Responding to an Unexpected In-Flight Event: Physiological Arousal, Information Processing, and Performance

The study was designed to investigate whether a simulated unexpected abnormal flight event can lead to startle and explore differences in behavioral responses between expected and unexpected abnormal flight events.

Recent research suggests startle (an autonomic response to an acute stimulus) following unexpected abnormal flight events can impact pilot performance and can increase the probability of a negative outcome following the event.

Information processing, physiological measures, and performance differences between responses to expected and unexpected flight events were compared. General aviation (GA) pilots flew a series of flights in a fixed-base flight simulator including two experimental flights which included an unexpected and an expected, engine failure. During the flights, heart rate, eye tracking, and flight data were recorded.

During the unexpected engine failure, pilots showed greater increases in heart rate and pupil dilation. Significant differences in scanning were evident with fewer areas scanned following the unexpected event. During the unexpected engine failure, performance was impaired when compared to the expected events. However, poor performance was not associated with higher levels of arousal.

The study provides an empirical demonstration of impaired pilot response to unexpected events with associated symptoms consistent with the induction of startle. The present research builds on Landman et al.'s conceptual model of startle and surprise.

Standardized training protocols may not adequately prepare pilots to deal with the unexpected effects of startle in real-world encounters. Introducing greater variety into training events may be useful. The effects of startle in disrupting well-trained responses may also occur in areas other than aviation where critical events may occur unexpectedly or present in an unfamiliar manner.