This paper describes an effort to understand the nature of decision tasks in the cockpit, their underlying cognitive requirements, the types of errors associated with each, and how crews can best be trained or aided. A scheme based on cue clarity and response availability was used to identify the cognitive requirements associated with classes of decision situations and to predict types of errors. Data from flight crews in full-mission simulators and from NTSB accident reports were analyzed to validate the analytical scheme.
Get full access to this article
View all access options for this article.
References
1.
ChidesterT. R.KankiB. G.FousheeH. C.DickinsonC. L.BowlesS. V. (1990). Personality factors in flight operations: Volume I. Leadership characteristics and crew performance in a full-mission air transport simulation. (NASA Tech. Mem. No. 102259). Moffett Field, CA: NASA-Ames Research Center.
2.
DiehlA. (1991). The effectiveness of training programs for preventing aircrew “error.” In Proceedings of the Sixth International Symposium on Aviation Psychology (pp. 640–655). Columbus, OH: Ohio State.
3.
FischerU.OrasanuJ.MontalvoM. (1993). Efficient decision strategies on the flight deck. In JensenR. (Ed.). Proceedings of the Seventh International Symposium on Aviation Psychology.Columbus, OH: Ohio State.
4.
FousheeH. C.LauberJ. K.BaetgeM. M.AcombD. B. (1986). Crew factors in flight operations: III. The operational significance of exposure to short-haul air transport operations. (Tech. Mem. No. 88322). Moffett Field, CA: NASA-Ames Research Center.
5.
KleinG. A. (1989). Recognition-primed decisions. In RouseW. B. (ed.). Advances in man-machine system research, 5. (pp. 47–92). Greenwich, CT: JAI Press.
6.
OrasanuJ. (1990). Shared mental models and crew decision making (Tech. Rep. No. 46). Princeton, NJ: Princeton University, Cognitive Science Lab.
7.
OrasanuJ. (in press). Decision making in the cockpit. In WienerE.KankiB.HelmreichR. (Eds.). Cockpit resource management.New York: Academic Press.
8.
OrasanuJ.WichM.FischerU.JobeK.McCoyE.BeattyR.SmithP. (1993). Distributed problem solving by pilots and dispatchers. In JensenR. (Ed.). Proceedings of the Seventh International Symposium on Aviation Psychology.Columbus, OH: Ohio State.
9.
RasmussenJ. (1983). Skill, rules, and knowledge: Signals, signs and symbols, and other distinctions in human performance models. IEEE Transactions on Systems, Man and Cybernetics.Vol. SMC-13, No. 3.
10.
ReasonJ. (1990). Human Error.Cambridge: Cambridge University Press.
