UPRT for the Pilot, Not Just the Aircraft

Why the next evolution of upset recovery training may begin with recovering the pilot first.

I recently read an article discussing Loss of Control In-flight (LOC-I) and the argument that many pilots spend their entire careers operating within only a small portion of the aircraft’s available flight envelope.

It’s an interesting perspective, and one I largely agree with.

Aircraft can reach extreme attitudes surprisingly quickly. Yet most training occurs within relatively normal operating parameters.

The concern is obvious: if a pilot suddenly finds themselves outside those parameters, will they have the skills and experience to recover?

But as I read the article, I found myself asking a different question.

What if we’re focusing on recovering the aircraft before we’ve recovered the pilot?

Traditional Upset Prevention and Recovery Training (UPRT) does an excellent job of teaching pilots how to recognise and recover from unusual attitudes. We teach angle of attack, energy management, stall recognition, recovery techniques and aircraft handling skills.

All of these are critically important.

However, before a pilot can apply any of those techniques, something else must occur first.

They must overcome the startle.

They must regain situational awareness.

They must recognise what is happening.

They must make sense of the information in front of them.

They must decide what to do.

In other words, they must recover themselves.

In my own flying and instructional experience, I’ve observed that the greatest threat during an unexpected event is often not the technical problem itself. It is the sudden reduction in a pilot’s cognitive capacity that follows surprise.

The aircraft may have entered an unusual attitude.

The pilot may have entered an unusual mental state.

We know from human factors research that startle and surprise can significantly affect performance.

Attention narrows. Working memory becomes overloaded. Situational awareness degrades. Decision-making slows. Pilots may become fixated on one problem while missing others entirely.

Many pilots know the correct recovery procedure.

The challenge is accessing that knowledge under pressure.

This is where I believe there is an opportunity to expand the conversation around UPRT.

Perhaps we need to think not only about upset recovery training for the aircraft, but upset recovery training for the human operating it.

Before recovering the aircraft, pilots must:

• Regain control of their attention

• Stabilize themselves and the aircraft

• Re-establish situational awareness

• Reprioritise threats

• Manage workload

• Make a quality decision

  
  

Only then can they effectively fully apply the technical recovery.

This is one of the reasons I have become increasingly interested in Single-Pilot Resource Management (SRM). While UPRT focuses on aircraft recovery, SRM focuses on cognitive recovery.

These are not competing concepts.

They are complementary.

UPRT teaches pilots how to recover the aircraft.

SRM teaches pilots how to recover themselves.

My recent research into psychological safety, startle and decision-making performance found that startle impact was the strongest predictor of decision-making performance among the factors examined.

While more research is certainly needed, the finding reinforces something many pilots have experienced firsthand: technical knowledge alone is not always enough.

The ability to think clearly when the unexpected occurs matters.

A lot.

Perhaps loss of control doesn’t begin when the aircraft exceeds a flight parameter.

Perhaps it begins the moment a pilot loses control of their cognitive resources.

If that’s true, then the future of LOC-I prevention may involve more than expanding a pilot’s exposure to the flight envelope.

It may also involve expanding their ability to function effectively when they are suddenly and unexpectedly exposed to it.

Maybe the next evolution of upset recovery training isn’t just teaching pilots how to recover the aircraft.

Maybe it’s teaching them how to recover themselves.

Author’s Note

This article is informed by recent research examining psychological safety, startle, and flight deck decision-making. Findings indicated that startle impact was the strongest predictor of decision-making performance among the factors examined.