Dr. Meredith Carroll & Captain Shem Malmquist, Florida Institute of Technology
Training Approaches to Promote Resilient Performance in Pilots
Resilient performance is critical for pilots given the high stakes of their profession. What exactly does resilient performance look like for pilots? Hale and Heijer (2006) define resilience not only as the ability to recover from an adverse event, but also the ability to anticipate and adjust in order to prevent adverse events. Carroll et al. (2012) propose that resilience consists of two components: (1) an initial phase characterized by the need to adapt performance to prevent or minimize the impact of the adverse event, and (2) a second phase characterized by recovery from the adverse event. When individuals are highly adaptable and effectively adjust performance, performance decrements are minimized and the performer has less ground to make up in the recovery phase. This presentation will present a range of training approaches that, based on this model of resilience, have the potential to increase pilot adaptability and resilience. For example, there is an opportunity to bolster a pilot’s adaptability by incorporating training scenarios that center around low probability system failures/events, for which there is not a procedure or checklist. These training scenarios could be administered in a high-fidelity simulator to support the entire problem solving process; or, the later stages of recognition and problem solving could be easily practiced in less-expensive, lower fidelity simulations such as Tactical Decision Games. With respect to a pilot recovering from an unexpected event, stress training approaches that induce significant levels of stress and require pilots to problem solve and make decisions under these circumstances could be incorporated to help train pilots to both recognize their stress response and learn to cope with this response in order to maintain performance. These training approaches, and how they could be implemented within a pilot training context, will be discussed.
Dr. Meredith Carroll, Association Professor, Aviation Human Factors, Florida Institute Technology, College of Aeronautics
Dr. Meredith Carroll is an Associate Professor of Aviation Human Factors at Florida Institute of Technology’s College of Aeronautics. She has over 15 years of experience, both in industry and academia, studying human performance, human-computer interaction and learning in complex systems within commercial aviation, military and space applications. She received her B.S. in Aerospace Engineering from the University of Virginia, her Masters in Aviation Science from Florida Institute of Technology and her Ph.D. in Applied Experimental Psychology and Human Factors from the University of Central Florida.
Captain Shem Malmquist, Visiting Professor, Florida Institute of Technology
Captain Shem Malmquist is a visiting professor at the Florida Institute of Technology and an active current B-777 Captain operating predominantly international routes. In addition to being an international pilot for the bulk of the last 32 years, he has taught aerobatics and instructed in a variety of both general aviation and transport aircraft. Captain Malmquist has published numerous technical and academic articles stemming from his work on flight safety and accident investigation. His most recent work has involved approaches to risk analysis and accident prevention utilizing MIT’s System Theoretic Accident Models and Processes (STAMP) and facilitating the integration of these methods on behalf of several organizations.
His past work includes Automation and Human Factors lead for the Commercial Aviation Safety Team’s Joint Safety Implementation Team, Loss of Control working group, as well as the Aircraft State Awareness working group and the Joint Implementation Measurement and Data Analysis Team. He also has either led or been deeply involved in several major aircraft accident investigations, performing operations, human factors, systems and aircraft performance analysis.
Captain Malmquist is an elected Fellow of the Royal Aeronautical Society, a full member of ISASI, and a member of the Resilience Engineering Association, AIAA, the Human Factors and Ergonomics Society, IEEE, the Flight Safety Foundation and SAE where he also serves as a voting member of the Flight Deck and Handling Quality Standards for Transport Aircraft committee and is a member of the Aerospace Behavior Engineering Technology and the Lithium Battery Packaging Performance Committees.
In addition to his papers on flight safety and accident investigation topics, he is the co-author (with Roger Rapoport) of the book “Angle of Attack” on the Air France 447 accident and its implications on aviation safety.