How Pilots Assess Their Non-Technical Performance – A Flight Simulator Study

Abstract

Within a full flight simulator study which aims to quantify the appropriateness of checklists and procedures in abnormal situations (Haslbeck, Gontar, & Schubert, 2014), 60 randomly chosen crews of commercial pilots (Airbus A320 and A340) flew a challenging flight-simulator scenario. Workload as well as time pressure constantly increased throughout the scenario. Crew performance and especially different aspects of Crew Resource Management (CRM) were subsequently rated by both pilots, who were asked to assess themselves and the other crewmember regarding their CRM skills. To avoid direct interaction during this assessment pilots were separated after the simulator flight. This approach allowed a comparison between pilots’ self and peer-rating of their CRM-skills in relation to their crew position and the specific CRM aspect being assessed; a comparable study was not found in literature. The results indicate that cognitive skills are rated to be less positive than social skills. Furthermore, pilots seem to rate their colleague to perform better than themselves regarding all skills. The study showed that different response sets are of concern when assessing own and colleagues’ skills regarding CRM. These findings can be incorporated in pilots’ training as well as in further research.

Keywords: self-rating, peer-rating, Crew Resource Management, NOTECHS, flight simulator study

DOI: 10.54941/ahfe100614