Resource and workload management

Resource and workload management keeps situational awareness (SA): accurate perception and understanding of all factors within five risk elements.

• Flight
• Pilot
• Aircraft
• Environment
• Type of operation

Internal resources (inside the flight deck):

• Passenger, even with no flying experience: watch for traffic, read checklist items, confirm gear down, read altimeter in a descent.
• Flying alone: read checklist aloud, touch the switch or control at critical items. Verbal plus touch raises odds a step was done.
• Checklists and POH (carried on board): verify systems and procedures.
• Most valuable resource: ability to manage workload.

External resources: ATC and flight service (best).

• ATC gives traffic advisories, radar vectors, emergency assistance.
• Asking for help lowers workload, supports better in-flight decisions.

Obstacles to SA:

• Fatigue, stress, work overload: pilot fixates on one item, loses overall picture.
• Minor distraction (e.g. gauge misread) pulling attention off scan: factor in many accidents.

Workload management: plan, prioritize, sequence tasks to avoid overload.

• Do early, before a high-workload phase: review charts, set frequencies, listen to weather, run checklists.
• Takeoff and landing = high workload (ASL 3/2025).
• Under high workload, pilots narrow focus to most critical tasks, filtering out sensory input judged less relevant.

Overload progression:

1. Working harder, accomplishing less.
2. Fixating on one item.
3. Fully task saturated: no awareness of input from other sources, decides on incomplete information, errors climb.

Response: stop, think, slow down, prioritize.

Trap: "I'll get familiar with it in flight" is the hazard, not a risk control. Unfamiliarity with aircraft or systems adds workload, can cost SA.

Practice