Developing Effective Flight Crew Decision Makers

Abstract

The need for including decision making training objectives in the development of flight crew training programs is evident given the dynamic and complex environment in which the pilots perform. The experience of one airline in developing training for their flight crews has demonstrated that these types of objectives can be effectively integrated into their line oriented flight training (LOFT) program. The primary goal of LOFT is to create a realistic environment in which the pilots perform as if they are in line operations. Performance in this environment sets the stage for an effective training debriefing. An essential part of creating this environment is allowing for realistic decisions to be made that are followed by the appropriate outcomes and consequences. Pilots have consistently rated these training events as effective and helpful. Besides these student critiques, the effectiveness of the training is also evaluated using check pilot observations of crew performance in line operations.