Pilot Judgment: Training and Evaluation

An analysis of accident statistics reveals that over 50% of pilot-caused civil aviation accident fatalities are the result of faulty pilot judgment. Although the FAA requires examiners to evaluate pilot judgment, it provides no definition or criteria against which such an evaluation can be made. In spite of the statistics implicating pilot judgment in many aviation fatalities, attempts to teach it are almost nonexistent. It is but a slight overstatement to say that good pilot judgment is learned by the lucky and the cautious over many years of varied flying experiences. This paper examines some of the decision-research literature in an attempt to provide an operational definition of pilot judgment and to suggest ways that pilot judgment may be taught and evaluated in civil aviation.