Accumulated Stress

Although small amounts of stress can yield benefits such as increased alertness and an improved ability to concentrate, an accumulation of stress caused by daily frustration and major life events has been associated with numerous health problems. In studies of flight crewmembers, stress has been associated with pilot error…. Continue Reading →

Approach and landing Risk Reduction Guide

The Flight Safety Foundation (FSF) Approach-and-landing Accident Reduction (ALAR) Task Force designed this guide as part of the FSF ALAR Tool Kit, which is designed to help prevent ALAs, including those involving controlled flight into terrain. This guide should be used to evaluate specific flight operations and to improve crew awareness of associated risks. This…… Continue Reading →

Cognitive Engineering Analysis Of VNAV

A cognitive engineering analysis of the Flight Management System (FMS) Vertical Navigation (VNAV) function has identified overloading of the VNAV button and overloading of the Flight Mode Annunciation (FMA) used by the VNAV function. These two types of overloading, resulting in modal input devices and ambiguous feedback, are well known sources of operator confusion, and…… Continue Reading →

Coping With Long range Flying

This Airbus document provides a practical set of recommendations for the use of longrange crewmembers: alertness decrement, sleep, napping,life hygiene. During long-haul rotations, partial or complete compliance with these recommendations should allow pilots to better manage their levels of alertness in flight, limit sleep loss related to night flights, facilitate, if applicable, adaptation to local…… Continue Reading →

Conducting Effective Briefings

This Airbus Flight Operations Briefing Note provides generic guidelines for conducting effective and productive briefings. Effective briefings should be short, structured, concise and adapted to the particular conditions of the takeoff or approach-and-landing. The information provided in this document has been expanded on purpose to provide an opportunity to review and discuss in details each…… Continue Reading →