Have you noticed that there are relatively few good, aviation-specific books on the market to help flight instructors teach aviation judgment? Few doesn’t mean none, however, so I’ll offer a few of my favorites for your consideration.
The first one is How We Decide by Jonah Lehrer. Lehrer’s book helps you understand how your brain makes up its mind. His discussion on how dopamine (no, this isn’t something that makes students dopey) conditions us to make better decisions is one of the best I’ve ever read.
Next, you’ll want to add a copy of Why We Make Mistakes by Joseph Hallinan to your library. Hallinan discusses how we can look without seeing, how we can easily forget things in seconds, the myth of multitasking, and much more. It’s an excellent read.
Sway, a book by Ori and Rom Brafman, is another great addition to your library. This is a book about the irresistible pull of irrational behavior. One section of this book deals with how Capt. Jacob Van Zanten’s irrational behavior led to the collision of two airliners on the runway at Tenerife. It’s one of the best examinations of accident behavior I’ve read.
Finally, you’ll want to read Barry Schwartz’s book, The Paradox of Choice. If you think that giving your students as many choices as possible always produces the best behavior, think again. Schwartz makes a good case that an abundance of choice can actually stymie our decision-making process. As a flight instructor, you’ll easily see how you can extrapolate this information to help your students make better choices in the cockpit.
Should you read these books? Use your best aviation judgment.
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