What are the different skills that you need to fly an airplane? First, you must have your basic stick and rudder skills. Second, you need skills to operate the airplane systems of the airplane. Now, I bet you can guess what the third item is. That is right: Aeronautical Decision Making (ADM) skills. These three items are all important for making you a safe and competent pilot.

What is ADM?

Federal Aviation Administration (FAA) defines Aeronautical Decision Making as “A systematic approach to the mental process used by pilots to consistently determine the best course of action in response to a given set of circumstances.”

The ADM process is not only a term to remind you that you need to make decisions. Several steps help keep you from making improper decisions.

1. Identifying personal attitudes hazardous to safe flight

2. Learning behavior modification techniques

3. Learning how to recognize and cope with stress

4. Developing risk assessment skills

5. Using all resources

6. Evaluating the effectiveness of one’s ADM skills

Hazardous Attitudes

Step one mentions personal attitudes hazardous to safe flight. These consist of the many attitudes that could affect your proper decision-making.

1. Anti-authority “Don’t tell me!”

2. Impulsivity “Do it quickly!”

3. Invulnerability “It won’t happen to me!”

4. Macho “I can do it!”

5. Resignation “What’s the use?”

As a pilot, it is important that you understand these hazardous attitudes. It is not a flaw in your personality; it is normal. However, it is key to recognize these attitudes so they do not affect the safety of your flight.

Many examples demonstrate how these attitudes could affect a pilot. Let us look at a couple of these scenarios. You recently got your private pilot certificate and show up at the airport to fly. The winds are above your personal minimums, clouds are rolling in, and a local CFI suggests you do not fly. You decide to go anyway. This would be an example of anti-authority.

In another example, you just earned your instrument rating. You want to fly your family to the beach. The weather at the Burlington-Alamance Regional Airport (KBUY) is VFR with no clouds in sight. Meanwhile, the Wilmington, N.C., (KILM) TAF shows low IFR. This will be your first time in actual IMC solo, and it will be the lowest ceiling in which you have flown. This seems an easy decision: you are not going to Wilmington. But your family has really been looking forward to this trip. Now your macho attitude comes in and you think, “I can do this.”

Based on these examples, you can see the importance of recognizing when you have these hazardous thoughts.

The Five Ps

You make so many decisions before, during, and after a flight when acting as Pilot in Command (PIC). Pilots like easy ways to remember things. For ADM, you can check your decision making from easy memory items. One such memory item is the “Five Ps.” The Five Ps forms a practical application of the decision-making process. The Five Ps stand for:

1. The plan

2. The plane

3. The pilot

4. The passengers

5. The programming

The plan. The plan is your mission or task. The plan, from one of the above examples, is flying your family from Burlington to Wilmington. Add to that scenario a Temporary Flight Restriction (TFR) over Fayetteville for the President. That TFR will certainly alter your flight plan. What do you do in this situation?

The plane. Before you get into the airplane to fly, you notice the inspections are not up to date. Now the plane is not ready for the trip. How do you handle this issue?

The pilot: This one is very important. Are you good to go for your flight? The “IMSAFE” checklist can help you determine if you are safe to go on the flight.

No Illness

No Medication

No Stress

No Alcohol

No Fatigue

No Eating

Did you have a long, stressful day at work and skipped lunch so you could leave early enough to get some flying in after work? Would you consider yourself safe to fly in this situation?

The passengers. You need to consider your passengers in your decision-making activities. Are they pressuring you to perform your flight as planned?

The programming. Programming might be the last of the checklist, but you should never overlook it. Consider the trip to Wilmington from the perspective of an instrument-rated private pilot. Remember, the ceiling is low in Wilmington in our scenario. You are renting an airplane with new avionics. You feel comfortable shooting approaches with low ceilings in your normal airplane. Would the new avionics make you change your mind?

Many decisions go into each flight you make and you could inadvertently threaten the safety of the flight by forgetting to check something. Effective aeronautical decision-making can help reduce the chance of these mistakes happening.

Andrew Brock found a love for aviation when he flew on his first airline flight at the age of 16. He decided to do a First Flight discovery flight at Elon Aviation, which made him love aviation even more. Learn more about Andrew and the rest of the Elon Aviation staff at www.elonaviation.com.