From here and further along the same thread here
When you, as a pilot, find yourself in a difficult flight situation, especially when unforeseen, you will endure a certain level of stress, all relative to your experience, your cool, and the situation.
Depending on that level of stress, your mind will initially increase in focus and vigilance. However, soon enough, if stress level goes on increasing, your brain might have tunnel vision (perhaps even literally), impaired decision making ability, become cloudy, and/or in extreme cases, maybe even lead to paralysis.
The above links explain some of it in the practical context of my 2017 SEP NAT crossing. Other well-known practical situations, but none of those in GA are these:
@Tango more precisely described it here
Tango wrote:
While the AI summary is not necessarily wrong, both the EASA and FAA training syllabi focus on the nonlinear effect of adrenaline – performance rapidly degrades after a certain “optimal arousal” point which is typically associated with only very mild adrenaline production.See for example the image below, from the wikipedia article on what is called the Yerkes-Dodson law
What flight situations have you experienced where this effect has been noticeable and how did you handle it?
I have seen that graph at many crm courses already but i have to disagree with it.
Performance doesn’t drop gradually as arousal/stress increases.
Especially in aviation, i think you can better compare it to a Cl-diagram. After the peak there is some dégradation in performance but a further increase in stress gives a full drop in performance.
I also disagree with the graph. Arousal is likely counter productive to safe flight. Sorry.
On a serious note I am well aware of the propensity to tunnel vision in stressful situations and tend to recognise it early and default to fly the aeroplane. Nothing else matters ultimately.
I also disagree with the graph. Arousal is likely counter productive to safe flight. Sorry.
On a serious note I am well aware of the propensity to tunnel vision in stressful situations and tend to recognise it early and default to fly the aeroplane. Nothing else matters ultimately.
I’ve had a couple of emergencies and every time I repeat to myself, fly the aeroplane first.
geetaps wrote:
I’ve had a couple of emergencies and every time I repeat to myself, fly the aeroplane first.
So you did identify a certain propensity to lose sight of priorities and fought it by forcing you to, above all else, aviate. Care to elaborate on your emergencies if they are not unconfessable?
In my case as referred in the OP, using the autopilot did take care of a big chunk of the “aviate” part of flying.
In another case referred here , I did not have time for the second stage of “arousal” to kick-in, and the autopilot was indeed causing the mis-aviating, so I had to resort to disconnecting it and directly and immediately aviating: no time for anything else.
I found the latter easier from the OP POV than the former.
FlyingAppel wrote:
After the peak there is some dégradation in performance but a further increase in stress gives a full drop in performance.
How is this different from the graph in the OP?
There is a propensity to focus on the wrong thing but it was drilled into me in training to fly the aeroplane. It also helps to be able to remain calm in stressful situations which I appreciate not everyone is blessed with. I am not afraid of death so that helps.
My first"emergency" was an oil leak in the cockpit believed to be from the pressure gauge. Just ten hours after getting my ppl. Just a few miles from a large international airport my main concern was landing there with all the fees and getting in trouble with the flight school. I immediately told ATC, and the reply came back “say intentions”. Crunch time, so I distinctly remember thinking what would my instructor say – and in a split second declared my intention to land. Within 3-4 minutes we were on the ground.
The flight school were very upset with me but in my view they were in the wrong. The oil leak turned out to be brake fluid and the school knew of the defect and still let me fly to a short strip. I left the school shortly after by my choice.
Since then I’ve had a gear failure and a fuel system issue. Training and regular emergency practice I think is vital. Also a confidence to ignore ATC if your attention is needed elsewhere is important.
In your graph, when you start from the peak, the performance at peak+x and peak-x is equal. For every size of x
In real life the performance drop after the peak will be steeper.
Of course different between each person
From Google: “__Arousal is a physiological and psychological state of being awake, alert, and responsive to stimuli, ranging from deep sleep to high excitement.”__
Not the sexual meaning of the word
No or low arousal means you are falling asleep.
This will happen more when cruising on autopilot with little chatter on the frequency.
