Aeronautical Terms
ADM
Aeronautical Decision-Making
Aeronautical decision-making (ADM)
A systematic approach to the mental process used by pilots to consistently determine the best course of action in response to a given set of circumstances.
Airmanship Skills
The skills of coordination, timing, control touch, and speed sense in addition to the motor skills required to fly an aircraft.
Altitude Chamber
A device that simulates high altitude conditions by reducing the interior pressure. The occupants will suffer from the same physiological conditions as flight at high altitude in an unpressurized aircraft.
Anxiety
Mental discomfort that arises from the fear of anything, real or imagined. May have a potent effect on actions and the ability to learn from perceptions.
Attitude
A personal motivational predisposition to respond to persons, situations, or events in a given manner that can, nevertheless, be changed or modified through training as a sort of mental shortcut to decision-making.
Attitude management
The ability to recognize one’s own hazardous attitudes and the willingness to modify them as
Autokinesis
This is caused by staring at a single point of light against a dark background for more than a few seconds. After a few moments, the light appears to move on its own.
Briefing
An oral presentation where the speaker presents a concise array of facts without inclusion of extensive supporting material.
Building block concept
Concept of learning that new knowledge and skills are best based on a solid foundation of previous experience and/or old learning. As knowledge and skills increase, the base expands, supporting further learning.
Cockpit Resource Management
Techniques designed to reduce pilot errors and manage errors that do occur utilizing cockpit human resources. The assumption is that errors are going to happen in a complex system with error-prone humans.
Cognitive domain
A grouping of levels of learning associated with mental activity. In order of increasing complexity, the domains are knowledge, comprehension, application, analysis, synthesis, and evaluation.
Control Touch
The ability to sense the action of the airplane and its probable actions in the immediate future, with regard to attitude and speed variations, by sensing and evaluation of varying pressures and resistance of the control surfaces transmitted through the cockpit flight controls.
Coordination
The ability to use the hands and feet together subconsciously and in the proper relationship to produce desired results in the airplane.
Coriolis illusion
The illusion of rotation or movement in an entirely different axis, caused by an abrupt head movement, while in a prolonged constant-rate turn that has ceased to stimulate the brain’s motion sensing system.
Crew resource management (CRM)
The application of team management concepts in the flight deck environment. It was initially known as cockpit resource management, but as CRM programs evolved to include cabin crews, maintenance personnel and others, the phrase “crew resource management” has been adopted. This includes single pilots, as in most general aviation aircraft. Pilots of small aircraft, as well as crews of larger aircraft, must make effective use of all available resources; human resources, hardware, and information. A current definition includes all groups routinely working with the cockpit crew who are involved in decisions required to operate a flight safely. These groups include, but are not limited to: pilots, dispatchers, cabin crewmembers, maintenance personnel, and air traffic controllers. CRM is one way of addressing the challenge of optimizing the human/machine interface and accompanying interpersonal activities.
CRM
Crew Resource Management.
Dark adaptation
Physical and chemical adjustments of the eye that make vision possible in relative darkness.
Decompression Sickness
A condition where the low pressure at high altitudes allows bubbles of nitrogen to form in the blood and joints causing severe pain. Also known as the bends.
Defense mechanisms
Subconscious ego-protecting reactions to unpleasant situations.
Elevator illusion
The sensation of being in a climb or descent, caused by the kind of abrupt vertical accelerations that result from up- or downdrafts.
Emphasis error
The result of giving too much attention to a particular instrument during the cross-check, instead of relying on a combination of instruments necessary for attitude and performance information.
Empty-field myopia
Induced nearsightedness that is associated with flying at night, in instrument meteorological conditions and/or reduced visibility. With nothing to focus on, the eyes automatically focus on a point just slightly ahead of the airplane.
False Horizon
An optical illusion where the pilot confuses a row of lights along a road or other straight line as the horizon.
Fixation
A psychological condition where the pilot fixes attention on a single source of information and ignores all other sources.
Flicker Vertigo
A disorientating condition caused from flickering light off the blades of the propeller.
Hazardous attitudes
Five aeronautical decision-making attitudes that may contribute to poor pilot judgment: anti-authority, impulsivity, invulnerability, machismo, and resignation.
Headwork
Required to accomplish a conscious, rational thought process when making decisions. Good decision-making involves risk identification and assessment, information processing, and problem solving.
Histotoxic hypoxia
The inability of cells to effectively use oxygen. Plenty of oxygen is being transported to the cells that need it, but they are unable to use it.
Human factors
A multidisciplinary field devoted to optimizing human performance and reducing human error. It incorporates the methods and principles of the behavioral and social sciences, engineering, and physiology. It may be described as the applied science which studies people working together in concert with machines. Human factors involve variables that influence individual performance, as well as team or crew performance.
Hypemic hypoxia
A type of hypoxia that is a result of oxygen deficiency in the blood, rather than a lack of inhaled oxygen. It can be caused by a variety of factors. Hypemic means “not enough blood.”.
Hyperventilation
Occurs when an individual is experiencing emotional stress, fright, or pain, and the breathing rate and depth increase, although the carbon dioxide level in the blood is already at a reduced level. The result is an excessive loss of carbon dioxide from the body, which can lead to unconsciousness due to the respiratory system’s overriding mechanism to regain control of breathing.
Hypoxia
A lack of sufficient oxygen reaching the body tissues.
Hypoxic hypoxia
This type of hypoxia is a result of insufficient oxygen available to the lungs. A decrease of oxygen molecules at sufficient pressure can lead to hypoxic hypoxia.
Inversion illusion
The feeling that the aircraft is tumbling backwards, caused by an abrupt change from climb to straight-and-level flight while in situations lacking visual reference.
Judgment
The mental process of recognizing and analyzing all pertinent information in a particular situation, a rational evaluation of alternative actions in response to it, and a timely decision on which action to take.
Kinesthesia
The sensing of movements by feel.
Lack of common experience
In communication, a difficulty which arises because words have different meanings for the source and the receiver of information due to their differing backgrounds.
Leans, the
A physical sensation caused by an abrupt correction of a banked attitude entered too slowly to stimulate the motion sensing system in the inner ear. The abrupt correction can create the illusion of banking in the opposite direction.
Learning plateau
A learning phenomenon where progress appears to cease or slow down for a significant period of time before once again increasing.
Learning style
Preferred way(s) by which people learn. Common learning styles include visual, auditory, and kinesthetic, or tactile (hands on). Learning skills can be loosely grouped into physical and cognitive styles.
Long-term memory
The portion of the brain that stores information that has been determined to be of sufficient value to be retained. In order for it to be retained in longterm memory, it must have been processed or coded in the working memory.
Memory
The ability of people and other organisms to encode (initial perception and registration of information), store (retention of encoded information over time), and retrieve (processes involved in using stored information) information.
Motivation
A need or desire that causes a person to act. Motivation can be positive or negative, tangible or intangible, subtle or obvious.
Omission error
The failure to anticipate significant instrument indications following attitude changes; for example, concentrating on pitch control while forgetting about heading or roll information, resulting in erratic control of heading and bank.
Optical illusion
A misleading visual image. For the purpose of this handbook, the term refers to the brain’s misinterpretation of features on the ground associated with landing, which causes a pilot to misread the spatial relationships between the aircraft and the runway.
Orientation
Awareness of the position of the aircraft and of oneself in relation to a specific reference point.
Otolith organ
An inner ear organ that detects linear acceleration and gravity orientation.
Perceptions
The basis of all learning, perceptions result when a person gives meaning to external stimuli or sensations. Meaning derived from perception is influenced by an individual’s experience and many other factors.
Personality
The embodiment of personal traits and characteristics of an individual that are set at a very early age and extremely resistant to change.
Pilot error
Pilot action/inaction or decision/indecision causing or contributing to an accident or incident.
Poor judgment chain
A series of mistakes that may lead to an accident or incident. Two basic principles generally associated with the creation of a poor judgment chain are: (1) one bad decision often leads to another; and (2) as a string of bad decisions grows, it reduces the number of subsequent alternatives for continued safe flight. Aeronautical decision- making is intended to break the poor judgment chain before it can cause an accident or incident.
Recency
Principle of learning stating that things learned recently are remembered better than things learned some time ago. As time passes, less is remembered. Instructors use this principle when summarizing the important points at the end of a lecture in order for students to better remember them.
Rhodopsin
The photosensitive pigments that initiate the visual response in the rods of the eye.
Risk
The future impact of a hazard that is not eliminated or controlled.
Risk elements
There are four fundamental risk elements in aviation: the pilot, the aircraft, the environment, and the type of operation that comprise any given aviation situation.
Risk management
The part of the decision-making process which relies on situational awareness, problem recognition, and good judgment to reduce risks associated with each flight.
Scan
A procedure used by the pilot to visually identify all resources of information in flight.
Scenario-based training (SBT)
Training method that uses a highly structured script of real world experiences to address aviation training objectives in an operational environment.
Semicircular canal
An inner ear organ that detects angular acceleration of the body.
Signal-to-noise ratio
An indication of signal strength received compared to background noise, which is a measure of the adequacy of the received signal.
Single-pilot resource management (SRM)
The ability for a pilot to manage all resources effectively to ensure the outcome of the flight is successful.
Situational awareness
The accurate perception and understanding of all the factors and conditions within the four fundamental risk elements that affect safety before, during, and after the flight.
Skills and procedures
The procedural, psychomotor, and perceptual skills used to control a specific aircraft or its systems. They are the airmanship abilities that are gained through conventional training, are perfected, and become almost automatic through experience.
Somatogravic illusion
The misperception of being in a nose-up or nose-down attitude, caused by a rapid acceleration or deceleration while in flight situations that lack visual reference.
Spatial disorientation
The state of confusion due to misleading information being sent to the brain from various sensory organs, resulting in a lack of awareness of the aircraft position in relation to a specific reference point.
Speed Sense
The ability to sense instantly and react to any reasonable variation of airspeed.
Stagnant hypoxia
A type of hypoxia that results when the oxygen-rich blood in the lungs is not moving to the tissues that need it.
Stress
The body’s response to demands placed upon it.
Stress management
The personal analysis of the kinds of stress experienced while flying, the application of appropriate stress assessment tools, and other coping mechanisms.
Technique
The manner in which procedures are executed.
Tension
Maintaining an excessively strong grip on the control column, usually resulting in an overcontrolled situation.
Timing
The application of muscular coordination at the proper instant to make flight, and all maneuvers incident thereto, a constant smooth process.
Vestibule
The central cavity of the bony labyrinth of the ear, or the parts of the membranous labyrinth that it contains.
Virtual Reality (VR)
A form of computer-based technology that creates a sensory experience allowing a participant to believe and barely distinguish a virtual experience from a real one. VR uses graphics with animation systems, sounds, and images to reproduce electronic versions of real-life experience.
Working or short-term memory
The portion of the brain that receives information from the sensory register. This portion of the brain can store information in memory for only a short period of time. If the information is determined by an individual to be important enough to remember, it must be coded in some way for transmittal to long-term memory.
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