Situational Awareness – Analysing Situational Awareness

Components of Perception

What things do RPAS pilots need to perceive (consider the bubble below):

• RPA performance
• Weather/ Wind at launch
• Weather/ Wind for mission
• Surrounding environment: terrain/ trees/ exposed dirt (Comprehension: add wind = reduced vis, add rain = mud)
• Sun position
• Location and orientation of RPA
• Battery charge
• Instrumentation
• Alerts
• Flight parameters / tolerances
• Security threat of control station
• Public on ground
• Air Traffic
• Birds
• Other Hazards
• Communication with team / ATC / other stakeholders
• Rules
• SOPs
• Human Performance: eg vision, fatigue, stress etc
• Miscellaneous family/friend stuff (the apparent need to respond to someone’s text…)

Question

• What happens when an alert is sounded?
  • The crew awareness of what is actually happening with the RPA diminishes and the crew struggle to rebuild their mental model of what is happening in controlling the RPA.

Remember

Most accidents are caused because the crew failed to perceive the situation.

Alerts are designed/programmed to perceive and then alert us to their perceptions:

• Critical Battery
• Low Speed
• Compass Calibration
• GPS position not established
• EKS (IMU and GPS are not aligned)

Components of Perception

What things do RPAS pilots need to comprehend (consider the bubble below):

• RPA performance
• Weather/ Wind at launch
• Weather/ Wind for mission
• Surrounding environment: terrain/ trees/ exposed dirt (Comprehension: add wind = reduced vis, add rain = mud)
• Sun position
• Battery charge
• Instrumentation
• Alerts
• Location and orientation of RPA
• Flight parameters / tolerances
• Security threat of control station
• Public on ground
• Air Traffic
• Birds
• Other Hazards
• Communication with team / ATC / other stakeholders
• Rules
• SOPs
• Human Performance: eg vision, fatigue, stress etc
• Miscellaneous family/friend stuff (the apparent need to respond to someone’s text…)

Question

• Does lack of experience affect this comprehension?
  • Absolutely but IMPORTANTLY this also doesn’t mean that an inexperienced person/pilot should not communicate their perceptions…
  • They may hold very important information!

Components of Projection

What things do RPAS pilots need to project (consider the bubble below):

• With greater experience threats are perceived, comprehended, projected and managed to avoid Undesired Aircraft States
• Example: A tired, distracted pilot does not project the threat of orientation towards the sun and fails to perceive the bird attack

Situational Awareness involves:

• Directing our attention to seek data; scanning a range of sources
• Evaluating information without bias, for accuracy and relevance
• Understanding, using our knowledge and previous experiences
• Comparing and checking, visualizing future events — ‘What if?’
• Planning ahead, considering possible outcomes

What biases affect our Situational Awareness?

A bias may exist when predictions during planning do not occur.

• e.g. localized weather is different to forecast weather or a critical battery alert shortly after launching…
• Other biases may be related to experience or hierarchical influences within the team

Consider how these 5 points would occur during an OEI ILS:

1. Seek data
2. Evaluate information without bias
3. Assimilate information with previous experience and knowledge.
4. Test what if scenarios
5. Plan possible outcomes

If we need to seek data, evaluate the information for reasonableness and search for alternatives, would this require time?

Time? Sometimes this takes time…..

If necessary, enter FDODAR:

Situational Awareness Test

Individual Situational Awareness

Hopefully the test above has shown the issues with identifying our have our own individual SA. Individuals monitor their environment for potential problems so they can be corrected before they escalate.

Beware of fixation of attention or tunnel vision. For example, consider the accident of 1978 United Airlines Portland, Oregon, which crashed due to running out of fuel while addressing a landing gear problem.

In dynamic environments be vigilant to change blindness. (‘Gorillas in our midst’)

Personal SA Capacity

Consider the following questions:

• What limits or extends working memory?
  • Fitness to fly: sickness, fatigue, stress, should you be there…
  • Ability to focus: what effect do distractions/interruptions have on working memory and therefore SA
  • What sort of distractions can occur?
    • Internal: mind wandering, zoning out, daydreaming.
    • External: Interrupting others on task and staying connected with the world eg social media.
  • How can we manage the limits of working memory?
• What assist long term memory?
  • Expectations – eg SOP’s
  • Mental models – eg cues and expectations.
  • Pattern matching – eg aerodrome weather patterns favourable to bird activity.
  • Automaticity – eg learned skills
  • Learned skills – eg Landing technique
• How developed is a newly trained pilot’s long-term memory?
  • What effect will this have on SA?

What strategies can be practised to improve those tools for the long-term memory?

• ‘What if’ scenarios simulate situations by discussions with more experienced pilots, with experience expertise can be further developed by internalising a ‘What if’ situation and visualising a response. This develops expectations, pattern matching and automaticity for this situation.
• Hence in the cruise use your time to discuss ‘what if’ scenarios. Both crews can benefit especially in recency.

What is one threat to these long-term memory strategies?

• Confirmation bias.. If the crew were to select an incorrect mental model for the situation.

Anticipate future events by monitoring for threats and change! Consider running an operation into a CTAF/ Uncontrolled aerodrome (e.g. Toowoomba, YTWB):

• What knowledge will assist improve SA:
  • Expectations: Procedures and interpreting AWIS
  • Mental Models: Conducting a visual approach via a circuit
  • Pattern Matching: Wx: type of approach; threats birds, tailwinds on final etc
  • Automaticity: Radio Calls
  • Learned Skills: Traffic management.
• What Management will assist in improving SA?:
  • Traffic Management
  • TEM
  • Automation Management
• What Communication will assist improve SA?
  • Crew
  • ATC
  • Traffic
  • AWIS/ Weather update
  • ARO (Ground Car)
  • A good pre-briefing of expectations ie a meaningful (rather than automatic).

Team Situational Awareness

Teams have individual SA and shared SA!

A shared SA provides a shared understanding of the same situation. This can have a cyclic nature:

An individual’s SA develops -> shared -> this develops and modifies team SA.

Critical Elements:

• Communication
• Mutual Monitoring of other member’s SA
  • Should be possible without verbal communication!
  • This involves understanding other members tasks, roles and responsibilities.
  • This can include looking for fatigue, attention, etc.
• Shared Mental Model, a common understanding.

Organised bodies of knowledge that are shared across members of a team.

Effective teams require the existence of SMM. When communication is limited SMM allows team members to anticipate other members behaviours and information requirements.

What in our operation enables good SMM to exist? One example is a SOP, but there can be other tools to help as well!

If you have ever watched Star Trek Discovery…

• How well does this crew operate together?
• Do they compete against each other?
• Do they have a shared mental model on each person’s role and strengths and know how to use them?
• Does this build their SA?

Situational Awareness is sending, receiving and retrieving information from people and automation…

It’s not just sending, receiving, and retrieving information, it’s also how we use that information with our knowledge and communication to manage our current situation!

And when should this occur…?