Summary
Stress is the response of the body to factors that alter the normal physiological behavior of a person. In aviation, stress can be defined as bodily, mental, or emotional pressures due to different stimuli (Aviation Psychology, Human Factors, and the Design of Aviation Systems, 2009) . Stress normally affects how people perform various tasks. In aviation, stress may negatively affect the decision making of pilots and other aviation professionals. Stress results to rush decision-making where pilots do not evaluate all the available options during a crisis and end up making the wrong decisions, which may lead to accidents due to errors. Understanding these factors and how pilots can cope with stressful work conditions and situations can boost their performance through the reduction of stress-related errors (Aviation Psychology, Human Factors, and the Design of Aviation Systems, 2009). Having an understanding that fellow employees can react differently to the same situation is important in controlling such situations from getting out of hand.
Problem
The problem is that stress and stressful conditions to the flight crew often lead to poor and rush decisions in emergencies, which may result in accidents due to errors (Dismukes, Goldsmith and Kochan, 2015). Decisions made by the flight crew are very crucial as any slight mistake may lead to accidents, which are normally fatal.
Delegate your assignment to our experts and they will do the rest.
Significance of the problem
The significance of the problem is that flight crew decisions are very important in times of emergency, such as a fire. These emergencies are normally stressful and may result in errors, which may cause fatal accidents. When stressed, part of the human memory is unavailable. This limits the choices pilots have, which leads to poor decisions (Dismukes, Goldsmith and Kochan, 2015). Flight crew should, therefore, have an understanding of the causes of stress and how to manage them to avoid making wrong decisions, which may be due to the failure of evaluating all available options. For example, in 1996, FED Ex 1406 made an emergency landing in Stewart. There was smoke at the cargo cabin compartment. This emergency lead to poor decisions from the captain who failed to manage the crew or resources. Distractions and failure to follow the aviation emergency procedure resulted in more errors. These errors caused the plane to be pressurized during landing leading to a delay in egress.
Development of Alternative Actions
Pilots should take these measures to reduce the vulnerability to errors due to stress (Dismukes, Goldsmith and Kochan,2015):
Assess and interpret the emergencies comprehensively. The major problem that leads to poor decisions in high-stress situations is inadequate assessment. The pilot and other crewmembers should assess the situation thoroughly before making a decision.
Advantages. Proper assessment of high-stress situations and consultations ensure that the pilot makes the best decisions. This reduces errors and hence fewer accidents.
Disadvantages. Emergencies often require the pilot to act immediately before the matter escalates. Consultations and spending much time thinking may result in wastage of precious time.
Checklists and procedures should be easily accessible. During emergencies, the checklists and emergency procedures should be easily retrievable by the flight crew to hasten the speed of resolving the problems.
Advantage. Easily retrievable checklists save on time, which is crucial in an emergency.
Handling all essential tasks. Various tasks are performed during emergencies to manage the situation. The pilot should ensure that all activities are handled.
Advantage. Handling all crucial tasks reduces risks on unattended tasks. This promotes safety.
Disadvantages. Some tasks may consume more time. Time is critical during emergencies and should be saved at all costs.
Identifying and analyzing all decision options. Decisions made during a crisis should be on point. Poor decisions may lead to fatal consequences. Analyzing all options ensure that the best decision is made.
Advantage . Ensures that the best decisions regarding the situation are made, which increases the chances of surviving the situations.
Disadvantage . Evaluating all options before making a decision may take much time, particularly in complicated situations. Time is crucial and should be saved.
Develop a high-level mentality that guides action. Pilots should develop a mentality that enables them to cope with various stressful situations. This would promote better decision making and hence fewer errors.
Advantage. Promotes better decision making in high-stress situations, which would reduce cases of accidents due to errors.
Update the mentality as the situation changes. Adaptation is essential is high-stress situations and ensures that the pilot makes appropriate decisions depending on the situation and not emotions.
Advantage . An adapted mentality promotes better decision-making based on reasoning rather than emotions and influences.
Have mental flexibility to disregard inappropriate actions in the situations. Emergency cases are not similar, and each requires unique ways to handle. Pilots should do away with situations that may not be applicable in these situations and concentrate on finding better ways to solve the situation.
Advantage. Ensures time is not wasted applying obsolete methods. This results in better decisions to handle unique situations.
Disadvantage. The protocol may require pilots to use some methods, which may not be helpful in some situations. This would result in breaches on aviation rules.
Recommendations
Stress management training should be offered to pilots and other flight crew. This would enable them to understand the common sources of stress and how to cope with high-stress situations. This would reduce the number of errors that results due to stress, which would reduce accidents.
References
Aviation Psychology, Human Factors, and the Design of Aviation Systems. (2009). Aviation Psychology and Human Factors , 51–71. doi: 10.1201/9781439808443.ch3
Dismukes, R., T. Goldsmith and J. Kochan. "Effects of Acute Stress on Aircrew Performance: Literature Review and Analysis of Operational Aspects." NASA , August 2015. Article.
