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AviationHuman factors
On the ground, you show the examiner how the body and the mind affect a flight: hypoxia, disorientation, fatigue and other conditions with their cause and cure, alcohol and medications, and a self-assessment of whether you are fit to fly. It is Task H of Area I, Preflight Preparation, in the FAA Private Pilot Airman Certification Standards, the checkride every private pilot flies.
Free to startThe steps
- Link the symptoms and effects of at least three conditions with their causes and corrective actions: hypoxia, hyperventilation, ear and sinus problems, spatial disorientation, motion sickness, carbon monoxide poisoning, stress, fatigue, dehydration and nutrition, hypothermia, optical illusions or nitrogen after scuba diving.
- Perform a self-assessment, including fitness for flight and personal minimums, for the actual flight or a scenario the examiner gives you.
Safety rules that stop the station
- Failing to exercise risk management is unsatisfactory.
- If you do not use sound aeronautical decision-making, including single-pilot resource management, the examiner marks the task as failed.
To pass
- At least three conditions linked to their cause and cure, and an honest self-assessment of fitness and personal minimums.
- Know the aeromedical and physiological conditions of flight, the rules on alcohol and drugs, the effects of alcohol, drugs and over-the-counter medications, aeronautical decision-making with single-pilot resource management, hazardous attitudes, distractions and loss of situational awareness, and confirmation and expectation bias.
- Missing the standard on this task fails the task and its area of operation.
Official source
Federal · FAA Private Pilot ACS
Private Pilot for Airplane Category Airman Certification Standards (FAA-S-ACS-6C)
The FAA publishes the Private Pilot Airman Certification Standards free: every task of the checkride with its knowledge, risks and tolerances.
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