Prebrief a person on each side of and in the back of the room prior to the
exercise to stand up, cough, look out a window, etc a couple of times while
the exercise is going on.
Position a chair facing the audience for your "victim". Face a chair closely
on each side of him/her for 2 more volunteers. Give the victim a list of
simple math problems in column and in sentence format. Give the other two
volunteers case studies to read aloud while he/she is working the math
problems. Also, tell the victim you would like him/her to pay attention to
what's going on in the room and what each case study is about, while doing
the math problems.
After a few minutes, the victim is engrossed trying to complete the math
problems. Consequently, he/she has no clue about what's going on around the
room, and will rarely know what either case study involves.
What this exercise represents:
1. The math problems represent flying the aircraft, taxiing, etc.
2. The distractions around the room represent air traffic, ground vehicles,
another aircraft, etc.
3. The volunteers reading the case study simulate radio calls, flight
attendant questions, dispatch requests, clnc delivery, which can occur at the
same time.
Another interesting side note, the person working the math problems will do
to the column format problems before tackling the sentence ones. This can be
tied into a information processing segment as later on if needed.
This drill gets alot of laughs but shows that situational awareness is
difficult to maintain given the many distractions aircrews are faced with. I
sometimes refer to situational awareness as "Distraction Management"!
Hope this helps with your course
Craig Hoskins
Suncoast Consulting Services