Environmental causes of aviation stress
[1] Stress is defined as a situation, variable, or circumstance that interrupts the normal functioning of an individual and, most of the time, causes a threat.
In the aviation industry, the main environmental stressors are time pressure, workload and overload, fatigue, noise, and temperature.
Christopher Wickens, a former head of the University of Illinois Urbana-Champaign's Aviation Human Factors Division, found a relationship between response time and error rates: The faster a pilot scans a plane's instrument panel, the less accurate his or her perception will be.
[citation needed] According to a sample of data from the Aviation Safety Reporting System (ASRS), tight scheduling is the most common cause of time pressure,[original research?
[6] Normally, when pilots get a new job, they start by flying unfamiliar airplanes at unfavorable times, and both of these factors can cause stress.
[6] Another study by Wickens, of the University of Illinois, found that workload affects spatial awareness, an essential skill in maneuvering an aircraft through a three-dimensional space with hazards.
[10] Wickens proposes that monitoring and controlling these variables creates a cumulative workload that can lead to poor spatial awareness.
[10] The National Transportation Safety Board has suggested that pilots make more procedural and tactical decision errors if they have been awake for a longer-than-average period of time.
Subjective, performance, and psycho-physiological measures were taken for eight participants, ages 22 to 36, on three complexity tasks after sleep loss of one night.
[12] The Aerospace Medical Association's Fatigue Countermeasures Subcommittee suggests hypnotics and other substances, some unregulated by the Food and Drug Administration, to maximize the quality of pilots' sleep before flights.
The subcommittee suggested that the quality of sleep can be as important as the quantity,[17] and that taking a nap before a night shift can increase pilot performance.
In addition, proper exercise and nutrition help pilots maintain their physical health, which can reduce the negative effects of sleep loss.
[17] According to research, exposure to noise can cause physical stress and long-term health risks[18] such as hearing impairment, annoyance, and sleep disturbance,[19] all of which can decrease performance.
Types of sleep disturbance include:[19] According to the IOS study, noise affects pilot performance by increasing arousal, decreasing attention to tasks, and altering strategic choices.
[20] By directly measuring pilots' condition in the cockpit, the new system minimizes thermal stress and supports performance quality.
