Defining Human Factors – Pilot Skills

Traditionally, we focus on training and assessing technical skills.

Non-Technical Skills (NTS) is a relatively new concept of increasing emphasis as a result of regulatory reform. This was added by CASA around 2010 to the required training matrix.

Statistically, most accidents are blamed on NTS deficiencies, where the crew are the cause of the event. However, most of our training and assessment focus has been on the technical skills side of the training.

Consider the following skills that a pilot needs:

• Which of these then is more important than the other? (non-compensatory skills)
• Do some of these feed into others?
• Are some of these causal for others?
• Can a deficiency in one area be made up for by a strength in another?

The Model for Assessing a Pilots Performance (MAPP) is broken up into the following categories:

• Essential Skills (must haves)
• Enabling Skills (supporting essential skills)

If we are filling up each of these blocks and bubbles, we will have high levels of situational awareness, make safe decisions and fly our UAV well, we have Airmanship (if this indeed still a word).

In any case we are flying professionally. However this model is more powerful as it can diagnose the source of weaknesses. The MAPP is about being able to refine down to a ‘Root Cause” of an event. If your essential skills are lacking then improve by improving skills that support them, the enabling skills.

On the left side are the traditional flying skills. On the right side are the NOTECHS or NTS skills.

Both Situational Awareness and Decision Management occur internally in the brain. They are cognitive skills.

The skills of Communication and Management are more visual skills seen through behaviour. These are about actions.

Physiological conditions will affect both cognitive and behavioural skills.

Cognitive Skills (Psychological conditions):

• Stress
• Fatigue
• Health/ Memory
• Disorientation/ Visual Illusions
• Hazardous attitudes

Behavioural Skills (Physiological conditions):

• Stress
• Fatigue
• Health
• Effects of the environment
• Culture