⦁ Explain that the key to acquiring and improving any skill is continued practice.
⦁ Monitor learner practice of skills and provide immediate feedback.
⦁ Avoid conversation and other distractions when learners are practicing individual skills.
⦁ Explain that learning plateaus are common and that continued practice leads to continued improvement.
Putting It All Together
Many skills are taught before a learner can fly an airplane or a maintenance learner can rebuild an aircraft engine. Just as practicing
scales is a fundamental part of learning to play the piano, the learner does not “make music” until the ability to combine the notes in a
variety of ways is acquired. For the learner pilot or technician, practicing specific skills is essential, but flying a cross-country trip or
repairing a collapsed landing gear requires “putting it all together” in the right way to achieve success.
The following section looks at the challenge of learning to perform several tasks at once, dealing with distractions and interruptions,
overcoming problems with fixation and inattention. It also describes the benefits of using realistic training scenarios to develop these
abilities.
The Multitasking Mistake
The term multitasking is often taken for granted to mean handling several tasks at the same time. For example, when a pilot is on
approach for a landing it is easy to assume that the experienced pilot is performing tasks in concurrence such as ATC
communications, scanning instrumentation, and adjusting for minor deviations through the flight controls. We assume that, due to
experience and practiced refinement, such skills at some point become automatic and somewhat instinctive. This belief can lead to a
false sense of confidence that the routine procedure at hand is only routine and therefore does not require the added attention to
question one's assumption that there will be no deviation in that task. [Figure 3-20]
Figure 3-20. A pilot is required to perform several tasks at once during approaches and landings.
Priorities of Task Management
It is generally impossible to look at two different things at the same time. The area of focused vision (called the fovea) is only a few
degrees in span and can only be directed to one location at a time. Similarly, people cannot listen to two conversations at the same
time. While both conversations fall upon the ears at once, people need to devote their attention to the comprehension of one, to the
exclusion of the other.
In the flight deck, a pilot is encumbered with any number competing events, tasks, and actions that each demand the attention of the
pilot. While the pilot may believe that he or she is successfully managing these many tasks at the same time, in actuality, it is difficult
to process more than one thought in congruence. This is especially true when one or more tasks go beyond perceived automation and
require cognitive effort. To help reduce the risk of information-processing bottlenecks, it may be necessary for the pilot to employ
attention switching.
Continuously switching attention back and forth between two or more tasks is attention switching. For example, when Beverly uses a
checklist to perform a preflight inspection, she continuously switches her attention between the checklist and the equipment she is
inspecting. She looks at the checklist to retrieve the next step in the procedure, and then looks at the equipment to perform the step.
There is a danger in task switching. The individual may decide that one task is less of a priority than another and choose to postpone
resolution of that task. In doing so, it is very easy to simply forget the deferred task completely. Or, should the pilot become
momentarily distracted, then effort should be made to remember what task to return to and at what stage of resolution that task was
left in. Even the act of managing such tasks is in and of itself a task.
Increased Workload, Diminished Quality
A common response to an overwhelming workload is to reduce the level of standards for quality and achievement. Preemptively
evaluating an impending task list to then choose to reduce (or even remove) relatively unimportant tasks can be a safe and effective
action against the stresses that often comes with overburdened workload. However, it is not always the case that individuals have the
time (or cognitive discipline as referenced in Chapter 2, Human Behavior) to accurately predict what tasks should instead be focused
on. Sometimes the individual (especially those inexperienced or under high stress) reverts to a reaction-based response process. This
can create a negative environment that may actually induce more stress as the individual continually tries to respond to each task
without an overall plan.
Learning to Task Manage
Before learners are asked to perform several tasks at once, instructors should ensure that the learner has devoted enough time to study
and practice such that the individual tasks can be performed reasonably well in isolation.
Inexperience with an individual task can often hinder attempts to combine it with other tasks. For example, a learner distracted by
trying to interpret unfamiliar symbols on a sectional chart inadvertently deviates from assigned attitude or heading. An instructor
recognizes the need to spend more time with these skills in isolation. In this case, there is nothing about the experience of controlling
the aircraft that helps learners better understand chart symbols.
Distractions and Interruptions
A distraction is an unexpected event that causes the learner’s attention to be momentarily diverted. Learners need to decide whether
or not a distraction warrants further attention or action on their part. Once this has been decided, the learners either turn their attention
back to what they were doing, or act on the distraction.
An interruption is an unexpected event for which the learner voluntarily suspends performance of one task in order to complete a
different one. Interruptions are a significant source of errors and learners need to be aware of the potential for errors caused by
interruptions and develop procedures for dealing with them. A classic example is an interruption that occurs while a learner is
following the steps in a written procedure or checklist. The learner puts down the checklist, deals with the interruption, and then
returns to the procedure—but erroneously picks up at a later point in the procedure, omitting one or more steps.
Fixation and Inattention
Since human attention is limited in focus and highly prone to distraction, people are vulnerable to two other types of problems:
fixation and inattention.
Fixation occurs when a learner becomes absorbed in performing one task to the exclusion of other tasks. Instructors see many
examples of this in learner performance. Beginning instrument pilots characteristically fixate on particular instruments, attempting to
control one aspect of their performance while other aspects deteriorate. Fixation on a task is often a sign that the task has not received
enough practice in isolation. That is, the learner has not yet mastered the task well enough to perform it in addition to other tasks.
Fixation can happen even when individual skills have been reasonably mastered, when learners have not yet learned the importance of
managing their own limited attentional resources.
Inattention occurs when a learner fails to pay attention to a task that is important. Inattention is sometimes a natural by-product of
fixation. Learners fixate on one task and become too busy to attend to other tasks. Inattention also happens when learners are not
busy: attention may drift when they become bored or think that a task does not deserve their attention. In some cases, this type of
inattention is difficult to eliminate through training and practice. For example, it is well known that humans perform poorly when
placed in the role of passive monitor. Many studies have shown how performance rapidly deteriorates when humans are asked to
passively monitor gauges or the progress of an automated system such as a GPS navigation computer or autopilot. Furthermore, it
seems that the more reliable the system becomes, the poorer the human performance becomes at the monitoring task. The first line of
defense against this type of inattention is to alert the learner to the problem, and to help develop habits that keep their attention
focused.
How to Identify Fixation or Inattention Problems
One way for instructors to identify problems with fixation and inattention is to try and follow where learners look. To accomplish this,
instructors can glance at a learner’s eyes to try to determine where they are looking. Learners who appear to look at one ins trument
for an extended period of time might have a problem with fixation. Learners whose gaze is never directed toward engine instruments
might have a problem with inattention.
The technique of following learner eye movements is useful, but has limitations since looking in the same direction is not the same as
“seeing” what the learner sees.
Scenario-Based Training (SBT)
Research and practical experience have demonstrated the usefulness of practicing in realistic scenarios —ones that resemble the
environment in which knowledge and skills are later used. Instructors should devise scenarios that allow learners to practice what they
have learned. This is challenging because different learners need to practice different things at different times, and because different
working environments present different practice opportunities.
What makes a good scenario? A good scenario:
⦁ Has a clear set of objectives.
⦁ Is tailored to the needs of the learner.
⦁ Capitalizes on the nuances of the local environment.
For example, Bill is introducing Beverly to a low-fuel emergency. His objective at this early stage is to simply enable Beverly to
recall the sorts of actions that are appropriate for a low-fuel emergency. He decides to use the classroom environment as a first
practice scenario. He asks Beverly about what sorts of actions she might take if such an event would occur. She has some good ideas
but he asks her to think more about before her next lesson. On her next lesson he gives her the same exercise. This time her answers
are consistent and insightful. Bill decides that this scenario has served its purpose and moves on.
During their next flight, Bill’s objective is having Beverly recall and carry out the steps that she was able to cite in the classroom. As
they arrive at their home airport, he presents Beverly with a low-fuel scenario. He notes that she remembers much of what she was
able to recall in the classroom, but amidst the excitement, has forgotten a few things. He uses the same scenario at a different airport
on their next flight, and she performs admirably.
Later in her training, Bill’s next objective is to enable her to recall and perform the emergency steps in concert with other piloting
duties. They depart on a cross-country flight from a populated area to a remote area. While en route, Bill presents Beverly with a low-
fuel emergency scenario knowing that there is only one airport nearby and that it is not easy to spot. She successfully uses her
available navigational resources to locate and arrive at the airport. Upon returning home, Bill attempts to generalize her new abilities
and put yet a different spin on the same problem. He presents the low-fuel scenario, taking advantage of the fact that there are eight
nearby airports. All of the airports are in plain view, and she can choose one.
Each of these scenarios taught Beverly something she needed to learn next, and made good use of the surroundings and availabl e
circumstances. As these examples illustrate, there is no list of “canned” scenarios that can be used for all learners. Instructors should
devise their own scenarios by considering what each learner needs to practice, and exploiting features of the local environment that
allow them to do it.
The Learning Route to Expertise
What does it take to successfully orchestrate all of the knowledge and skills the learner has learned into what instructors, evaluators,
and other pilots and mechanics would regard as true expertise? All evidence seems to point once again to the idea of practice. Just as
the perfection of an individual skill seems to rely on repeated practice, so does the combination of knowledge and skills that make up
our abilities to do the real-world job of pilot or mechanic.
How much practice does it take to become a true expert? In a study of expert performers in fields ranging from science to music to
chess, one psychologist found that no performer had reached true expertise without having invested at least ten years of practice in his
or her field. Experts have been found to use two tools to help them gain expertise in their field: cognitive strategies and problem-
solving tactics.
Cognitive Strategies
The idea of cognitive strategies emerged over 50 years ago in the context of human information processing theory. Cognitive
strategies refer to the knowledge of procedures or knowledge about how to do something in contrast with the knowledge of facts.
They use the mind to solve a problem or complete a task and provide a structure for learning that actively promotes the
comprehension and retention of knowledge. A cognitive strategy helps the learner develop internal procedures that enable him or her
to perform higher level operations.
As learners acquire experience, they develop their own strategies for dealing with problems that arise frequently. For example, a
learner develops the following strategy for avoiding inadvertent flight into instrument meteorological conditions (IMC) at night. He
or she checks the weather prior to departure, obtains updates on the weather every hour, and plans to divert to an alternate destination
at the first suspicion of unexpected weather ahead.
One approach to helping develop cognitive strategies is to study and identify the strategies that experts use and then teach these
strategies to the learners. Expert strategies were identified by researchers who presented experts with problems to solve and asked
them to think aloud as they attempted to solve the problems. These cognitive strategies can be taught to learners, usually with
successful results.
Problem-Solving Tactics
Problem-solving tactics are specific actions intended to get a particular result, and this type of knowledge represents the most targeted
knowledge in the expert’s arsenal. For example, a learner notices how easy it is to make a mistake with a takeoff distance chart after
using it several times. She notices her finger drifts upward or downward when sliding it across a row of numbers on the chart ,
sometimes landing on the wrong number. The learner formulates several tactics to ensure she obtains the correct figures: (1) work
slowly and deliberately, (2) use a ruler, and (3) double-check the work.
But even the experts had to practice. In a study of violinists at a music academy in Berlin, researchers compared the “best” learners to
those who were regarded as merely “very good.” Using estimates of how many total hours each learner had spent practicing during
his or her lifetime, the researchers found that the best violinists had spent an average of 7,000 hours practicing, while the very good
violinists had logged about 5,000 hours. The scientific study of expertise reiterates the adage: “Practice makes perfect.”
Awareness of Existence of Unknowns
An important aspect of an expert’s knowledge is an awareness of what he or she does not know. This is not always the case wit h a
learner. It’s important that an instructor be aware of situations in which learners have acquired “book” knowledge, but not y et
acquired the more in-depth understanding that comes from association and experience. For example, after acquiring substantial
knowledge of a single-engine, two-seat training aircraft, learners should understand that a four-seat aircraft by the same manufacturer
should be approached with caution and not overconfidence.
Summary of Instructor Actions
To help learners exercise their knowledge and skills in a concerted fashion, the instructor should:
⦁ Explain the difference between normal task switching and interruption multitasking and give examples of each.
⦁ Ensure that individual skills are reasonably well-practiced before asking learners to perform several tasks at once.
⦁ Teach learners how to deal with distractions and interruptions and provide them with opportunities to practice.
⦁ Point out fixation and inattention when it occurs.
⦁ Devise scenarios that allow learners to use their knowledge and skill to solve realistic problems and make decisions.
⦁ Explain to the learner that continued practice with the goal of improving leads to continued improvement.
Errors
Errors are a natural part of human performance. Beginners, as well as the most highly skilled experts, are vulnerable to error, and this
is perhaps the most important thing to understand about error. To believe people can eliminate errors from their performance is to
commit the biggest error of all. Instructors and learners alike should be prepared for occasional errors by learning about common
kinds of errors, how errors can be minimized, how to learn from errors, and how to recover from errors when they are made.
Kinds of Errors
There are two kinds of errors: slips and mistakes.
Slip
A slip occurs when a person plans to do one thing, but then inadvertently does something else. Slips are errors of action. Slips can
take on a variety of different forms. One of the most common forms of slips is to simply neglect to do something. Other forms of slips
occur when people confuse two things that are similar. Accidentally using a manual that is similar to the one really needed is an
example of this type of slip.
Other forms of slips happen when someone is asked to perform a routine procedure in a slightly different way. For example, Beverly
has been assigned runway 30 for many days in a row. This morning she approaches to land and ATC assigns runway 12 instead. As
she approaches the traffic pattern, she turns to enter the pattern for runway 30 out of habit.
Time pressure is another common source of slips. Studies of people performing a variety of tasks demonstrated a phenomenon called
the speed-accuracy tradeoff. The more hurried one’s work becomes the more slips one is likely to make.
Mistake
A mistake occurs when a person plans to do the wrong thing and is successful. Mistakes are errors of thought. Mistakes are
sometimes the result of gaps or misconceptions in the learner’s understanding. One type of mistake happens when a learner
formulates an understanding of a phenomenon and then later encounters a situation that shows how this understanding was incorrect
r incomplete. For example, overly simplistic understanding of weather frequently leads inexperienced learners into situations that are
unexpected.
Experts are not immune to making mistakes, which sometimes arise from the way an expert draws upon knowledge of familiar
problems and responds to them using familiar solutions. [Figure 3-21] Mistakes can occur when the expert categorizes a particular
case incorrectly. For example, an experienced pilot may become accustomed to ignoring nuisance alerts issued by his traffic alerting
system when approaching his home airport, as many aircraft on the ground turn on their transponders prior to takeoff. One night, he
ignores an alert that was generated not by an aircraft on the ground, but rather by another aircraft that has turned in front of him on
final approach.
Reducing Error
Although it is impossible to eliminate errors entirely, there are ways to reduce them, as described in the following paragraphs.
Learning and Practicing
The first line of defense against errors is learning and practice. Higher levels of knowledge and skill are associated with a lower
frequency and magnitude of error.
Taking Time
Errors can often be reduced by working deliberately at a comfortable pace. Hurrying does not achieve the same results as faster
performance that is gained by increasing one’s skill through continued practice.
Checking for Errors
Another way to help avoid errors is to look actively for evidence of them. Many tasks in aviation offer a means of checking work.
Learners should be encouraged to look for new ways of checking their work.
Figure 3-21. Other mistakes arise under pressure. For example, a technician or pilot might perform a cursory inspection of an
aircraft to save time, only to have a problem manifest itself later.
Using Reminders
Errors are reduced when visible reminders are present and actively used. Checklists and other published procedures are examples of
reminders. Many aircraft instruments such as heading indicators offer bugs that can be used to remind the pilot about assigne d
headings and courses and some may also prompt altitudes and airspeeds. Mechanics and pilots alike can use notepads to jot dow n
reminders or information that should otherwise be committed to memory.
Developing Routines
The use of standardized procedures for routine tasks is widely known to help reduce error. Even when a checklist procedure is
unavailable or impractical, learners can help reduce the occurrence of error by adopting standardized procedures.
Raising Awareness
Another line of defense against errors is to raise one’s awareness when operating in conditions under which errors are known to
happen (e.g., changes in routine, time pressure), or in conditions under which defenses against errors have been compromised (e.g.,
fatigue, lack of recent practice).
Error Recovery
Given that the occasional error is inevitable, it is a worthwhile exercise to practice recovering from commonly made errors, or those
that pose serious consequences. All flight learners need to learn and practice a lost procedure to ensure that they can recover from the
situation in which they have lost their way. It is useful to devote the same sort of preparation to other common learner errors.
Learning from Error
Error can be a valuable learning resource. Learners naturally make errors, which instructors can utilize in training to help while being
careful not to let the individual practice doing the wrong thing. When a learner makes an error, it is useful to ask them to consider
why the error happened, and what could be done differently to prevent the error from happening again in the future. In some cases,
errors are slips that simply reveal the need for more practice. In other cases, errors point to aspects of learner methods or habits that
might be improved. For example, beginning instrument flight learners commonly make errors when managing two communications
radios, each with an active and standby frequency. When the same learners understand each radio’s specific purpose (e.g., ATIS,
ground, tower frequencies), error rates often drop quickly.
Instructors and learners should be aware of a natural human tendency to resist learning from errors. That is, there is a tendency to
“explain away” errors, dismissing them as one-time events that will likely never happen again. The same phenomenon occurs when
observing errors made by others. Reading an accident or incident report, it is easy to spot where a pilot or mechanic made an error
and regard the error as something that could never happen to the reader. It is important to note that this type of bias is not necessarily
the result of ego or overconfidence; rather, it is something to which we are all susceptible. Psychologist Baruch Fischoff studied
hindsight explanations given by people who were presented with descriptions of situations and their ultimate outcomes. When asked
to provide explanations for events that had already occurred and for which the outcome was known, people explained that the
outcomes were “obvious” and “predictable.” When the same events without the outcomes were presented to a second group, peoples’
prediction of the outcome was no better than chance guessing. The study nicely illustrates the popular adage that “hindsight is 20/20.”
Summary of Instructor Actions
To help learners learn from errors they make and be prepared for them in the future, an instructor should:
⦁ Explain that pilots and mechanics at all levels of skill and experience make occasional errors.
⦁ Explain that the magnitude and frequency of errors tend to decrease as skill and experience increases.
⦁ Explain the difference between slips and mistakes and provide examples of each.
⦁ Explain ways in which the learner can help minimize errors.
⦁ Allow the learner to practice recovering from common errors.
⦁ P oint out errors when they occur and ask the learner to explain why they occurred.
Memory
Memory is the vital link between the learner learning/retaining information and the cognitive process of applying what is learned. It is
the ability of people and other organisms to encode (initial perception and registration of information), store (retention of encoded
information over time), and retrieve (processes involved in using stored information) information. [Figure 3-22] When a person
successfully recalls a past experience (or skill), information about the experience has been encoded, stored, and retrieved.
Figure 3-22. Information processing within the sensory register, working on short-term memory, and long-term memory includes
complex coding, sorting, storing, and recall functions.
Although there is no universal agreement of how memory works, a widely accepted model has three components: sensory memory,
short-term memory (STM), and long-term memory (LTM).