Friday, January 22, 2021

Aviation Reads - The Human Factor: The Perils of Multitasking

Disclaimer! This is NOT an opinion piece, but rather a collection of various readings and clippings which serve to spur further exploration in the topic. These are not full articles but simply excerpts from the bulk of reading material that is available.  As much citation and references were taken with regards to the topic. Legitimacy and accuracy of the clippings are read at your own discretion.
The Perils of Multi-tasking

Definition: Multitasking is the simultaneous execution of two or more tasks. A hallmark of the proficient pilot is the ability to multitask. In aviation, multitasking involves two different abilities: attention switching and simultaneous performance and its important to develop both of these abilities.

Stanford University professor of sociology Clifford Nass, along with associates Eyal Ophir and Anthony Wagner, decided to investigate what it was that gave multitaskers the ability to do what they do.

The researchers assembled two groups of people. One group included those who regularly did lots of multitasking, while the other group did very little multitasking. The first experiment tested the subjects’ ability to ignore extraneous information and focus only on what was important. The research team was surprised to discover that while those who did not multitask had no problem successfully completing the exercise, the mulitaskers were very distracted by extraneous information.

Next the researchers decided to test whether multitaskers were better at storing and organizing information. Once again the multitaskers failed miserably, while the control group did fine.They figured maybe they were better at switching between tasks faster than others. Again the control group unaccustomed to multitasking outperformed the subjects with lots of multitasking experience.

Basically, the researchers found that when presented with many sources of information, the multitaskers found it difficult to filter out irrelevant information, focus in on certain information or keep things separate in their minds. This is in line with other research showing that multitasking results in a strong negative impact on performing even simple tasks, and that it slows people down and results in more mistakes. This is more than a little scary when you consider what it takes to fly an airplane. The “simple” task of manually controlling the airplane involves taking in multiple streams of information through our eyes, ears and other senses, and then sending out the proper signals to our hands and feet so they all work together to make the airplane do what we want.

Now up the ante to instrument flying. The pilot has to switch rapidly between different sources of information to construct a mental picture of what the airplane is doing and how to get it to go where he wants it to go. And that is still just for manually flying the airplane. Next we need to add in air traffic control instructions, often delivered at machine-gun speed. Then there is the requirement to interpret the instructions from ATC through the use of paper or electronic charts and to fly, or program the autopilot to fly, the desired route. At the same time the pilot has to keep track of the weather at his current location, along his route and at his destination. Finally, add in questions from nervous passengers and personal needs like eating, drinking and bladder pressure relief. As one pilot responded when queried by ATC about his varying altitude, “It’s OK, I’m done now.”

In high-traffic areas and/or bad weather, the multitasking can become intense. In high-performance airplanes, the pilot typically can use an autopilot to take over some of the basic flying and navigating, but the autopilot itself adds another layer of inputs and outputs for the pilot to manage. Likewise, in a crew situation the pilots can split the load, but once again the task of coordinating between the two pilots adds complexity to the equation.

Multi-tasking
Attention Switching and Simultaneous Performance

Attention Switching

*Image Source: https://www.upsidelearning.com/blog/2010/04/22/multitasking-or-attention-switching/
Continuously switching attention between two or more tasks is attention switching. For example, when using a checklist to perform a preflight inspection, one must continuously switch attention between the checklist and the equipment which is inspected, then retrieve the next step in the procedure and perform the step.

For many kinds of tasks, attention switching is the only way to accomplish multitasking. For example, it is generally impossible to look at two different things at the same time. The area of focused vision (called the fovea) is only a few degrees in span and can only be directed to one location at a time. Similarly, people cannot listen to two conversations at the same time. While both conversations fall upon the ears at once, people must devote their attention to the comprehension of one, to the exclusion of the other.

Psychologists sometimes refer to these limiting features of human information-processing capabilities as bottlenecks. For example, people have bottlenecks within the individual perceptual channels of hearing and seeing. Another important bottleneck becomes apparent when people attempt to process the information perceived or retrieved from memories.

Simultaneous Performance

Performing several tasks at once, or simultaneous performance, is the second type of multitasking. This type of multitasking becomes possible when no bottlenecks are present and when one or more of the tasks being performed are skills developed to the point of being automatic. For example, the experienced instrument pilot is able to perform basic attitude instrument flying while communicating with ATC. For these pilots, scanning instruments and responding to minor attitude deviations with small control inputs has become automatic. The attentional resources of the pilot are free to devote to thinking and talking about other topics.

It is important to note that the ability to simultaneously perform tasks is a fragile phenomenon. For example, suppose Pilot is performing the basic attitude control task and communicating with ATC when suddenly encounters turbulence. The attitude control task quickly increases in difficulty and begins to require more and more deliberate attention. The pilot's ability to perform both tasks simultaneously quickly degrades.


Since doing several things at once is a natural part of aviation, attention switching and simultaneous performance need to be developed. One should have devoted enough time to study and practice such that the individual tasks can be performed reasonably well in isolation.

-------------------------------------------------------------------

Factors which hinder multitasking

Distractions and Interruptions


*Image Source https://www.goalcast.com/2017/10/11/7-simple-ways-reduce-distractions-get-done-less-time/
A distraction is an unexpected event that causes one's attention to be momentarily diverted. One must learn to decide whether or not a distraction warrants further attention or action on their part.

An interruption is an unexpected event for which the individual voluntarily suspends performance of one task in order to complete a different one. Interruptions are a significant source of errors and one must be made aware of the potential for errors caused by interruptions and develop procedures for dealing with them. A classic example is an interruption that occurs when running a checklist, stops the checklist when dealing with an interruption but erroneously picks up at a later point in the procedure, omitting one or more steps.

Fixation and Inattention

Since human attention is limited in focus and highly prone to distraction, people are vulnerable to two other types of problems: fixation and inattention.

Image Source: https://twitter.com/backtosnow/status/1111595117901762561
*In December of 1972, Eastern Airlines Flight 401, ferociously collided with the Florida Everglades. The plane was an L-1011-1 Tristar jumbo jet, which marked the first crash of a widebody aircraft. Reports claimed that the entire crew was busy attending to a faulty light bulb, and they were completely oblivious to the fact they were rapidly falling in altitude. The crash sadly killed 101 people, but 75 miraculously survived to reveal exactly what occurred.*

Fixation occurs when one is absorbed in performing one task to the exclusion of other tasks. Fixation on a task is often a sign that the task has not received enough practice in isolation. That is, the individual has not yet mastered the task well enough to perform it in addition to other tasks. Fixation can happen even when individual skills have been reasonably mastered, when individuals have not yet learned the importance of managing their own limited attentional resources. 

Inattention occurs when an individual fails to pay attention to a task that is important. Inattention is sometimes a natural by-product of fixation. Individuals fixate on one task and become too busy to attend to other tasks. Inattention also happens when students are not busy: attention may drift when they become bored or think that a task does not deserve their attention. In some cases, this type of monitoring rapidly deteriorates when humans are asked to passively monitor gauges or the progress of an automated system such as a GPS navigation computer or autopilot. Furthermore, it seems that the more reliable the system becomes, the poorer the human performance becomes at the monitoring task. The first line of defense against this type of inattention is to alert the individual to the problem, and to help students develop habits that keep their attention focused.

Mitigation strategies

So what’s a poor overwhelmed pilot to do? The first step is to avoid the need to multitask while taxiing or in the air by carefully planning the flight. Every piece of information accessed ahead of time is one less task that needs to be performed in flight.


In a critical multitasking situation, this one piece of information may be the requirement that overloads the pilot to the point that he loses track of something else critical to flight safety.

For example, I personally believe that trying to find the tower frequency at Martha’s Vineyard was likely the final link in the long accident chain that led John F. Kennedy Jr. to crash into the ocean in 1999. When he took off that evening, Kennedy was under considerable personal, physical and business stress. His flying skills were rusty, and he had little experience on his own in the sophisticated airplane he was flying. Although legally VFR, he was essentially flying on instruments that evening when he disconnected the autopilot for the descent into Martha’s Vineyard. At that point something as simple as looking for the tower frequency on the sectional chart could have been enough of a distraction to cause a momentary loss of control from which he was unable to recover.

Another step that can reduce multitasking is to try to accomplish as much as possible during times when there are fewer things going on. This means getting everything set up and checked before starting to taxi, and then focusing on controlling the airplane, watching for traffic and following the taxi clearance while in motion. The same goes for the before-takeoff checks.
The first few minutes after takeoff can be one of the busiest times of the flight, so it is important to take the time to get everything possible set up before lining up on the runway. In a number of accidents, a pilot who didn’t do this and was trying to take care of multiple items immediately after takeoff lost control of the airplane and crashed.

Cruise flight provides a time to relax; however, some pilots become too relaxed and fail to take advantage of this down time to check the weather and get ready for the approach at the destination. I recently wrote about the crash of American Airlines Flight 965 on approach to Cali, Colombia, in December 1995. Even though it was a three-hour flight, the crew got so involved in a conversation about crew duty time rules that they failed to prepare for what is one of the more difficult approaches in the world. On top of that, it was the first time the copilot, who was flying, had ever landed there. The final straw came when the crew, which was already lagging far behind the airplane, accepted a straight-in approach when they were much too close to the airport to accomplish that approach even if they had been prepared for it. At that point the crew became overloaded to the point of total confusion, and following a navigation error, lost all situational awareness of their position relative to the airport and the surrounding mountains. Just 15 minutes spent reviewing the approach and the surrounding area, and accomplishing the descent and approach checklists, would likely have been enough to establish sufficient situational awareness to avoid the errors they committed and to realize that switching to the straight-in approach was not advisable at that point.

Multitasking is one of those nebulous concepts that are hard to pin down as a cause of an accident or incident. However, because flying involves tracking many sources of information and managing multiple systems and controls, it doesn’t take much to be overwhelmed to the point that critical information is missed or critical actions are neglected or done incorrectly.

A conscious effort to reduce multitasking to the minimum necessary by meticulous planning, and by accomplishing everything possible before taxiing, takeoff or approach, can pay huge dividends in safety and peace of mind.

Posted by at
Labels:

No comments:

Post a Comment

Subscribe to: Post Comments (Atom)