Exploring the Experiences of Pilots within Canadian General Aviation Flight Operations

Abstract

Pilots track flight hours as a quantitative measure of expertise. This linear development of expertise may apply to technical skills; however, it has been suggested that the development of nontechnical expertise is associated with operational exposure to threats and errors (Thomas, 2004). Within this framework, nontechnical skills may develop at different rates depending upon exposure to different threats and errors within specific types of flight operations. The present investigation examined the threats, errors, and nontechnical skills of pilots within Canadian general aviation operations. One hundred thirty narratives describing real-world scenarios were gathered from pilots with an online self-report Hangar Talk Survey (HTS). Several threats, errors, and nontechnical skills were significantly associated with specific types of operations. This suggests that the rate of nontechnical skill development may additionally be linked to the type of operation a pilot is involved in, rather than to the number of flight hours alone.