G'Day
Yep, there is a magic pill all right, and it is independent of
aeroplanes, simulators, company shrinks, check and training captains,
company accountants, cocktail lounges. It's called 'cognitive fitness'.
It costs nothing -- well, except for some serious personal commitment,
ummm, what you might call, errr, 'Professionalism'. I know I've talked
about this before, but let me see if I can use some of my old stuff to
answer Dave (the barbeque expert Dave)'s question.
As Reid has pointed out, some people are better at things we might call
'attention management' than others. Aaah! There's your answer.
Selection. Devise the tests, pick the ones who do best. That's what our
military do. Indeed, they get two shots at it, the first being selection to
pilot training, the next, selection to fighters. And they don't always get it right.
Using military-style selection processing for civilian pilots is not
going to happen, for all sorts of reasons. So what else can we do? I
work with trainee civilian pilots. They have to find the money (over
$150,000 if they are serious) to get to commercial pilot, instrument
rated, status. They then fly to get the hours up to win an interview
with an airline - mostly boring stuff, long straight legs. During this
phase of their aviator development, they do not have the resources of
the military or for continuation training, either in planes or a sim. So it's
a profoundly de-skilling experience, unlikely to sharpen their
attention management capacity.
I mention my clientele to show why Dave Rogers' position -- there is no
magic pill -- can exist intact without actually contradicting mine. The
people he has worked with, and still does, presumably have passed
through some pretty stringent selection processes. Later, as Reid has
described, activities such as fighter flying - but all military flying,
really - can have the effect of sharpening certain skills. So a lot of
you are working with people who are already highly fit, cognitively.
They do not need The Pill, just as, if your diet is balanced, you don't
need vitamins. However, the majority of airline pilots do not get the
opportunities to attain that state of fitness. Sure, there's some
testing and interviews, but nothing like the military's and, I presume,
NASA's. Continuation training? Hardly.
(On the other hand, even if you are a military or NASA pro, there's some
important knowledge in these parts you ought to be on top of.)
As Jo-Anne tells us, there's a limit to each person's ability to do this vital
function -- manage attention. However, though the basic processor is limited,
it can be made to function better through practice. To her list of exercises,
I would add, play chess or Bridge, learn another language, teach a child a
skill, visualise flight in critical situations, fly with people from a
different culture (or sex) -- you get the picture. Anything you do to extend
your attention switching control will promote cognitive fitness. It's sort of
equivalent to what the fighter pilots were doing out there, as described by
Reid, and at the taxpayers' expense, as a privileged few of us enjoy(ed).
(I have a four page paper on introduction to cognitive exercise regimes, if
anyone wants to take a look.)
Keith Hendy has often pointed out the need for a theoretical
underpinning to CRM training. His papers supply that, and underline
Jo-Anne's arguments. I must say, to this pensioned-off fighter pilot,
Keith's stuff was hard going -- but then learning to fly was no breeze
either, at least, not for me. And, getting a handle on Keith's theories
is just as rewarding.
(Yes, Keith, a day out of the office will allow things to sneak up. Take a
week off and see what we do to you.)
But that is about knowledge. No matter how you cut it, loading people up with
knowedge, in the classroom, or through private study, will not
teach them skills. It's a start, but not enough. Skills are only
developed through doing, trial and error, actual experience. Jo-Anne has
supported my argument that attention management is a cognitive skill
re-inforced through practice. Does anyone seriously think that the only time
the high-wire artist at the circus practises is in front of a crowd? Dave
Rogers made this point -- a yearly briefing isn't going to have much
practical, transfer of training effect. Knowledge does not magically turn into skills.
Vince Mancuso has run this argument: Until CRM is accepted as skill
based, it is unlikely that appropriate pedagogic (or andragogic) methods will
be applied to developing the necessary skills. Once more,
talk-listen won't do it, only actual practice. Your capacity to manage
multiple, competing, all-maximum-priority, fear-inducing even, attention
demands will only be strengthened -- and maintained as strong -- through
exercise. And not once a year, or once a quarter. Try once a day.
Keith doubts the efficacy of (inter alia, I suspect) mental arithmetic,
as an exercise to enhance situational awareness (attention
switching/management). But wait. In training folk involved in complex
sport, coaches often isolate a single skill to practice. Shoot baskets
to-day, next day, do only wind sprints, nothing else, and so on. Mental
gymnastics can be used for similar effect, with pilots -- and others
with aviation safety decision responsibilities. Getting people to do --
or try to do -- complex calculations in their head, can be used, in
isolation, to remind of stress effects. You give people the chance to
experience the degraded mental performance that accompanies the onset of
apprehension. In other forms of exercise, you can ask of your clients
difficult mental 'games', and while they are concentrating to do them, you
introduce distractions. (Wear armour plate for that one.)
Apologies for going on, again, and for so long, to get to say this:
There is a Magic Pill. Well, at least, there are different versions for
different people throughout the aviation industry. These Magic Bullets
can be manufactured with telling specificity, the recipe being based on
appropriate diagnosis of need. Even the cognitively fittest amongst us
should at least self-assess. For many, there will be a powerful case
for, post-diagnosis, a course of exercise. Though it costs nothing, the
motivation to do that will be slight. To get to the point where these
ideas are commonplace, a point where all aviation professionals
routinely ensure their decison-making apparatus is in top shape, when
flying will therefore be many times safer, will thus require some
exceptional leadership. I expect that I am directing these words to
those who will be the leaders in this crusade.
Best wishes for the journey
Doug