Vigilance and Conflict Recognition Flashcards

A radar display shows 10 aircraft tracks. Nine are maintaining their cleared altitudes. One aircraft is 200 ft above its cleared altitude and trending upward. The controller who spots this first demonstrates:

Answer: High vigilance — detecting a small deviation against a background of normal tracks

Detecting a small anomaly (200 ft deviation) among normal tracks requires sustained attention and vigilance — the ability to detect rare change against a stable background.

Two aircraft are on parallel headings, same altitude, separated by 4 NM. ICAO minimum radar separation is 5 NM. The controller should:

Answer: Issue an immediate instruction to increase separation to at least 5 NM

4 NM is already below the 5 NM minimum radar separation. Regardless of whether the tracks are parallel, the current separation infringement requires immediate corrective action.

During a 20-minute radar monitoring simulation, a candidate has a hit rate (correctly identifying deviations) that decreases from 100% in the first 5 minutes to 75% in the last 5 minutes. This change is most consistent with:

Answer: Vigilance decrement — the well-documented decline in detection performance during sustained monitoring

A decreasing detection hit rate over sustained monitoring is the defining characteristic of vigilance decrement — a fundamental cognitive phenomenon in watchkeeping tasks.

An aircraft is squawking 7700 (general emergency) but has not made any radio contact. The controller's correct first action is to:

Answer: Attempt to establish communication on the guard frequency 121.5 MHz and on the assigned frequency

A 7700 squawk requires immediate communication attempts on all available frequencies — the pilot may be unable to transmit but might be able to receive.

A conflict recognition task shows 8 aircraft. Two of them will reach minimum separation in 4 minutes but are not yet in conflict. A candidate who takes no action for 3 minutes before acting is demonstrating:

Answer: Late conflict recognition — the situation should have been acted on as soon as the converging trend was identified

Waiting 3 of 4 available minutes before acting on an identified converging trend is dangerously late — early action ensures effective resolution with maximum safety margins.

A controller is working a quiet night sector with very little traffic. After 45 minutes of minimal activity, a conflict begins to develop. Compared to a controller working a busy sector, this controller is at greater risk of:

Answer: Slow conflict detection due to under-stimulation and low arousal — quiet periods reduce vigilance

Low traffic periods reduce arousal and cognitive engagement, increasing the risk of vigilance decrement and slow signal detection when a conflict does emerge.