Situational Awareness in Aviation - Essay Example

Running Head: Situational Awareness Situational Awareness of Institute] Situational Awareness Abstract The present paper investigates the state of affair of situational awareness in aviation. The study is aimed at brining to explicit attention the matters of immediate consideration. As such, it will discuss how the concept of situational awareness is related to the current practices of aviation and what are the effective ways to detect situational awareness as well as how it can be prevented. The paper also links the concept with the military practice of it. Introduction The term situation awareness (SA) now a common register in aviation, it has been defined with a number of interpretation in the present day literature. However, according to the definition provided by Endsley (1988) (cited in Endsley and Garland, 2000) SA is "the perception of the elements in the environment within a volume of time and space, the comprehension of their meaning and the projection of their status in the near future" (p. 05). SA has been widely referenced in the world of aviation due to the fact that it plays a highly prominent role in operations taking place in flights. Even though the concept is considered to be very effectively in the domain of aviation, for safely operating aircraft functions for flights; it is no wonder to account for the fact that the very concept has been misemployed in its destined area. What is not appropriate is that the use of SA is most of the time based on an understanding which bases more on intuitive underpinnings than on objective analysis and implementation. Moreover, a commonly acceptable definition of SA is also scarce. As such the aviation psychologists have put all their attention on the mental links of SA owing to the fact that for tasks operations should undertake are of highly cognitive nature. Henceforth, the aviation psychologists have attempted to work out the cognitive areas that comprise the very components of SA. In other words, the aviation psychologists have attempted to investigate the cognitive behavior of human practice that can lead to a successful understanding of SA. The empirical studies conducted in the past have revealed high correlation of memory usage in the practice of SA. (Sohn, & Doane, p. 461, 2004). Ways to Detect SA There are several ways by which ways to detect SA can be acquired. One such area is the analysis of the role played by memory in SA. Here, this single is divisible into many a subheads which tell us of the importance of understanding the role of memory in SA. Such relevant content as systems, hazards, or tasks are put to processing and ultimately stored in memory. Henceforth, the degree of accuracy of SA relies on memory in a way that the information coming in is synchronized into the cohesive interpretation and forecast of aircraft status. Due to the importance that memory components hold in SA, a number of researchers have concentrated on the role of memory in a number of differential tasks like air traffic control to detect ways of SA (Sohn, & Doane, p. 461, 2004). The basic step toward understanding SA and ways to detect it is to understand the construct of SA itself. According to Sohn, and Doane (p. 461, 2004), information processing view is the one step on which the entire understanding of SA can be employed. Here the authors quote Endsley's view that defines three levels of SA with respect to the components of processes that are cognitively perceivable. On this model the first level of understanding the construct takes into consideration the perceiving of the elements present in the environment. These elements can are other aircraft, status of the system being used, the terrain, and lights of warning. The second level of understanding the construct of SA to detect the ways to prevent any haphazard observation of any action is to integer information which is "a process of activating long-term memory (LTM) knowledge structures in order to organize the perceived situation elements into meaningful and recognizable configurations" (p. 461). The third level in this connection involves the processes which trigger the projection of the status of future flight. The third level in the domain of SA makes use of "the goal-relevant activated knowledge structures formed in the second level of SA to predict the status of the aircraft" (p. 461). SA accuracy is a function to activate the knowledge of the long term memory structures which smooth the progress of synchronizing of information found in the environment and which results in an organized deciphering of the status of the present and future flights. More recent studies suggest that the organization of information about the environment occurs in working memory. In short we can say that Endsley's view takes into consideration the processes of memory which display whether or not the "resulting level of awareness will facilitate or detract from pilot performance" (p. 461). Moving along the same lines of analyzing the ways to detect the SA, Sohn, and Doane inform that recently conducted empirical studies suggest that "componential analyses" that the memory processes are constructive in envisaging the failures related to SA. For instance, in a study conducted for F-15 pilots of US Air Force manifested that factors of cognition like vocal working memory, spatial memory (working), reasoning in spatial domain, and scattered attention "were liable predicators of SA after controlling for the effects of flight experience" (Sohn, & Doane, p. 461, 2004). If we look at these all details and the areas critically analyzed above, there is no doubt that a number of ways to detect the prospective ways of SA can be determined. The three level model along with the approach to understanding the SA construct not only pave the way for basic ground to detect ways of SA but also give viable content for further investigation. Moreover, recent research has also to offer a great deal in the connection. Ways to Prevent The ways to prevent are necessary with regard to SA. Jentsch at el. give us a very remarkable inventory of such ways in their study that was conducted to determine the human error factor among crew member of a flight operation in the cockpit. Their study's empirical findings suggest that it is not always the best option to have captains control the course of action. What is appropriate is that the captains should let their first officers do the flying while they are busy with the "big picture" of the flight operations (p. 01). This trend is taking attention in the airline business in US. Another point is that the captains should monitor the approach and should take control when illustrative reference is made for coming to land. This procedure simply gives high level of freedom to captain so as to monitor the development of the flight in rather more complex and difficult flying situations (Jentsch at el. p. 01, 1999). Moreover, either to prevent of lose SA, the role of team members is highly significant statistically. So many times of the loss of SA it was analyzed and the authors put it in this way: "Across weather conditions and aircraft types, loss of SA was assigned more often as the primary error and cause of the incident when the captain was the PF than when the FO was at the controls" (Jentsch at el. p. 01, 1999). SA in Military In today's context of military organization and performance, demands for effective and result-oriented performance have grown out of awareness and circumstantial difficulties. The advent of new and sophisticated technology is another element in this regard. As such in today's military operation the analysis and conceptual framework of SA has dramatically changed. The term of SA in military is interpreted as "In a battlefield environment, rapid and correct action selection depends on application of what has been labeled situational awareness" (Kass at el. p. 106, 1999). Henceforth, the situational awareness in military is a behavior of skills which encircles the processes by which information related to tasks are hauled out, then synchronized, evaluated and then, ultimately, acted on. There is also focus on how situation awareness differs from one individual to another and how it works on the cognitive domain of each individual. Now if we look at this interpretation by the authors, we will come to know that the operational meaning of the term are different in military and aviation. It is simply due to the fact that aviation takes into consideration the demands of air operations; whereas military operation tend more to focus on logistic and terrestrial matters. However, there is no doubt that the focus in both the areas on SA shed light in the same direction when it comes to understanding the very phenomenon of SA. The specific focus in the domain of military in SA is on skilled-behavior of an individual which they seem to practice under any circumstances that demand analysis of a situation and its objective and pragmatic awareness. Thus aviation SA and military SA are two slightly different interpretations of the same upper head. Conclusion According to Williams (p. 44, 2002), both the domain of military and aviation are of high importance with relation to SA because "Problems with SA have been implicated as a leading causal factor in both military aviation mishaps". As such it is important to consider ways in which effective network can be established so that better approaches to SA can be acquired. Although a number of studies have been conducted with regard to comprehension of SA issues, existent literature suggests that more research is still needed both in different areas and in the scope of sampling. The present environment for both aviation and military poses graver challenges and difficulties in all fronts due to complexities of operational procedures and other factors. It is highly needed that more focus be shifted to SA. References Jentsch, F., Barnett, J., Bowers, C. A., & Salas, E. (1999). Who is flying this plane anyway What mishaps tell us about crew member role assignment and air crew situation awareness. Human Factors (41) 1. Page Number: 1. COPYRIGHT 1999 Human Factors and Ergonomics Society. Kass, S. J., Herschler, D. A., & Companion, M. A. (1991). Training situational awareness through pattern recognition in a battlefield environment. Military Psychology (3) 2. Page Number: 106. M. R. Endsley, & D. J. Garland (Eds.) Situation awareness: analysis and measurement (2000). Lawrence Erlbaum Associates. Place of Publication: Mahwah, NJ. (pp. 1-25). Sohn, Y. W., & Doane, S. M. (2004). Memory processes of flight situation awareness: interactive roles of working memory capacity, long-term working memory, and expertise. Human Factors (46) 3. Page Number: 461+. COPYRIGHT 2004 Human Factors and Ergonomics Society Williams, K. W. (2002). Impact of aviation highway-in-the-sky displays on pilot situation awareness. Human Factors (44) 1. Page Number: 18+. COPYRIGHT 2002 Human Factors and Ergonomics Society. Read More