Statistics show that air travel is the safest way to travel. However, accidents still occur due to a loss of situational awareness. According to research, 85% of incident reports involving aircraft accidents are linked to a lack of situational awareness. Being unaware of your surroundings leads to poor decision-making and mistakes.
Moreover, it’s a pilot’s job to ensure the environment around the plane is conducive for flying. Pilots monitor the plane’s location in space and other factors affecting the safety of the flight. One of the best ways to maintain flight safety is SA (situational awareness). Here’s more about SA and its influence on aviation:
The Meaning of Situational Awareness
Situational awareness applies in many industries, including aviation, the military, and healthcare. So, when learning how to become a helicopter pilot, you learn to monitor three things:
- The current situation
- How the situation changes
- Future possibilities of the situation
As a pilot, you must know the aircraft’s location in the present moment and where it should go. In addition, you must be ready to act accordingly if anyone or anything affects the aircraft. However, SA does not start while you’re flying the aircraft. It should apply before, during, and after the flight.
The Benefits of Situational Awareness
Although planes are the safest travel in the world, human error can lead to serious accidents. Aircraft accidents are not as common as road accidents. What helps is being present and aware of the situation. Here are more benefits:
-
Situational Awareness Helps Develop a Mental Picture
Once a pilot becomes aware of the environment around them, they form a mental picture of what can happen and how to overcome it if it happens. So, pilots stay ahead of the aircraft instead of panicking during incidents.
-
Enhanced Decision-Making
Without accurate situational awareness, pilots cannot make proper decisions. Also, it becomes more difficult to prevent errors while flying an aircraft. On the other hand, having proper situational awareness improves performance and prevents possible disastrous situations. With SA, loss of control, unexpected weather conditions, and airspace violations are a thing of the past.
Factors Affecting Situational Awareness
Before getting a commercial pilot license, it helps to acquire skills to help you fly an aircraft. Slight mistakes cause loss of lives. Therefore, pilots must understand everything around them to make better decisions, even during emergencies.
The factors below affect situational awareness:
Overload and Underload
If the pilot has too much to do in so little time, they become overwhelmed, thus losing focus and awareness of the environment. In addition, having too little to do creates boredom, which leads to a loss of concentration.
Stress
When a pilot is stressed, they are less likely to possess information efficiently. On top of that, decision-making is highly affected, increasing the likelihood of human error. Thus, experts advise workers in the aviation industry to avoid and deal with short-term and long-term stress before resuming duty.
Poor Communication
Pilots are not the only ones who should have accurate situational awareness. Other persons helping with operations must also pass on proper information to prevent issues caused by miscommunication.
Confusion, distraction, and inability to solve issues quickly are signs of loss of situational awareness. Once you identify such issues early, you take the relevant steps to regain control. Also, situational awareness is a cognitive skill needing constant development. So, take time to practice to reach your full potential.
