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How a cockpit forgets speeds (and speed-related events): toward a kinetic description of joint cognitive systems

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Abstract

Two seminal papers investigating the cognition involved in navigating modern, multi-crew aircraft developed a joint cognitive system approach while focusing on how a cockpit calculates and remembers speed (Henriqson et al. in Cogn Technol Work 13:217–231, 2011; Hutchins in Cogn Sci 19(3):265–288, 1995b). Although the joint cognitive systems approach constituted an advance over more traditional approaches focusing on individual pilot performances, both fall short of describing the cockpit joint cognitive system. Based on extensive ethnographic data—including recorded modified think-aloud protocols, debriefing sessions following (recorded) simulator biannual simulator assessments, and simulator performances followed by stimulated recall using simulator recordings—we show that a considerable amount of flying involves bodily and embodied knowledge sequentially and temporally organized in flows (kinetic melodies). These become apparent when pilots are asked to fly multiple aircraft (mixed-fleet flying), where the flow patterns from one cockpit are triggered in a physically and cognitively different cockpit. Focusing on embodied flows (kinetic melodies) allows us to highlight how cockpits forget speeds and how they fail to calculate the required speeds and speed-related events.

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Notes

  1. Anglo-Saxon studies of gestures have adopted the French adjective “ergotique” (Cadoz 1994) pertaining to movements that produce work by means of the English “ergotic” (e.g., Roth 2003).

  2. In interaction, the cognitive agents are theorized independently with flow moving back and forth between them, whereas in transaction, the agents are interdependent such that they cannot be specified independently (e.g., von Uexküll 1973; van Gelder 1998). In mathematical terms, the interactional approach affords a separation of variables of a dynamical system modeled by sets of differential equations, whereas the transactional approach does not afford a separation of variables, because the definition of one always involves the definition of all others.

  3. Every dimension of the larger study was approved by a university ethics committee, the participating industry partners, and the labor unions. Assurances were provided that participation/non-participation did not affect job status; and participating pilots were given the opportunity to opt out of the study (entailing deletion of their data).

  4. VMO—maximum operating speed.

  5. In this case, a landing is aborted, requiring the aircraft to climb to a specific elevation and location in airspace.

  6. The electronic horizontal situation indicator (EHSI) provides information on the horizontal positioning of the aircraft. It does so in the ROSE mode, which display a compass rose, or the ARC mode, which, in MAP selection, displays the location of the aircraft on a map.

  7. Flight director (FD)—an instrument operating together with the attitude indicator that tells pilots the attitude required to follow a chosen flight path.

  8. IAS mode—the flight director is used with desired indicated air speed.

  9. VS mode—the flight director is used with desired vertical speed.

  10. If speed moves outside of the V REF + 20 kt range, then a go-around must be flown.

  11. MCDU—the multifunction control display unit is part of the flight management system providing access to the global navigation satellite system (GNSS). It is used, for example, to program the route from one to another airport by means of waypoints.

  12. In modern aircraft, pilots program their route by means of waypoints, specific points they have to pass that have specific horizontal and vertical coordinates.

  13. During an engine failure, “uptrim” will move the remaining engine from 90 % to full torque (100 %); autofeathering automatically moves the propeller pitch of the malfunctioning engine into a position that minimizes drag.

  14. Dividing by 2 (taking half) and then multiplying by 10 is a typical practical strategy that makes mental calculation easier than a multiplication by 5 (e.g. Lave 1988). The strategy corresponds to those found in other workplaces, where simply multipliers are used to replace trigonometric functions such as in the geometry of electrician’s conduit bending practices (e.g. Roth 2012a).

  15. VmHB0—minimum speed (Vm) when HIGH BANK is selected and flaps set to 0. This is the speed that gives the best climb rate with flaps set at 0.

  16. If the current speed V > V 2 + 5 kt, the aircraft would have actually slowed down to maintain the speed for maximum climb rate.

  17. If it were just a matter of schemas, then the movements of a Tiger Woods and those of a hobby golfer should be the same as long as they have the same schemas.

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. Applied Cognitive Science, MacLaurin Building A567, University of Victoria, Victoria, BC, V8P 5C2, Canada

    Wolff-Michael Roth

  2. Griffith Institute of Educational Research, Griffith University, Mt. Gravatt, QLD, 4022, Australia

    Timothy J. Mavin

  3. Mt. Cook Airlines, Christchurch, New Zealand

    Ian Munro

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  1. Wolff-Michael Roth
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  2. Timothy J. Mavin
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  3. Ian Munro
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Correspondence to Wolff-Michael Roth.

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Roth, WM., Mavin, T.J. & Munro, I. How a cockpit forgets speeds (and speed-related events): toward a kinetic description of joint cognitive systems. Cogn Tech Work 17, 279–299 (2015). https://doi.org/10.1007/s10111-014-0292-0

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