Pilot errors : communication comes last

This study builds on previous research, which established that in flight simulator experiments the communication performance of pilots was impaired under certain applied conditions. The flight simulator data recording relating to the actions of the pilots were examined to determine the impact of the factors affecting pilots’ communication (increased workload, increased demand on memory and, for some groups, increased ATC speech rate) on their flying performance. Using heading error as the dependent variable, no significant effects were found even for flights where pilots committed the most communication errors. Pilots are taught to prioritise tasks in order of operational safety importance, as per the adage “aviate, navigate, communicate”. Thus, these results are encouraging as they show that the order of operational importance is adhered to, and that flying performance is maintained even when communication is affected.