Pilot's Handbook of Aeronautical Knowledge

Chapter 2: Aeronautical Decision-Making

---

It is estimated that approximately 80 percent of all aviation accidents are related to human factors. The vast majority of these accidents occur during landing and takeoff. Aeronautical Decision-Making (ADM) is a systematic approach to risk assessment and stress management

Crew Resource Management (CRM) training for flight crews is focused on the effective use of all available resources: human resources, hardware, and information supporting ADM to facilitate crew cooperation and improve decision-making. Since 1987, ADM training has reduced accidents within General Aviation and airline operations. ADM decreases the probability of human error and increases the probability of a safe flight.

The goal of risk management is to proactively identify safety-related hazards and mitigate the associated risks. The fundamental principles of risk management are:

• Accept no unnecessary risk.
• Make risk decisions at the appropriate level (by the person who can develop and implement risk controls).
• Accept risk when benefits outweigh dangers (costs).
• Integrate risk management into planning at all levels.

Many CRM concepts apply to single-pilot operations. Single-Pilot Resource Management (SRM) is defined as managing all the resources available to a single pilot to ensure the successful outcome of the flight.

Risk is an assessment of the single or cumulative hazard facing a pilot. Pilots with different levels of experience will evaluate hazards differently, and thus arrive at different risk-assessments. Differences in decision-making are referred to as human factors. This can lead to pilots being overly cautious or overly hazardous.

Studies have identified five hazardous attitudes that can interfere with the ability to make sound decisions. Recognition of hazardous thoughts is the first step toward neutralizing them.

• Anti-authority: “Don’t tell me.” Antidote: ”Follow the rules. They are usually right.”
• Impulsivity: “Do it quickly.” Antidote: ”Not so fast. Think first.”
• Invulnerability: “It won’t happen to me.” Antidote: ” It could happen to me.”
• Macho: “I can do it.” Antidote: ”Taking chances is foolish.”
• Resignation: “What’s the use?” Antidote: ”I’m not helpless. I can make a difference.”

The risk matrix assesses two items: the likelihood of an event occurring and the consequence of that event. Connecting the two factors may require the pilot to find a way to mitigate the risk, or simply to not fly.

One of the best ways single pilots can mitigate risk is to use the IMSAFE checklist.

• Illness
• Medication
• Stress
• Alcohol
• Fatigue
• Emotion

By incorporating the PAVE checklist into preflight planning, the pilot divides the risks of flight into four categories.

• Pilot in Command: A pilot must continually make decisions about competency, condition of health, mental and emotional state, level of fatigue, and many other variables.
   
• Aircraft: A pilot will frequently base decisions on the evaluations of the aircraft, such as performance, equipment, or airworthiness.
   
• Environment: This encompasses many elements not pilot or airplane related. It can include such factors as weather, air traffic control, navigational aids (NAVAIDS), terrain, takeoff and landing areas, and surrounding obstacles.
   
• External pressures: Why the flight is being made, how critical is it to maintain the schedule, and is the trip worth the risks?
   

Human factors directly cause or contribute to many aviation accidents and have been documented as a primary contributor to more than 70 percent of aircraft accidents The successful pilot possesses the ability to concentrate, manage workloads, and monitor and perform several simultaneous tasks.

Steps leading to a decision constitute a decision-making process.. The ”Five Ps” asks the pilot to evaluate the plan, plane, pilot, passengers, and programming. The ”Three Ps” asks the pilot to perceive, process, and perform during all phases of flight. The ”CARE” checklist calls out consequences, alternatives, reality, and external pressures. The ”TEAM” checklist emphasizes risk management via transfer, eliminate, accept, or mitigate.

The ”DECIDE” model promotes Detection of an event, Estimation of the event, Choosing a course of action, Identifying solutions, Doing an action, and Evaluating the result.

Operational pitfalls are classic behavioral traps that come with the development of pilot experience:

• Peer pressure
• Mindset
• Get-there-itis
• Duck-under syndrome
• Scud running
• Continuing visual flight rules (VFR) into instrument conditions
• Getting behind the aircraft
• Loss of positional or situational awareness
• Operating without adequate fuel reserves
• Descent below the minimum en route altitude
• Flying outside the envelope
• Neglect of flight planning, preflight inspections, and checklists

Learning to recognize resources found inside and outside the flight deck is an essential part of ADM training. Internal resources may include the person in the right seat. Solo pilots may also read checklists aloud. ATC and flight service specialists are the best external resources during flight.

Situational awareness is the accurate perception and understanding of all the factors and conditions within the five fundamental risk elements (flight, pilot, aircraft, environment, and type of operation that comprise any given aviation situation) that affect safety before, during, and after the flight. Fatigue, stress, and work overload can cause a pilot to fixate on a single perceived important item and reduce an overall situational awareness of the flight. Effective workload management ensures essential operations are accomplished by planning, prioritizing, and sequencing tasks to avoid work overload. The task load may increase during the final phase of a flight, while the pilot’s capabilities may decrease. When a pilot understands what is going on and has an overview of the total operation, he or she is not fixated on one perceived significant factor.

Pilots should look upon unfamiliarity with the aircraft and its systems as a hazard with high risk potential.

---

Test Prep

Several ADM questions on FAA written tests are tricky and easy to get wrong. This is because the language used for the test question and possible answers is very specific, and the distractors offered look plausible. Questions can refer to "aeronautical decision making," "crew resource management," and "risk management," which have distinct definitions.

Other ADM questions present no challenges for pilots studying to pass the Commercial or CFI test. These include questions on the five hazardous attitudes, as well as questions related to over-reliance upon automated systems.

Flight instructors should begin teaching ADM after the student learns basic maneuvers — which is to say, the discussion should start right away, not later in the learning process.

Aeronautical Decision Making (ADM) is a systematic approach to the mental process used by pilots to consistently determine the best course of action in response to a given set of circumstances.

Risk Management is a sub-category of ADM. Rather than being an overlying system of processes, it is specifically concerned with situational awareness, problem recognition, and good judgment.

Crew Resource Management emphasizes the need to use "all available resources" to complete the flight in a safe manner. It encourages flight crews to recognize and mitigate hazards.

ADM and CRM are especially concerned with hazards, pressures, and stress. The correct answers to several test questions include one or more of these words.

---

Commercial Pilot & Flight Instructor Test Questions