Vision is the most important sensory organ of orientation. There are, in fact, two distinct visual systems. First is the ‘Focal’ (central) vision. This is concerned with recognition and identification of an object and in general answers the question of “what”. This comprises of the central 30° of the visual cone. Focal vision is responsible for discerning the fine details of the object. Information processed by focal vision is ordinarily well represented in consciousness and is critically related to parameters such as stimulus energy and refractive error. Second is the ‘Ambient’ (peripheral) vision which sub-serves spatial localisation and orientation; and is generally concerned with the question “where”. Ambient vision is mediated by relatively large stimulus patterns so that it typically involves stimulation of the peripheral visual field and relatively coarse details. Continue reading
Orientation in Aviation: Vision
Orientation in Aviation: Vestibular Apparatus
The vestibular apparatus is about the size of a pea, located in the inner ear. Within this small volume are sensory receptors, which are stimulated by angular accelerations as low as 0.05°/s2 (0.9mrad/s2) and linear acceleration of less than 0.01 G (0.1 m/s2). Continue reading
Lost It, Situational Awareness!
Situational Awareness “can be conceived of as the pilot’s internal model of the world around him at any point in time” [1].
Conventional flight requires the pilots to glean information from the instrument panel and other auditory inputs, interpret it and draw inference to maintain their situational awareness and in turn ensure safe flight. And if any information input suggests an abnormality, they need to interpret the cause, make necessary corrections or take remedial actions, to continue flying safe. Situational awareness, thus, is inclusive of flight environment, location of aircraft, terrain, navigation, communication, weather etc. [2]. Salient cognitive processes associated with situational awareness are: mental modeling of problems, using knowledge structures or schemata, and categorizing situations or scenario [3, 4]. Continue reading
Decision Making in Aviation – The Twain shall Meet
The vital difference between classical or normative Decision Making and Naturalistic Decision Making is that whereas the former prescribes the correct way to make a decision, the latter describes the process of Decision Making, without prescribing a way to make the decision [1]. The process of normative (classical) Decision Making conventionally focuses on criteria and procedures for evaluating the multiple decision options, as compared from naturalistic approach where the emphasis is on classifying the situation, which is based on the process of situation recognition and pattern matching, for rapid decision making to memory structures [2]. Continue reading
Decision Making in Aviation: Classical versus Naturalistic
Sometimes procedural errors, due to lack of currency, increased workload (due to adverse weather, equipment malfunction or enemy action) or poor judgement (due to situational uncertainty or potential imminent catastrophe), leads to ‘pilot error’ [1]. The pilot errs, conventionally, whenever the perceptual, judgemental and motor demands exceed (her)his momentary attention capacity. “Typically it occurs when an unexpected event requires a complicated, unplanned, quick sequence of actions…caused by any induced elevation of …workload beyond a pilot’s capacity” (Roscoe) [1]. We may blame it on the pilot, but is it the man behind the machine that has failed or is it that (her)his decision proves to be a costly and at times, a tragic, mistake? Continue reading