No surprise— upset recovery worse when surprised.

New research in The International Journal of Aerospace Psychology on the influence of surprise on upset recovery performance in airline pilots is no surprise. Hint— unexpected unusual attitudes caused “significantly more difficulties”. Best be over-prepared. And remember, this was still in a sim. If it happens for real, in a plane, with weird g-forces and the ground in a strange place on the windshield, I’ll bet our performance will be worse than what the researchers saw! Full paper is free online: The Influence of Surprise on Upset Recovery Performance in Airline Pilots Annemarie Landman, Eric L. Groen, M. M. (René) … Continue reading No surprise— upset recovery worse when surprised.

Mindfulness is …

Mindfulness is a word often used, well, mindlessly. But it’s a state that can be described with some precision. The most accepted definition is in Jon Kabat-Zinn’s 1994 book Wherever You Go, There You Are. And it makes the connection to flying very apparent: Here’s a good online article with 19 other definitions: https://positivepsychologyprogram.com/what-is-mindfulness-definition/