Human Factors, Physiology, and Aeronautical Decision Making
The pilot is the most variable system
Human factors questions test judgment before launch and awareness of stresses specific to ballooning: burner noise, heat, dehydration, carbon monoxide and pre-dawn starts.
Fitness and judgment
- IMSAFE: Illness, Medication, Stress, Alcohol, Fatigue, Emotion. Any one is a reason to delay.
- Hazardous attitudes: anti-authority, impulsivity, invulnerability, macho and resignation, each countered by its antidote: follow the rules, not so fast, it could happen to me, taking chances is foolish, I am not helpless.
- Alcohol (91.17): no flying within 8 hours of drinking, with a blood alcohol level of 0.04 or higher, or while under the influence. Impairment outlasts the smell.
- Fatigue: balloon flights begin before dawn; a short night plus a long drive is a genuine risk.
Physiology
- Carbon monoxide: propane combustion in the basket can produce CO. Headache, nausea, dizziness or confusion in flight should be treated as CO until proven otherwise - ventilate, descend and land.
- Heat and dehydration: the burner radiates heat and summer flights dehydrate quickly; carry water and wear layers.
- Cold: winter flights demand gloves and windproof layers; cold hands delay valve and burner operation.
- Noise: burner roar damages hearing; use protection that still lets you hear passengers and radio.
- Vision and see-and-avoid (91.113): the envelope blocks much of the sky, so scan in sectors and use passengers as spotters.
Worked example
You slept four hours, have a head cold and took a sedating antihistamine the night before. The forecast is ideal, the passengers have paid for a sunrise flight and the chase crew is already at the field. The correct decision is to cancel: the medication and the cold impair judgment and sinus/ear comfort, and pressure from paying passengers is exactly the trap being tested.
Traps
Assuming an over-the-counter cold remedy is harmless; treating an in-flight headache as dehydration when CO is possible; and letting a perfect forecast override the IMSAFE checklist.