Skip navigation

Pilot Judgement

Decision making is a continuous process of gathering information, processing information, making decisions, acting on these decisions and then hopefully repeating the process. Good judgement is the act of making good decisions and depends upon situational awareness, evaluating the options, and then choosing the best option. Good judgement is affected by attention, knowledge, attitudes, and finally behaviour. All of these can be influenced by the stress felt by the pilot.

Pilot behaviour can further be expressed as skill based, where activities are learned and then often executed without conscious thought, or rule-based where behaviours reflect memorized procedures, and finally knowledge-based, where behaviours are established anew from conscious-based decision making. Each type of behaviour has its strengths and weaknesses.

Good judgement also requires assessment and prioritization of risk. This requires not only knowledge of the situation, but of how the pilot will respond to the risks that are presented. A lot of the level of risk we take is a reflection of our attitudes. The most hazardous attitudes are anti-authority, impulsivity, invulnerability, machismo, and resignation. The antidotes to these kinds of thoughts are "The rules are usually right", "Not so fast, think first","It can happen to me.", "Taking chances is foolish", and "Don't give up.", respectively.