Human Factors and Flight Safety
Human Factors and Flight Safety tests whether you can recognize and manage the pilot as a system: physiology, perception, decision-making, communication, and risk. The exam favors scenarios where the correct answer is to stop, reassess, or land rather than press on.
Physiology
Hypoxia reduces oxygen to the brain; early signs include euphoria, tingling, headache, and poor judgement. Hyperventilation causes dizziness and tingling but improves with controlled breathing. Carbon monoxide is odorless and comes from exhaust or heater leaks; headache, nausea, and confusion that improve with fresh air point to CO - open vents, shut off heat, and land. Spatial disorientation happens when vestibular illusions conflict with instruments; trust the instruments and fly a standard scan.
Fitness and decision-making
Use IMSAFE: Illness, Medication, Stress, Alcohol, Fatigue, Emotion. Hazardous attitudes have antidotes: anti-authority ('follow the rules'), impulsivity ('not so fast'), invulnerability ('it could happen to me'), macho ('taking chances is foolish'), resignation ('I am not helpless'). Personal minimums and a written risk assessment beat improvisation. Plan continuation bias and get-home-itis push pilots into worsening weather.
Communication and safety
Standard phraseology, readback of clearances, and a passenger briefing reduce error. Threat and error management means anticipating threats, trapping errors early, and mitigating consequences. Checklists are barriers, not bureaucracy.
Worked example
After six hours of flying, you arrive at a strip with a 15-kt crosswind; your personal limit is 10 kt. You feel tired and think, 'I have handled worse.' The hazardous attitudes are macho and invulnerability, with plan continuation bias. The correct action is to divert to a nearby airport with a more aligned runway or wait; fatigue slows reaction and a crosswind near the limit leaves no margin for gust or error. The fact that you have done it before is not evidence of current capacity.
Traps that cost marks
Assuming hypoxia only occurs at high altitude; ignoring CO because the cabin smells normal; treating dizziness as proof of hypoxia when hyperventilation is possible; and letting get-home-itis override personal minimums.