Pilots’ Responses to Unexpected Events: Conceptual, Theoretical, Methodological, and Analytical Issues

ABSTRACT

Objective

We present a proactive perspective with respect to flight crew responses to novel, unexpected, surprising, and/or unanticipated aviation events. We identify ways to mitigate the brittleness of traditionally trained forms of pilot reaction by advocating for, and fostering the use of, concurrent adaptive and resilient response capacities during unexpected events.

Background

Aircraft operations are highly proceduralized events and specifications of pilots’ tasks as well as procedures of others involved in airspace operations have been major contributors to the overall safety of the National Airspace System. Furthermore, air traffic controllers are responsible for the safe separation of aircraft and also provide expeditious handling to achieve traffic schedules. One challenge that NextGen may pose is the adaptation to and overreliance on automation. Although NextGen systems include capabilities designed to optimize performance, when the flight crew becomes over-reliant on such capabilities, there is a risk they could fail to intervene with appropriate and timely actions in response to unexpected events; this is concerning for safety and efficiency in flight operations as humans are the greatest source of resilience in all complex socio-technical systems.

Method

To identify the especial importance of resilience, we have generated a synthesis of extant research through which to frame our proposed, proactive strategy. This approach particularly features discussions concerning the potential efficacy of resilience training, as well as encapsulating these proposals within a time-based framework concerning such unexpected events.

Results

Our synthesis illustrates and explicates the descriptive interrelationship of the identified resilience-related concepts. This step provides the insights which are critical to the foundation of subsequent empirical evaluations of needed training interventions.

Conclusion

Since the absolute frequency of off-nominal events appears to be increasing, these interventions promise to become progressively more important to operational safety. While the present focus is on flight crew capabilities, our current assessment can equally address a wider systems perspective and extend to operational domains well beyond aviation alone.

Acknowledgments

We are happy to express our thanks for the support of the Federal Aviation Administration (FAA), through Cooperative Agreement 692M151940001 concerning “Air Carrier Training Recommendations to Address Limitations of Pilot Procedures during Unexpected Events in NextGen Operations.” Dr. Kathy Abbott is the Technical Sponsor for this Project and Dr. Bill Kaliardos is the Program Manager for this work. We are grateful for their help in respect of the present work. The positions postulated here are solely those of the authors and should not be interpreted as in any way representing those of the named Agency or any policy concerning the topic of the cited Cooperative Agreement. Our appreciation also extends to the important and significant points and insights raised by the reviewers of the present paper for whose comments and observations we are most grateful.

Disclosure Statement

No potential conflict of interest was reported by the author(s).