Article
Human Factors and Operational Risk Management
Human factors have been one of the hottest topics in the aviation industry for the last few years. Everyone talks about it so much that we usually end up just paying lip service to it and then forgetting about it later. Some pilots forget that what we do can become dangerous very quickly if we ever become complacent or just ignore the rules that govern the flying business. What we must remember is that most of the rules that are out there were written in the blood of someone who tried something that they weren't prepared for.
Before every flight a pilot should ask themselves if they are ready to fly. The FAA has set many rules which govern this decision as well. The rule that concerns alcohol consumption before flying, the “Bottle-to-throttle” rule is very straight forward. Everyone knows that it would be a very bad to fly after drinking a six pack of beer. But what people don’t think about is flying when they’re extremely tired, angry, stressed, etc… Something to help you remember some important human factors is called the I.M.S.A.F.E. technique.
- I – Illness – are you sick? Are you congested? (Ever fly with a stuffy nose)
- M – Medication – what kind of pills have you taken lately? Why did you have to take those pills?
- S – Stress – If you can’t focus on flying alone, don’t fly.
- A – Anger – Never fly if you are upset or angry. Flying should be a fun time.
- F – Fatigue – Everyone knows how dangerous it is to drive a car when you’re tired – an airplane crash will cost you a lot more than your average car wreck
- E – Emotions – Again – if you can’t focus on only flying DON’T FLY!
This little checklist should be something that you already use before you go fly. I am not saying you have to write this down and insert it before the start checklist, but you should consciously ask yourself all these questions before you go flying.
When pilots try to push themselves to the limits they are bound to go too far. That's normal, it's human to error. But you must never put yourself in a position that you can’t get yourself out of, the same goes for any CFI out there as well – never let your student go so far that you can’t quickly fix the situation. This type if decision making is just one small part of ORM (Operational Risk Management).
ORM is a very hot topic in the Air Force right now as well. It should be a part of the flight planning process. ORM factors include the weather, NOTAMS, bird activity, human factors (IMSAFE) and even the type of mission you are about to fly. Think of ORM as a “degree of difficulty” scale – once you accumulate so many points you should probably reconsider your flight.
It is very expensive to fly, whether it is an instructional sortie or a recreational flight with your friends, so why would you want to go flying if you can’t accomplish the objectives for your flight. The situation might involve trying to do a cross-country that the weather is questionable for. If you takeoff and have to abort the flight after 30 minutes you will have just made in expensive, silly decision. What happens more often though is people flying to the beach for the weekend and planning to return home on Sunday to go into work on Monday morning. This “plan” has affected a lot of friends of mine, and me as well. This forces the pilot to “rush” home, fight the bad weather, and sometimes lose. If you give yourself just one extra day to spare, your life will be much less stressful – trust me.
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