Situational Emergency Training: Experiences and Implications

Situational Emergency Training (SET) involves the development of aircrew emergency decision skills in the context of the situational and psychological variables which characterize aircraft emergencies. A program was undertaken to study critical decision variables and their interactions within the framework of the mission scenario. One outcome was the specification of initial guidelines for a comprehensive SET program. The continued evolution of cockpit automation presents an additional decision-making requirement- the supervision of cockpit automation systems and the attendant decisions to accept or override system actions. One aspect of decision making under supervisory control, the generation of hypotheses regarding systems malfunctions, is seen as critical and in need of further study.