Environmental causes of aviation stress

In aviation, a source of stress that comes from the environment is known as an environmental stressor.Stress is defined as a situation, variable, or circumstance that interrupts the normal functioning of an individual and, most of the time, causes a threat. It can be related not only to mental health, but also to physical health.

Operating in aviation environments brings a combination of stressors that vary in nature and intensity. In the aviation industry, the main environmental stressors are time pressure, workload and overload, fatigue, noise, and temperature. These stressors are interconnected, meaning that the presence of one may cause others to occur. Scientists have studied each stressor to determine how to minimize its effects.

Time pressure occurs when there is a time limit on crew members' tasks or operations. For instance, China is experiencing more demand for air travel, so airlines in China are offering additional flights with the expectation of high-quality service. This puts pressure on crew members to work longer hours on tighter schedules, which causes time pressure and makes human error more likely. Christopher Wickens, a former head of the University of Illinois Urbana-Champaign's Aviation Human Factors Division, found a relationship between response time and error rates: The faster a pilot scans a plane's instrument panel, the less accurate his or her perception will be. James Reason, a researcher of human error, found that time pressure increased the possibility of human error eleven-fold.

According to a sample of data from the Aviation Safety Reporting System (ASRS), tight scheduling is the most common cause of time pressure, and traffic-jammed fixed-base operators (FBOs) are the second most common cause of aviation stress. The ASRS report showed that various sources of time pressure can cause a chain reaction, with one leading to another.

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