one. Some typical reactions include:
Negative: Positive:
Overeat Exercise
Smoke Hobbies
Drink Talk with therapist/friend/spouse
Self medicate Social interaction
Fight/argue Read
Withdraw
Recognizing what causes stress in a pilot’s life, and finding constructive ways to diminish the negative and enhance the positive factors, can lead to greater performance, and an increase in the limitations of a pilot.
Technology
The advancement of technology in aviation has increased pilot’s ability and extended his/her limitations more than any other factor. It is man’s own limitations that limit the effectiveness of any new technology that is introduced. Advancement in aviation, safety, automation (and the problems inherent in automation), can all influence the capability of a pilot in the cockpit.
Advancement in Aviation
The following is a brief synopsis of the major events in aviation history. With each event, the limitations of the pilot were substantially expanded.
Balloons and dirigibles Wright brothers
World war I and II Instrumentation
Pressurized cabins The Jet Age
Supersonic Flight Space flight
Computers and GPS Glass cockpit
Safety and Technology
Safety and technology will forever be intertwined and much advancement in technology can be linked directly to safety. The 80,000 pound rule, introduced (and later rescinded) after World War II, was an attempt to address the alarming number of accidents in aircraft over 80,000 pounds by adding a third crew member. This is an example of how procedure must be modified due to technological advancement for safety reasons.
Implementation of redundancy systems, better communication networks (ATC), and other advancements such as anti-collision systems show how technology has been integral in the safety of aviation.
Automation
Automation to assist pilots has been around since before the Wright brothers. Maxim’s gyroscope is an example of an automated device that found its way into the cockpits. Automated systems such as autopilots and autothrottles have been around for decades. The main purpose of automation is to reduce pilot’s workload in the cockpit. Two person crews are now feasible due to newer electrical, hydraulic, pneumatic, and fuel systems, Automated no-smoking and seat belt signs, automatic load shedding for electrical problems, air-conditioner shutoff when there’s an engine failure all contribute to a reduced cockpit workload and increase the limitations of the pilot’s capabilities.
Problems with automation
Advancement and automation are not always beneficial: “Problems arise when many innovations either compete or have to be brought to perfection and integrated into a complex system unused to such change” (Launius, 1999)
Some problems encountered with automation include the fact that aircraft is now much more complex, and requires more knowledge and training to operate, digital displays are replacing analogue and more information is able to be displayed, but again, it is a more complex system and there is the danger of information overload.
Possibly due in part to complacency, automation has not substantially reduced the overall safety record for aircraft and pilot error still exists and is still the leading cause of accidents.
Intervening Factors: Weather and Accidents and Mechanical Failure
Weather
Weather plays a crucial role in a pilot’s career. A pilot has no control over the weather and as a result, pilot limitations can be severely affected to the point where flight is impossible.
Weather encountered in flight will reduce the physical abilities of the pilot; i.e. vision, and require more reliance on technology; i.e. instrumentation, radar, GPS, as well as increase stress levels.
Solutions
Although weather is out of any pilot’s control, increased knowledge of weather and good weather briefings can go along way reduce incidents and accidents.
Accidents and Mechanical Failure
Unpredictable occurrences (emergencies) can increase acute stress levels to a point where a pilot can become incapacitated. Failures in systems can limit pilot’s capabilities when in flight and could lead to loss of control and CFIT, and other factors such as decompression or cabin smoke can reduce the pilot’s physical ability to operate the aircraft and reducing his/her limitations
Solutions
Safety training, emergency procedures, checklists, and experience can reduce the amount of loss and even prevent accidents when pilots are faced with these unpredictable occurrences.
Conclusion
There are many limiting factors that can effect a pilot’s ability to operate an aircraft safely. Making slips and errors are simply characteristics of all human beings.
If we can pinpoint factors that DO limit a pilot’s ability, as well as improve training and technology, the scope of what a pilot is capable of can hopefully be expanded beyond the many limitations faced today.
Figure 2 – Title???
Physical and Physiological
- Physical Limitations - Attention, Set and Motivation
- Information Processing - Memory
Training
- Pilot Selection - Training Requirements
-Types of Training
Stress - Types of Stress - Areas of Stress Particular to Pilots
- Symptoms of Stress - Coping with Stress
Health
- Substance Abuse - Eating Patterns
- Other Factors
Technology
- Advancements in Aviation - Safety
- Automation - Problems with Automation
