Hello, SLF here with a possibly dumb question. I was wondering what if any training do pilots receive in managing panic (for want of a better term)? Similarly, in recruiting pilots, do airlines make any effort to select those with a better natural "aptitude" for staying cool and resourceful under extreme stress?
I ask because from reading various fascinating accident threads here on PPruNe (most recently
this one about the BA flight with the unlatched engine cowls) it seems that panic can play a critical role in causing otherwise competent and capable flight crews to do dumb things, just when it matters most. Of course, this is only natural, pilots being human, and none of us are at our best when overstressed and/or terrified. But with air travel now so safe (I imagine most airline pilots go through their entire careers without having to handle a serious in-flight emergency) I wonder if this makes the emergencies so unexpected and unusual that the potential for "freaking out" pilots to the point of ineffectiveness (or worse) is actually going up over time.
As SLF, one of the most troubling accidents in recent times is AF447. And for me, the most disturbing aspect of this accident is not the frozen pitot tubes or the fact that the pilots ignored/didn't register the stall warning. It is that the pilots - when confronted with a situation which (to them) was baffling and frightening - just sat there like stunned mullets, making no systematic, structured attempt to work out what was going on.
Now I know that pilots train for all kinds of specific contingencies, you practise what to do when you lose an engine at V1, or whatever. But I am wondering if you receive general training in how to respond if you don't know what's going on, how to stay in control (of yourself first, and then the aircraft) when confused, frightened, panicked, etc. Can this be trained? And can innate capacity for managing panic be identified and selected?