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Shared Problem Models and Crew Decision MakingThe importance of crew decision making to aviation safety has been well established through NTSB accident analyses: Crew judgment and decision making have been cited as causes or contributing factors in over half of all accidents in commercial air transport, general aviation, and military aviation. Yet the bulk of research on decision making has not proven helpful in improving the quality of decisions in the cockpit. One reason is that traditional analytic decision models are inappropriate to the dynamic complex nature of cockpit decision making and do not accurately describe what expert human decision makers do when they make decisions. A new model of dynamic naturalistic decision making is offered that may prove more useful for training or aiding cockpit decision making. Based on analyses of crew performance in full-mission simulation and National Transportation Safety Board accident reports, features that define effective decision strategies in abnormal or emergency situations have been identified. These include accurate situation assessment (including time and risk assessment), appreciation of the complexity of the problem, sensitivity to constraints on the decision, timeliness of the response, and use of adequate information. More effective crews also manage their workload to provide themselves with time and resources to make good decisions. In brief, good decisions are appropriate to the demands of the situation and reflect the crew's metacognitive skill. Effective crew decision making and overall performance are mediated by crew communication. Communication contributes to performance because it assures that all crew members have essential information, but it also regulates and coordinates crew actions and is the medium of collective thinking in response to a problem. This presentation will examine the relation between communication that serves to build performance. Implications of these findings for crew training will be discussed.
Document ID
20010048884
Acquisition Source
Ames Research Center
Document Type
Preprint (Draft being sent to journal)
Authors
Orasanu, Judith
(NASA Ames Research Center Moffett Field, CA United States)
Statler, Irving C.
Date Acquired
August 20, 2013
Publication Date
January 1, 1994
Subject Category
Behavioral Sciences
Meeting Information
Meeting: Western European Association for Aviation Psychology
Location: Dublin
Country: Ireland
Start Date: March 28, 1994
End Date: March 31, 1994
Funding Number(s)
PROJECT: RTOP 199-06-12
Distribution Limits
Public
Copyright
Work of the US Gov. Public Use Permitted.

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