ABSTRACT

A recent survey of ATC related errors by the NASA Ames Research Center revealed that a high percentage of these errors involved failures to execute deferred actions (Freed & Remington, 1999). A specific incident that illustrates the importance of prospective memory occurred at Los Angeles International Airport in 1991. A controller cleared an aircraft to hold in takeoff position and shortly afterward directed another aircraft to land on the same runway, without clearing the first aircraft to takeoff beforehand (National Transportation Safety Board, 1991). On the surface, the accident was simple: the controller forgot about the action required for the plane that was on the runway because of intervening attention to other aircraft she was managing. This forgotten to-be-performed action

represents a failure of prospective memory. Despite its importance this type of memory has received relatively little attention in the A TC literature.