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The human-machine teams create, explain, and recover from coordination breakdowns: a simulator study of disturbance management on modern flight decks

Nikolic, Mark I
http://rave.ohiolink.edu/etdc/view?acc_num=osu1092808745

Abstract Details

2004, Doctor of Philosophy, Ohio State University, Industrial and Systems Engineering.
In many domains, the introduction of automation technology is considered a “mixed blessing” because it has not only extended operator capabilities and increased the safety and efficiency of operations, but has also led to new cognitive demands, which have created new opportunities for errors and performance breakdowns. Considerable efforts have been directed at preventing erroneous actions and assessments through training, design, and procedures. However, error prevention alone will never be a sufficient strategy for improving safety in complex high-risk systems. Rather, a more effective solution requires a deeper understanding of how operators cope with their errors, or more appropriately, with the resulting disturbances to the monitored process. As the final step in a research program that included jump-seat observations, a flight instructor survey, and an incident database analysis, the first full-mission simulator study in this area was conducted with twelve airline pilots in order to examine (the effectiveness of) current pilot strategies for diagnosing and recovering from disturbances, and the impact of current automation design on these processes. Pilots flew a one-hour scenario which contained challenging events that probed pilots’ knowledge of, and proficiency in using, the autoflight system. A process tracing methodology was used which integrated behavioral and verbal data in order to identify patterns in strategies across pilots. Overall, pilots completed the scenario successfully but varied considerably in how they coped with disturbances to their flight path. Our results show that aspects of feedback design delayed the detection, and thus escalated the severity, of a disturbance. Diagnostic episodes were very rare due to pilots’ knowledge gaps as well as time-criticality. Consequently, in most cases, generic, rather inefficient, recovery strategies were observed, and pilots tended to rely on high levels of automation when trying to manage the consequences of erroneous actions or assessments. Furthermore, our scenario illustrated the role of external agents in coordinating recovery actions by various participants in the system. Our findings are discussed in the context of disturbance management and the development of cognitive tools to support this process.
Nadine Sarter (Advisor)
126 p.
disturbance management; error management; cognitive engineering; human error; error recovery; aviation automation; glass cockpit; human-machine coordination; simulator study

Recommended Citations

Citations

  • Nikolic, M. I. (2004). The human-machine teams create, explain, and recover from coordination breakdowns: a simulator study of disturbance management on modern flight decks [Doctoral dissertation, Ohio State University]. OhioLINK Electronic Theses and Dissertations Center. http://rave.ohiolink.edu/etdc/view?acc_num=osu1092808745

    APA Style (7th edition)

  • Nikolic, Mark. The human-machine teams create, explain, and recover from coordination breakdowns: a simulator study of disturbance management on modern flight decks. 2004. Ohio State University, Doctoral dissertation. OhioLINK Electronic Theses and Dissertations Center, http://rave.ohiolink.edu/etdc/view?acc_num=osu1092808745.

    MLA Style (8th edition)

  • Nikolic, Mark. "The human-machine teams create, explain, and recover from coordination breakdowns: a simulator study of disturbance management on modern flight decks." Doctoral dissertation, Ohio State University, 2004. http://rave.ohiolink.edu/etdc/view?acc_num=osu1092808745

    Chicago Manual of Style (17th edition)

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© 2004, all rights reserved.
This open access ETD is published by The Ohio State University and OhioLINK.