A Request For Help
Thread Starter
Joined: Jul 1999
Posts: 214
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From: SURREY, U.K.
A Request For Help
Dear All,
I am currently conducting research into Loss of Situational Awareness amongst aircrew. This research is the basis for my dissertation for the award of an MSc in Air Safety Management, and will also (I hope) give a valuable insight into the rate of LOSA incidents amongst professional aircrew as a result of over-reliance on Automatic Flight Systems.
I have a short confidential questionnaire and any of you in the commercial aviation community who may have experienced a LOSA incident as a result of Technology Suprises, Mode Confusion or other attributable factors, I would be most grateful if you would contact me by Private Message or email in order that I may send you an electronic version to complete.
I reiterate that all submitted responses will be dis-identified, and all references to airports, airlines, operators or individuals will be deleted.
Thanks all!
Tailwinds,
SKYYACHT
I am currently conducting research into Loss of Situational Awareness amongst aircrew. This research is the basis for my dissertation for the award of an MSc in Air Safety Management, and will also (I hope) give a valuable insight into the rate of LOSA incidents amongst professional aircrew as a result of over-reliance on Automatic Flight Systems.
I have a short confidential questionnaire and any of you in the commercial aviation community who may have experienced a LOSA incident as a result of Technology Suprises, Mode Confusion or other attributable factors, I would be most grateful if you would contact me by Private Message or email in order that I may send you an electronic version to complete.
I reiterate that all submitted responses will be dis-identified, and all references to airports, airlines, operators or individuals will be deleted.
Thanks all!
Tailwinds,
SKYYACHT
Joined: Jul 2003
Posts: 1,323
Likes: 54
From: An Island Province
SKYYACHT I would be interested in taking part in your survey, but I am concerned by the understanding you show of situation awareness and its relationship with LOSA and automation as indicated by your post.
Loss of situation awareness is not an absolute condition. e.g. Whilst not looking at the auto-flight FMAs will result in a complete failure in perception, looking at and ‘seeing’ an annunciation, yet not understanding its importance may only degrade SA. Similarly ‘seeing’ and understanding an annunciation, but failing to act accordingly could also be ‘loss of SA’, a failure of planning and acting. All of these conditions relate to error, but few that LOSA may be able to observe.
We all make errors, thus LOSA in it’s simplest form, will only detect the obvious – the errors that we make. The critical issue is to establish the circumstances and cause of an error, (not seeing, not understanding, or not acting), and how an individual or crew responded to mitigate the error. An error detected by LOSA is not in itself loss of SA. Detecting an error is hard enough, individuals and monitoring pilots work at this every day, but detecting loss of SA in either an individual or in both crewmembers is very difficult, as is the detection and understanding of the reason for the error.
Much of the above is discussed in the ESSAI project and in papers on LOSA by Helmreich.
Notwithstanding my concerns, your survey could give an interesting insight to individual’s concepts of SA with respect to automation, particularly from a ‘self-assessed LOSA’. I suspect that you will receive many complaints about automation, over-reliance on autopilots, and loss of skills, but as I am sure that you realise (or will determine) these have little to do with loss of SA. Good luck.
Loss of situation awareness is not an absolute condition. e.g. Whilst not looking at the auto-flight FMAs will result in a complete failure in perception, looking at and ‘seeing’ an annunciation, yet not understanding its importance may only degrade SA. Similarly ‘seeing’ and understanding an annunciation, but failing to act accordingly could also be ‘loss of SA’, a failure of planning and acting. All of these conditions relate to error, but few that LOSA may be able to observe.
We all make errors, thus LOSA in it’s simplest form, will only detect the obvious – the errors that we make. The critical issue is to establish the circumstances and cause of an error, (not seeing, not understanding, or not acting), and how an individual or crew responded to mitigate the error. An error detected by LOSA is not in itself loss of SA. Detecting an error is hard enough, individuals and monitoring pilots work at this every day, but detecting loss of SA in either an individual or in both crewmembers is very difficult, as is the detection and understanding of the reason for the error.
Much of the above is discussed in the ESSAI project and in papers on LOSA by Helmreich.
Notwithstanding my concerns, your survey could give an interesting insight to individual’s concepts of SA with respect to automation, particularly from a ‘self-assessed LOSA’. I suspect that you will receive many complaints about automation, over-reliance on autopilots, and loss of skills, but as I am sure that you realise (or will determine) these have little to do with loss of SA. Good luck.
