What Can We Learn From Resilient Pilot Behaviors? The Case of Energy Management While Flying a Star

Recently, there has been increased interest in documenting flightcrew behaviors that contribute to safe operations. Instead of only capturing errors, new efforts are attempting to understand how pilots manage complexity and variability in the operational environment to ensure a safe mission. This approach highlights pilot responses to events and conditions that fall outside typical TEM threats; e.g., revised ATC clearances. This approach presents a two-sided coin: characterize flightcrew resilience /or/ generate insights regarding complexity in the operational environment that is not adequately managed by current flight deck interface designs, procedures, and training. To capture operational complexity, we have been analyzing flight path management tied to flying an RNAV STAR. Because ATC often requests revisions—e.g., descend late—and because RNAV STARs may not align with airplane performance limits, flightcrews need to monitor, anticipate threats to RNAV STAR compliance, and devise ways to accommodate unexpected challenges. In this paper, we identify general strategies that can support response adaptation and explore methods to facilitate training these strategies.