Re: Cali accident and reversion to old ways

Paul Baxter (pbaxter_at_personalbest.com.au)
Thu, 15 Oct 1998 10:03:48 +1000

>Maybe also "regression" was somehow involved in the accident sequence:
mental stress causes us to regress to attitudes and actions learned
earlier, although they are not appropriate in the actual situation; flying
in radar environment most of the time and accepting direct routings is
"usual business" in our part of the world, but it was not appropriate in
the situation of AA 965. Maybe the stressful situation caused the
"Regression" to the feeling of operating in a radar-environment (as they
did most of the time).<
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Skills and procedures that have been practiced often enough become
automatic reflexes that are activated in response to a "situation" that
presents itself. When things change on you, those automatic responses may
become inappropriate and possibly even dangerous. You now have a "learned
error" or bad habit and by the time you realise what you've done, it's too
late to stop.

Learned errors, like all habits, are hard to eradicate. In practical terms,
while the pilots are able to perform and respond correctly in less-stressed
situations where there is time to concentrate on what you're supposed to
do; in stressed situations you inevitably revert to "automatic mode" and
your concentration goes out the window. When you're in automatic mode you
produce those previously learned responses you could rely on before to get
you out of trouble; but now, unfortunately, those responses are wrong. You
have a learned error.

Why do we revert to what we learned previously, especially under stress,
and why didn't our intensive and expensive training stop us doing that?
Clearly, we were able to perform correctly during simulation training and
also in the air when accompanied by the instructor; surely that must have
"proved" that we knew the right thing to do and that we could do it? After
all, that's why we "passed" the test and got our ticket, wasn't it?

Things are not always what they seem, and passing the simulation or the
flying test does not necessarily guarantee that all our "old ways" have
been eliminated and replaced by "new, correct ways." Even experts sometimes
get it wrong and the less experienced get it wrong more often. Our prior
(and sometimes incorrect) learning will, when we least expect it and when
it's most innapropriate, come back to haunt us. The expected transfer or
training to the flight deck did not take place as well as we thought it
had, as revealed again and again by inappropriate pilot responses
(reversion to previously learned old ways) in "emergency situations".

Remember, most training failures are caused by what the trainee already
knows; not by what he or she doesn't know. We all try to get it right the
first time but for one reason or another people get the wrong idea or an
incomplete notion, which if allowed to go on uncorrected (i.e., it keeps
getting repeated or practiced) becomes a resistant learned error and that
leads to innapropriate or sub-optimal performance on the flight deck.

I would like to share with you an alternative explanation of why old habits
die hard; a practical and cost-effective methodology for overcoming this
problem; and some case histories to show what can be done once you have
this knowledge. Interested professionals can find this information at:
http://www.personalbest.com.au/~pbaxter/training.htm

Paul
Paul Baxter Ph.D. M.A. Dip.T. MAPS
The Habit Shop: A performance enhancement consultancy
25 Coolaroo Crescent Jindalee Australia 4074
Ph. +61-(0)500-579-257. Fax +61-(0)7-3376-1576. Mobile +61-(0)418-784-951
E-mail: pbaxter_at_personalbest.com.au
http://www.personalbest.com.au/~pbaxter/training.htm