Aviation Safety
Enhancing cognitive fitness to improve pilot performance
Elite Minds are delighted to be working with highly respected figures within the Australian aviation industry such as Tony Schwerdt (Elite Pilot Performance) and Doug Edwards (Ex-RAAF and also with the Fit to Fly Research Project). Their considerable knowledge and experience in the industry are invaluable in regards to their insights on how we can work together to make aviation training more effective, improve situation awareness and therefore enhance air safety for pilots and their passengers.
Situation Awareness
Pilots operate in a complex and dynamic environment with significant human interaction. Multiple tasks must be monitored, prioritized and managed - referred to in the industry as Situation Awareness (or SA). Research suggests that individual differences in SA could arise from underlying innate differences in abilities such as working memory capacity, perceptual speed, pattern-matching, cognitive complexity, mental simulation and attention sharing. A study conducted on F-15 pilots found that while flying experience was the most predictive Situational Awareness criterion, when F-15 experience was held constant, general cognitive ability (or “mental fitness”) was found to be more predictive than psychomotor or personality variables.
Enhancing cognitive abilities to improve situational awareness
Elite Minds is now working with aviation professionals to develop training to enhance pilots’ cognitive fitness. The South Australian entity Elite Pilot Performance are embedding Elite Minds cognitive assessment and training programs as an integral component part of their overall training processes. A similar program is expected to start at Archerfield (Queensland) early next year. Additional benefits from cognitive training will be the enhancement of the overall learning and development process (that is, learning to fly becomes more efficient) as well as promoting pilot mental wellbeing and resilience to stress.
For more information
Contact our CEO
Duncan Ferguson
1800 462 866
Research References:
Prediction of situational awareness in F- 15 pilots.
Caretta, T. R., Perry, D. C, & Ree, M. J. (1996). International Journal of Aviation Psychology, 6, 21-41.
Individual differences in pilot situation awareness.
Endsley, M. R, & Bolstad, C. A. (1994). International Journal of Aviation Psychology, 4, 241-264.
Transfer of skill from a computer game trainer to flight.
Gopher,D., Weil,M, and Baraket,T. (1994) Human Factors, 36, 387-405