As mentioned earlier in the chapter, when a threat is recognized or imagined, the brain alerts the body. The adrenal gland activates hormones, which prepare the body to meet the threat or to retreat from it—the fight or flight syndrome.

Normal individuals begin to respond rapidly and exactly, within the limits of their experience and training. Many responses are automatic, highlighting the need for proper training in emergency operations prior to an actual emergency. The affected individual thinks rationally, acts rapidly, and is extremely sensitive to all aspects of the surroundings.

Reactions to stress may produce abnormal responses in some people. With them, response to anxiety or stress may be completely absent or at least inadequate. Their responses may be random or illogical, or they may do more than is called for by the situation.

During flight instruction, instructors are normally the only ones who can observe learners when they are under pressure. Instructors, therefore, are in a position to differentiate between safe and unsafe piloting actions. Instructors also may be able to detect potential psychological problems. The following learner reactions are indicative of abnormal reactions to stress. None of them provides an absolute indication, but the presence of any of them under conditions of stress is reason for careful instructor evaluation.

In difficult situations, flight instructors should carefully examine learner responses and their own responses to the learners. These responses may be the normal products of a complex learning situation but they also can be indicative of psychological abnormalities that inhibit learning or are potentially very hazardous to future piloting operations. [Figure 2-8]

A flight instructor who believes a learner may be suffering from a serious psychological abnormality has a responsibility to refrain from instructing that learner. In addition, a flight instructor has the personal responsibility of assuring that such a person does not continue flight training or become certificated as a pilot. To accomplish this, the following steps are available:

Both AMTs and flight instructors sometimes deal with new or unfamiliar technology. For instance, an instructor flying a different aircraft may have to manage a particular system or avionics suite for the first time. Likewise, the AMT who is accustomed to working with one type of aircraft has developed analytical processes that may not transfer to another aircraft as well as expected. In both cases, the instructors may be very highly experienced, but change and its associated stress may have risk consequences.

Technological advances in aircraft, powerplants, and systems can outpace the knowledge of flight instructors and AMTs if they don’t ensure they remain adequately trained. This ongoing training may remind instructors of their own tendencies to become vulnerable and less objective. By understanding their own training, instructors gain the insight to direct learners to think rationally and overcome stress. Instructors should understand that their own actions and care for others during the training they provide can frame the way a learner responds well into the future.

Diminishing stress and strengthening a learner’s confidence and decision-making skills can be achieved by incorporating a risk assessment tool into a training program. Risk assessment tools should always be used to help determine the level of risk involved with any flight so that the pilot or other support person maintains a margin of safety in the activity they are involved. Key to any risk assessment is the individual’s objectivity to ensure safety during their flight.

While aviation instructors teach learners of all ages, the average aviation learner age is 30 years old. This means the aviation instructor needs to be versed in the needs of adult learners. The field of adult education is relatively young, having been established in the late twentieth century by Dr. Malcolm Knowles. His research revealed certain traits that need to be recognized when teaching adult learners as well as ways instructors can use these traits to teach older learners.

Adults as learners possess the following characteristics: