Flight School: Judgment

Lane Wallace

Tuesday, September 28, 2010 at 12:06 AM ET

Verified

Johnny Lye / iStockphoto

Key Takeaways:

Pilot judgment is developed indirectly by teaching sound decision-making skills and providing students with tools to gain experience, often through real-life scenarios and shared experiences.
Instructors should actively involve students in aeronautical decision-making throughout their training, allowing them the latitude to assess errors and make corrections in flight.
Teaching judgment involves reviewing accident reports for learning from others' mistakes and thoroughly explaining the "what," "why," and "how" of aviation situations.
Developing higher levels of situational awareness—moving from simply noticing to understanding and thinking ahead—is crucial for feeding better information into the decision-making process, leading to improved judgment.

See a mistake? Contact us.

Harry Kraemer is an ATP, CFI-I, MEI, Master Flight Instructor and president of Kraemer Aviation Services (flymall.org) He says:

“There is an old aviation saying: ‘Good judgment comes from experience, and experience comes from bad judgment.’ And another that goes: ‘A superior pilot uses his superior judgment to avoid those situations which require the use of superior skill.’ But how do we get that ‘good or superior judgment’? The FAA does not tell flight instructors how to teach judgment. However, FAA manuals do define pilot judgment as the mental process by which pilots recognize, analyze and evaluate information regarding themselves, the aircraft and the external environment. And they go on to say that good pilot judgment can be developed as part of a flight-crew training program.