SIMULATOR TRAINING IMPROVES PILOTS’ PROCEDURAL MEMORY AND GENERALIZATION OF BEHAVIOR IN CRITICAL FLIGHT SITUATIONS

Written by Ioana KOGLBAUER on . Posted in Special section: Volume XX, Nr 4

Author

Ioana KOGLBAUER*

Institute of Mechanics, Graz University of Technology, Graz, Austria

ABSTRACT

Loss of control during flight represents one of the top ten leading causes of fatal aviation accidents. The procedure for aircraft recovery consists of a series of memory items and coordinated actions on the part of the pilot which should be performed in a timely manner. The purpose of this study was to investigate the effect of simulator training on pilots’ procedural memory and generalization of behavior to a new situation. The simulator training effects were evaluated with 31 pilots assigned to either a training or a control group. Pilots from the training group repeated the wording and practiced the procedure nine times in the flight simulator. Pilots from the control group performed other flight tasks in the flight simulator for the same amount of time. Results show that the pilots from the training group recovered from the upset attitude, which was practiced in the flight simulator, significantly better and faster than the control group. In addition, the training group generalized the upset recovery procedure and applied it to a new unusual attitude, performing faster than the control group. In conclusion, this study shows that pilots’ procedural memory can be improved by practicing in a flight simulator with sufficient psychological fidelity, and that the trained procedure can be generalized to a new critical flight situation.

KEYWORDS: procedural memory, generalization, upset recovery, simulator training, pilots

PAGES: 357-366

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