The Sensemaking Model for Airline Pilot Training: Building and Maintaining Expert Flight Path Management

While airline pilots are highly skilled at piloting aircraft, they lack effective training and evaluation of their ability to monitor the flight’s progress collaboratively with their flight deck companions. This is partially because airline flight training focuses on the pilot who is flying the airplane, leaving pilots of multi-crew airliners to independently develop crew-oriented flight path monitoring strategies. However, lapses in monitoring continue to cause incidents and accidents when crews misinterpret the aircraft’s state and mismanage onboard automation systems. To address this, NASA human factors researchers developed a resilient and cooperative flight path monitoring framework based on the organizational psychology concept of “sensemaking.” This approach teaches crews to monitor through a three-part process of; 1) developing a situation model, 2) managing tasks and attention to more efficiently allocate attention resources, and 3) communicating effectively and efficiently.

An asynchronous learning module of interactive videos using task-based learning and design for motivation introduced this cooperative flight path monitoring framework to airline pilots. The module design used elements from Keller’s ARCS model and Merrill’s task-based learning to promote relevance and user integration of the concepts into their airline operating practice. Twenty current airline pilots used the module and answered survey questions to assess how successfully the module employed Keller’s and Merrill’s design strategies. Five pilots conducted follow up interviews with the researcher and the original NASA authors. The pilots responded favorably to the design, with positive survey responses for relevance, integration, and acceptance. Recommendations for improvement include designing additional user tasks to allow more opportunities for the learners to explore and use their new skills.