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Dear Colleagues!

As you might have noticed in our latest OM D rev 4, CRM Workbook has been moved from
OPC/PC to ADT training. This does not mean that CRM as a subject has been removed from
your OPC/PC, the subject is still an important part of your annual check and we hope you will
continue to have valuable discussions about the subject with your examiner.

These are the Human Factor/ CRM subjects of ADT 2019-2020:

 Stress/ Stress management

 Fatigue / vigilance
 Information acquisitioning and processing
 Assertiveness
 Situational awareness

Enclosed you will also find a workbook case study; UPS Flight 1354. This is an 8 min video made
by the NTSB which will take you through the events on 14 August 2013. You might become
puzzled by the fact that two qualified and experienced pilots find themselves not being able to
address the multiple issues that eventually will lead to the accident. Some of the answers lies
within understanding the human limitations and our vulnerability.
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Stress and Stress Management

One of the main detractors which affect our physical and

mental function as aircrew and can prevent us
performing to the best of our ability is STRESS. Stress is
an inescapable part of life for all of us. It can be mental or
physical, either of which can contribute to human error
which can lead to an accident or incident.

Stress is the response to unfavorable environmental

conditions, referred to as stressors, and describes how a body reacts to demands placed upon it.
Stress applied to an airframe or power plant that exceeds the designed load factor leads to
weakening or failure of the component affected. In the same way if excessive demands are
placed on an individual, it is possible to exceed the individual’s capacity to meet them. This
results in deterioration in the individual’s ability to cope with the situation.
Stress can develop when an individual’s perceived ability to perform a given task does not meet
the demand. This gives rise to physiological (physical) and psychological (mental) responses that
can affect the individual’s performance.

Stress can have both positive and negative effects on the body. Small amounts of stress can act
as a stimulant, making us feel alert and on our toes, giving us a sense of well-being and giving
much needed stimulation. However, high levels of stress can cause anxiety, depression and
other unwelcome effects.
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Stressors

The total stress that can be imposed to an individual can be considered to come from four
different sources:

1 - Physical stressors

There are physical stressors within the flying environment such as:

Heat

A comfortable temperature for most people dressed in

normal clothing is around 20⁰C. Above 30⁰C the heart
rate, blood pressure and sweating increase. Attention
becomes restricted or focused. Below 15⁰C the individual
becomes uncomfortable and may lose some feeling or
control in their hands, especially the fine muscle
movement.

Noise

In low arousal states, some noise can increase performance and maintain arousal levels during
boredom and fatigue. Excessive noise will disrupt performance, cause annoyance and irritability.
Excessive noise may also lead to a loss of attention or excessive focusing of attention. During the
design of audible warnings for system failures, care must be taken to ensure that the noises
selected to alert the crew are sufficient to attract attention, but not too loud as to startle them.
Sound above 80 dB can impair the task performance and above 90 dB there is measurable
impairment of the task.

Vibration

Any vibration can affect both visual and motor performance leading to uncomfortable symptoms.
Properly designed pilot’s seats can offer relief and lessen any effects. The frequency and
strength of the vibration determines the severity and effect it can have on you.

Low humidity

The air conditioning systems of modern aircraft draws air in from outside. At operating altitudes,
- -
temperatures, the air is very dry with a relative humidity as low as 5%. For comfort, the normal
humidity should be around 40 to 60%. At low humidity the individual becomes more
uncomfortable due to the drying out effect. The mucus membranes of the nose and throat
become dryer, and eyes can become sore as tears tend to evaporate more rapidly.
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2 - Domestic stress

We are all supposed to leave our everyday

problems at home when we fly, or at least
compartmentalized in a place where we don’t
have to think of them. Our troubles can be many
and varied, particularly to do with relationships at
home, compounded by the added strain of our
loved ones having to plan around our rosters and
having to accept frequent and/or unexpected
separations. There is good evidence for a
relationship between stress and health, and some
evidence for a relationship between domestic
stress and accident involvement.

Additionally, poor relationships with a partner or other family members will affect ones overall
stress level. Pre-occupation with a source of domestic stress can play on one’s mind during the
working day, distracting from the working task. Inability to concentrate fully may impact on task
performance and ability to pay due attention to safety. Domestic stress typically results from
major life changes at home, such as marriage, birth of a child, a son or daughter leaving home,
bereavement of a close family member or friend, marital problems, divorce, financial problems, ill
health, etc.

There have been many attempts to quantify the stress effect of life or domestic events. One such
scheme scores stress by totaling points as follows:

Death of a spouse or partner 100

Divorce 73
Marital separation 65
Death of a close family member 63
Personal injury or illness 53
Loss of job 47
Retirement 45
Pregnancy 40
Sexual problems 40
Son or daughter leaving home 29
Change of residence 20
Bank loan or credit card debt 17
Vacation 13
Minor law violation 11

The cumulative points score gives an indication of life stress, but such schemes need to be
treated with caution because of wide individual variability.

<60 Free of life stress

60-80 Normal life stress
80-100 High life stress
>100 Under serious life stress
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3 - Reactive

These stressors are the body’s physical or mental response to situations that arise in everyday
life as well as those that arise when operating an aircraft. They stem from the body’s reaction to
specific events. Examples in aviation are encountering wind shear on final or running short on
fuel. These types of stressors that can cause startles, alarm reactions and fight or flight
responses.

4 - Organizational

Stress can arise from within the company or organization for which an individual works. Certain
organizational conditions have been identified as potential stressors. Some of these include:

Poor communication
Role conflict or ambiguity
Workload and autonomy
Relationships with others
Lack of career development

Pilot stress

Some years ago, some airlines and the military teamed up to carry out a series of tests on their
pilots to monitor their body reactions during different phases of operation. The pilots were wired
up to monitors, which observed various bodily reactions such as pulse rate, eye movement etc.
They also had cameras tucked away discretely to monitor the pilot’s scan flow.
The result showed no matter how well trained or how experienced those pilots were, at all times
of great stress, the scan stopped, and they ended up with tunnel vision fixated on one instrument.
Studies like this tells us that we need to have a raised awareness of our own stress level and
recognize the link between stress, workload and performance.
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In aviation, at all phases of flight, pilots are subjected to different amounts of stress; how we react
when subjected to stress in high workload situations will ultimately make or break whether the
outcome is a safe and successful flight.

Management of stress

Once we become aware of stress, we generally respond to it by using one of two

strategies: defense or coping.
Defense strategies involve alleviation of the symptoms (taking medication, alcohol, etc.) or
reducing the anxiety (e.g. denying to yourself that there is a problem (denial), or blaming
someone else).
Coping strategies involve dealing with the source of the stress rather than just the
symptoms (e.g. delegating workload, prioritizing tasks, sorting out the problem, etc.).
Coping is the process whereby the individual either adjusts to the perceived demands of
the situation or changes the situation itself.

Unfortunately, it is not always possible to deal with the problem if this is outside the
control of the individual (such as during an emergency), but there are well published
techniques for helping individuals to cope with stress.

Do we have support within the Norwegian group dealing with personnel issues such as domestic
stressors?

The Company already has an established Pilot Peer Support Group. It has been active since
2010 and have several colleagues offering their support. Norwegian Pilot Support Group (NPSG)
has established a homepage that can be found here:

https://www.npsg.info/

Here is some key info:

“NPSG is Norwegian’s Pilot Peer-to-Peer Support Program. Peer support has proven to be
effective in helping colleagues through difficult periods in their lives. Most pilots will at some point
in their career face difficulties in their work, family, social or private life which may impact their
performance in cockpit and may affect flight safety. We are here to help you during a difficult
period of your life, we have been there our self and we know how important is to have someone
to talk with that understand you and support you.”

It can be defined as:

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Fatigue / Vigilance
Sleep is essential for restoring the normal
balance between the different parts of the
central nervous system. It may be thought of as
being analogous to the way a computer might
work transferring the day’s experiences (from
the preceding period of wakefulness) from
RAM (random access memory – the type of
memory used in the moment) onto the hard
disk. This frees up the RAM for use during the
next period of work (wakefulness).
Also, during sleep, the body’s physical
functions are rested, and some renewal takes
place. During sleep, sympathetic nervous
activity decreases and the muscular tone becomes almost nil.

The arterial blood pressure falls, the pulse rate decreases, the blood vessels in the skin dilate
and the overall basal metabolic rate of the body falls by up to 20%.
On average, most humans physiologically need about 8 hours of sleep per night. So, we have
established the importance of getting enough sleep, but what happens when we don’t get enough
sleep? And is there a difference between fatigue and tiredness?

Let’s have a look at ICAOs definition of fatigue:

Fatigue is defined as a physiological state of reduced mental or physical performance

capability resulting from sleep loss or extended wakefulness, circadian phase, or
workload (mental and/or physical activity) that can impair a crew member’s alertness and
ability to safely operate an aircraft or perform safety-related duties.

Fatigue is the general term used to describe physical and/or mental weariness which is beyond
normal tiredness.

Physical fatigue - concerns the inability to exert force with one’s muscles to the degree that
would be expected. It may be an overall tiredness of the whole body or be confined to particular
muscle groups. Physical fatigue most commonly results from physical exercise or loss of sleep.
Physical fatigue often leads to mental fatigue.

Mental fatigue - may include sleepiness, concerns a general decrease of attention and ability to
perform complex, or even quite simple tasks with customary efficiency. Mental fatigue often
results from loss or interruption of the normal sleep pattern and is therefore of great concern to
pilots and ATCOs, who are frequently required to work early in the morning or at night.

Sleep patterns - are naturally associated with the body's circadian rhythms. Shift patterns and
transit across time zones can interrupt circadian rhythms so that, for example, it may be difficult
for flight crew or pilots on duty in the early hours of the morning or flight crew operating long-haul
routes through multiple time zones to achieve satisfactory rest prior to commencing duty.

There are three types of fatigue: transient, cumulative, and circadian:

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Transient fatigue is acute fatigue brought on by extreme sleep restriction or extended hours
awake within 1 or 2 days.

Cumulative fatigue is fatigue brought on by repeated mild sleep restriction or extended hours
awake across a series of days.

Circadian fatigue refers to the reduced performance during nighttime hours, particularly
during an individual’s “window of circadian low” (WOCL) (typically between 2:00 a.m. and
05:59 a.m.).

Pilots often have to rely on self-assessment in order to decide if they are fit to fly.

A measure that a pilot can use to more accurately determine his level of fatigue is the Samn-
Perelli Seven Point Fatigue Scale (SPS). The evaluation has a scale of 1-7, 1 described as “Fully,
Alert and Wide Awake” while 7 “Completely exhausted, unable to function effectively”.

All levels in between have descriptions aiding the pilot with his decision.

Fatigue usually results in impaired standards of operation with increased likeliness of error. For
example:

 Increased reaction time

 Reduced attentiveness
 Impaired memory
 inaccurate flying
 Missed radio calls
 Symptoms of equipment malfunctions being missed
 Falling asleep - either a short "micro-sleep" or for a longer period
 Poor decision making
 Loss of situational awareness
 Forgetfulness

Case Study, UPS flight 1354

On August 14, 2013, about 0447 central daylight time (CDT), UPS flight 1354, an Airbus A300-
600, N155UP, crashed short of runway 18 during a localizer nonprecision approach to runway 18
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at Birmingham-Shuttlesworth International Airport (BHM), Birmingham, Alabama. The captain and

first officer were fatally injured, and the airplane was destroyed by impact forces and postcrash
fire. The scheduled cargo flight was operating under the provisions of 14 Code of Federal
Regulations Part 121 on an instrument flight rules flight plan, and dark night visual flight rules
conditions prevailed at the airport; variable instrument meteorological conditions with a variable
ceiling were present north of the airport on the approach course at the time of the accident. The
flight originated from Louisville International Airport-Standiford Field, Louisville, Kentucky, about
0503 eastern daylight time.

This video made by the NTSB describes the accident thoroughly and explains the causal factors
including several human factors elements including information processing. It is highly
recommended to watch.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Dsr8C9fsYjo

Descend profile UPS 1354

Probable cause and findings

The National Transportation Safety Board determines that the probable cause of this accident
was the flight crew's continuation of an unstabilized approach and their failure to monitor the
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aircraft's altitude during the approach, which led to an inadvertent descent below the minimum
approach altitude and subsequently into terrain. Contributing to the accident were (1) the flight
crew's failure to properly configure and verify the flight management computer for the profile
approach; (2) the captain's failure to communicate his intentions to the first officer once it became
apparent the vertical profile was not captured; (3) the flight crew's expectation that they would
break out of the clouds at 1,000 feet above ground level due to incomplete weather information;
(4) the first officer's failure to make the required minimums callouts; (5) the captain's performance
deficiencies likely due to factors including, but not limited to, fatigue, distraction, or confusion,
consistent with performance deficiencies exhibited during training; and (6) the first officer's fatigue
due to acute sleep loss resulting from her ineffective off-duty time management and circadian
factors.
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Situational awareness
Put simply, situational awareness (SA) means appreciating all you need to know about what is
going on when the full scope of your task - flying, controlling or maintaining an aircraft - is taken
into account. More specifically and in the context of complex operational environments, SA is
concerned with the person's knowledge of particular task-related events and phenomena. For
example, for a fighter pilot SA means knowing about the threats and intentions of enemy forces
as well as the status of his/her own aircraft. For an air traffic controller, SA means (at least partly)
knowing about current aircraft positions and flight plans and predicting future states to detect
possible conflicts. Therefore, in operational terms, SA means understanding the current state and
dynamics of a system and being able to anticipate future change and developments.

Assertiveness
Being both unable to express our concerns and not allowing other to express their concerns
creates ineffective communications and damages teamwork. Unassertive team members can be
forced to go with a majority decision, even when they believe it is wrong and dangerous to do so.

Assertiveness is a communication and behavioral style that allows us to express feelings,

opinions, concerns, beliefs and needs in a positive and productive manner. When we are
assertive, we also invite and allow others to assert themselves without feeling threatened,
undermined or that we’ve lost face. Speaking one’s mind assertively is not to be confused with
aggression. It is about communicating directly, but honestly and appropriately; giving respect to
the opinions and needs of others, but not compromising our own standards.

Assertiveness techniques can be learnt, and they focus on keeping calm, being rational, using
specific examples rather than generalizations, and inviting feedback. Most importantly, any
criticisms should be directed at actions and their consequences rather than people and their
personalities; this allows others to maintain their dignity, and a productive conclusion to be
reached.

NAA Training Department