Debriefing is a major component of the job in many high-risk industries where errors can have considerable, often deadly consequences, including combat, surgery, and aviation. Although there exists considerable literature on debriefing, recent reviews of the literature suggest (a) shortcomings in the topics researched, (b) paucity of related theory, (c) limitations in the number of empirical studies, and (d) problems in research design. There are also recent suggestions that "there are surprisingly studies in the scholarly literature that show how to debrief, how to teach or learn to debrief, what methods of debriefing exists and how effective they are at achieving learning objectives and goals" Meta-analyses reveal substantial variations in research findings—e.g., on the use of video as a means of debriefing—that can be traced to the problems.

This book redresses these problems in that it provides a detailed look at debriefing and assessment, the functions of different cognitive artifacts used, and a theoretical framework that accounts for the complexity of flying an aircraft and for the debriefing of the pilots’ experiences, especially under the high-stakes condition of their bi-annual evaluation for licensing purposes. The book provides detailed investigation of flight examiners’ methods to arrive at assessments of aviation pilot performance. It shows and theoretically models why there are good reasons for lower than desired inter-rater agreements. It offers detailed scenarios of how debriefing can be made to draw maximum benefit for pilot learning, that is, for the take-home messages that will make them better pilots. The theoretical framework includes objective factors that determine performance and the subjective experience pilots have while undergoing training and testing in flight simulators