Human Factors Flashcards
What causes 91% of fatal aviation accident?
Pilot error
What is situational awareness in aviation?
Pilots must have a good understanding of what is going on around them
At what stage of flight do most accidents occur?
Landing
What are the four stages of pilot performance?
Information gathering, information processing, decision making, implementing decisions
What are four factors that affect situational awareness?
Fatigue, sickness, distraction, stress
What are the four divisions of situational awareness?
The pilot, aircraft, environment, operation
What is the pilot decision making model?

What are the factors that influence decision making?
Knowledge, situational awareness, skill, experience and training, reasoning, risk assessment, stress, attitude
How does skill influence decision making?
The higher the skill level, the less effort required to fly the aircraft
How does experience and training influence decision making?
Greatly improved skills of experienced pilots allow them to pay more attention to what is going on around them. If something goes wrong, experience can street you in the right direction
What is the false assumption?
Assuming everything is normal when it is not
When can false assumptions occur?
You see or hear what you expect
Fixation (you focus your attention on one item while something more important goes unnoticed)
Tendency to relax and make false assumptions after periods of high concentration
Flying in a new unfamiliar aircraft
Ignoring bad news
Describe the relationship between behavioural efficiency and level of arousal

What are some causes of stress?
Physical (extreme temperature, noise & vibration, lack of oxygen)
Physiological (fatigue, hunger, injury, illness)
Psychological (homesickness, business/academic worries, illness of loved one)
Describe the relationship between pilot capacity, time, and margin of safety

How can life stress be managed?
Physical fitness, social support, recreation, special techniques, self assessment, good habits and itme management
What is the “IMSAFE” checklist?
Illness - do I have any symptoms?
Medication - have I been taking them?
Stress - am I under psychological pressure?
Alcohol - Have I been drinking within 12 hours?
Fatigue - Am I adequately rested?
Eating - when was my last meal?
What are 5 types of hazardous attitudes and their antidotes?
Anti-Authority: “Follow the rules, they are usually right”
Impulsivity: “Think before you act”
Invulnerability: “It can happen to anyone anytime”
Macho: “It’s not worth the risk”
Resignation: “I’m not helpless. I can make a difference”
What is hypoxia? What does it interfere with?
A lack of sufficient oxygen for the body to operate normally. Its onset may be accompanied by a feeling of euphoria.
It interferes with reasoning, alertness, and consciousness
Explain the different types of hypoxia
Hypoxic hypoxia: occurs with exposure to altitude
Anemic hypoxia: decreased red blood cell count
Stagnant hypoxia: inadequate blood flow to body tissues. Can occur when exposed to higher G forces
Histotoxic hypoxia: inability of cells to use oxygen available. Can be caused by high blood alcohol levels
Describe the three types of vision
Photopic - during daytime or high artificial illumination conditions the eyes rely on central vision to perceive and interpret image and colour object
Mesopic vision - occurs at dawn, dusk, or full moonlight levels and is characterized by decreasing visual acuity and colour vision
Scotopic vision - occur during nighttime, low visibility, and low intensity artificial illumination conditions. Central vision becomes ineffective to maintain visual aacuity and colour perception
What affects the visibility of an object?
Size, ambient illumination, contrast, viewing time, atmospheric clarity
What are the dangers of excessive ambient illumination, especially from light reflected off the canopy, surfaces, cloud, water, snow, and desert terrain?
It can produce glare that may cause uncomfortable squinting, eye tearing, and temporary eye blindness
What factors can affect pilot vision?
Uncorrected refractive eye disorder (like myopia)
Self imposed stress (self medication, alcohol consumption, tobacco, hypoglycemia, sleep depreivation)
How much time do the eyes require to fully adapt to the dark?
30 to 45 minutes
How can you minimize the time neccessary to achieve complete dark adaptation?
Avoid inhaling carbon monoxide, get enough vitamin A, adjust instrument and cockpit lighting to lowest level, avoid prolonged exposure to bright light, use supplementary oxygen when flying at night above 5000’
What are the best ways to protect your eyes?
Wear 100% UVA/UVB sunglasses
Avoid polarized sunglasses
Don’t wear prescription sunglasses at night
Define steady and impulse/blast noise?
Steady: continuous noise of sudden or gradual onset and long duration
Impulse/blast: noise pulses of sudden onset and brief duration
What are physiological effects of noise exposure to pilots?
Ear discomfort, ear pain, ear drum rupture, temporary hearing impairment, permanent hearing impairment
How can a pilot protect their ears?
Limit duration of exposure to noise, use ear protection equipment, use active noise reduction headset
What is the TC hearing requirement?
The applicant shall be required to be free from any hearing defect which could interfere with the safe performance of the applicant’s duties in exercising the privileges of the license
When should flights be avoided after scuba diving?
After dives less than 33 ft (1 atmosphere pressure), where decompression stops were not required, flights up to altitudes of 8000ft should be avoided for 12 hours
Where decompression stops have been required while returning to the surface, the interval should be 24 hours for flight above 8000ft
What are the symptoms of fatige?
Short term memory problems, challenged concntration, distraction, increased msitakes, abnormal moods, diminished motor skills, obvious tiredness, slow reaction, diminished vision
What are some strategies for getting good sleep?
Sleep in a dark and quiet room
Maintain regular sleep schedule
Keep fit and eat well
Turn of mentally
Go to bed tired
How long should you wait to fly after being administered anesthetics for a local procedure?
24 hours
How long after donating fly should a pilot wait to fly?
48 hours
If a pilot feels unwell after receiving an immunization, what should they do prior to flying?
Wait 24 hours and be assessed by a health care provider
What does the Civil Aviation Medicine Branch do?
Monitors any new immunization developments and guidelines, and provides recommendations as needed
What is G?
The rate of change of velocity (force and direction)
What is the most serious effect of positive G? What happens as it increases?
Draining of blood away from the head toward the feet. Causes vision deterioration
Gray out: +2G
Black out: +4G
Unconscious: +6G
What are the effects of negative G?
Red out: blood pressure in the eye and brain is increased
May rupture small blood vessels in the eye and cause brain damage
How can you improve your ability to tolerate higher G forces?
Be in good physical condition (gym, weightlifting, running) and maintain a good diet
How does altitude affect blood alcohol level?
The effect of alcohol and hypoxia is additive. At 6000’ ASL, the effect of one drink is equivalent to two drinks at sea level
What are the effects of alcohol on operating an aircraft?
Reduced performance capability, headaches, impaired emotional stability, poor judgement
What are the dangers of taking over the counter and herbal remedies such as cough medicine and sleeping pills prior to flying?
Can cause drowsiness, decrease mental alertness, and seriously impair judgement and coordination
How far into a pregnancy can a pilot fly?
Up to 30 weeks, provided there are no complications
What are the symptoms of carbon monoxide poisoning?

Why are terrain illusions the most common and most dangerous illusion in mountain flying?
The perception is that terrain is only rising gradually and the aircraft will outclimb it
What is the false horizon illusion due to precipitation?
Refraction causes the horizon to appear lower in the windshield than it actually is
Rain can diffuse the light and cause objects to appear closer than they actually are
How can fog or industrial haze cause a false horizon?
Causes the illusion of the aircraft being further away from distance reference points than is true. Can cause the pilot to make a late descent
What is the danger of false horizons caused by flying towards high peaks from a distance of 10-20 miles?
The tops of the high ground may appear to be much lower, or even much higher than their true height
What is the runway slope illusion?
Wide or down slope runways can create the illusion of being too low, leading to the tendency to overshoot the planned touchdown zone
Narrow or up slow runways can create the illusion of being too high, leading to the tendency to undershoot the planned touchdown zone
What are the illusions and outcomes created by the following situations?


How can a pilot correct for runway width slope and terrain illusions?
Determine a glide profile and maintain a sight picture at the far end of the runway
What is precipitation illusion?
Precipitation on the windshield will refract the light. This refraction will cause false horizons but more importantly precipitation will stick to the windshield and obscure forward visibility
What should be done when facing reduced forward visibility?
With reduced forward visibility, vertical visibility is essential. Look forward and down maintaining a vigilant crosscheck. Speed and flaps should have been lowered atthe first instance of reduced visibility
What are contrast illusions?
Persist when light is low and contrast is difficult to discern. Terrain becomes featureless and elevation changes blend into the canopy and. Slow speed and caution are allies
What is the illusion of closure?
Turning towards terrain that flanks an approach corridor provides pilots with a reference to judge speed. As this is not a common circumstance, this speed cue leads to an overestimation of airspeed. The common unconscious action is to slow down. This leads to slow and low approach
What is a correction for the illusion of closure?
Cross-check performance instruments and maintain approach discipline
What are illusions created by drift?
Turning out of a headwind the illusion is a slipping turn, and increasing ground speed
Turning into a headwind the illusion will be a skidding turn and decreasing ground speed.
What is auto kinesis?
The apparent motion of a fixed light source. This motion can cause misinterpretation and under certain conditions it is possible to confuse the sky with the ground. Caused by the movement of the eye.
What is the black hole effect? How can you correct for it?
Insidiously draws pilot into a low profile. Correct for it by flying the planned approach slope and cross check the instruments
What is open field myopia? How can you correct against it?
The eye will focus within 12 feet if left unattended as the muscles that focus the eye relax. Maintain a disciplined focus and scan pattern and don’t let your eye’s get lazy
Name three vestibular illusions
Opposite turning illusion, coreolis illusion, the leans
What is the main remedy for illusions?
Be prepared and know ahead of time when you will be susceptible
Being forewarned and cross-checking essential instruments in flight