ABSTRACT
Pilot decision-making prowess has often been viewed as a somewhat occult skill, a recondite and elusive element of "professional seasoning" or the "right stuff." Most literature on the subject has tended to derive from one of three sources: from nonscientific anecdotal and advisory accounts (e.g., Flying Magazine's book series, "I Learned About Flying From That"); from intuitively based judgment-training programs (e.g., Telfer, 1987); or from analyses of aircraft accident and incident reports (see, for example, Giffen & Rockwell, 1987). Prevalent themes in this third body of literature include the observations that faulty pilot judgment and poor decision making are causal or contributing factors in the majority of "pilot-error" accidents; that most of these accidents involve time pressure or time criticality; and that more research on pilot judgment and decision making is needed.
