Training Interventions for Managing Startle During Unexpected Critical Events

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Training Interventions for Managing Startle
During Unexpected Critical Events

• Wayne Martin
• Griffith University Aerospace Safety Centre,
  Brisbane, Australia

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(No Transcript)
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Fear-potentiated Startle
A startle which has been enhanced by perceived or
actual threat
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Self-Efficacy
The belief in ones capabilities to organise and
execute the sources of action required to manage
prospective situations
Bandura (1986)
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The Curse of Ubiquitous Normalcy
The ubiquitous reliability of the modern
aircraft has done tremendous things for airline
safety. One of the by-products of this
tremendous reliability however, is a
semi-realistic expectation amongst pilots that
things will very rarely ever go wrong. A lack of
expectation can lead to a heightened startle and
acute stress response when something does go
wrong.
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Some recent examples of Unexpected Events
Colgan Air Buffalo 2009
Turkish Airlines Amsterdam 2009
Air France 447 Atlantic Ocean 2009
Pinnacle Airlines - Missouri, 2004
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Brain Mechanisms Associated With Startle
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(Fight or Flight)
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The Cognitive Effects of Startle

• Research has shown significant impairment in
  information processing for up to 30 seconds
• Information processing tasks such as attention,
  perception, situational awareness, problem
  solving and decision making can be markedly
  impacted.
• Communication is often disorganised and
  incoherent for some time.
• Psychomotor impairment often occurs but generally
  lasts for only 5-10 seconds.

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Mitigating Startle

• Mitigation of startle Effects comes through two
  efforts
• Better Prevention of critical events
• Improving Recovery training

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Mitigating Startle

• Prevention Strategies
• Improved training and attention to
• situational awareness skill sets and
• pilot monitoring skills.

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Situational Awareness
Maintaining an accurate mental picture requires a
number of individual skills working in concert.
These skills include

• Effective Communications
• Planning
• Storage and Retrieval of Knowledge
• Temporal Awareness
• Vigilance
• Workload Assignment and Management
• Reviewing and Modifying Plans
• Inquiry

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Mitigating Startle

• Pilot monitoring involves the comparison of
  environmental cues to a master mental schema
  which is continuously updated for local
  variations on the day.
• A framework of SOPs form expectations which are
  reinforced through repetition.
• On any given day this continuously updated
  mental model of what should happen is compared
  by both Pilots to actual conditions, and
  disparities are either noticed and addressed,
  noticed and ignored, or not noticed.

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Mitigating Startle

• Prevention Strategies
• Improved training and attention to situational
  awareness skill sets, and particularly pilot
  monitoring skills
• Developing greater expectation and efficacy for
  managing unexpected critical events

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Mitigating Startle

• Prevention Strategies
• Improved training and attention to situational
  awareness skill sets, and particularly pilot
  monitoring skills
• Developing greater expectation and efficacy for
  managing unexpected critical events
• Greater awareness of startle effects.

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Mitigating Startle

• Prevention Strategies
• Improved training and attention to situational
  awareness skill sets, and particularly pilot
  monitoring skills
• Developing greater expectation and efficacy for
  managing unexpected critical events
• Greater awareness of startle effects.
• Encouraging Pilots to have personal strategies
  for managing unexpected critical events

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Mitigating Startle

• Recovery
• More focus on evidence based training

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Mitigating Startle

• Recovery
• More focus on evidence based training
• Improved training on recognition and management
  of undesired aircraft states

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Mitigating Startle

• Recovery
• More focus on evidence based training
• Improved training on recognition and management
  of undesired aircraft states
• Exposure to unexpected critical events during
  training.

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Summary
When pilots are suddenly confronted with an
unexpected critical event, they often become
startled. Startle has the ability to disrupt
cognitive processes for up to 30 seconds,
particularly where it is experienced in
conditions of real threat. This time may be
critical in the recovery or decision making
process. Adopting holistic training
interventions for managing startle will have
other benefits including improved threat and
error management, and improved prevention of, and
recovery from, undesired aircraft states.
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QUESTIONS?