This Is attached to the Article on Stress in the Aviation Industry I have also contributed to the article regarding general pilot stress and provided sections on accident occurrence involving stress and other smaller additions of overall content
Stress Related to Military Pilots
editMilitary pilots experience a more fast paced and stressful career compared to airline and general aviation pilots. Military pilots experience significantly greater stress levels due to their massive reliability and performance expectations[1]. They hold a very unique position in the workforce that includes peak physical and mental condition, high intelligence and they must go through extensive training. All military pilots must work under extreme conditions and chronic the levels of stress, especially in a war zone. Soldiers are made to endure punishment and go through the most unthinkable situations. They are expected to continue with their job and at times completely ignore their own emotions. After initial training, the military completely reforms the individual, and in most cases incredible stress management skills are formed. The soldier is then sent off for further training, in this case to be a pilot, where they are tested and challenge even further to either fail or become one of the best.
Military pilots withhold allot of responsibility. Their jobs can include passenger or cargo transport, reconnaissance missions, attacking from the air or flight training all while expected to be in perfect mental and physical condition. All these job put responsibility on the pilot to not make any mistakes as millions of dollars, lives, or whole operations are at risk. At times stress does over take the pilot[2] and emotions and human error can occur.
There are countless occurrences of pilots bombing allied forces in friendly fire incidents out of error and having to live with the consequences.
The stress of the job itself or of any mistake made can hugely affect ones life outside work. Millions of veterans struggle with post traumatic stress injuries, unhealthy coping strategies such as alcohol or substance abuse[3] and in the worst of cases; suicide, which is sadly very common. Many studies and help programs[4] have been put in place, but there are so many different cases and people it is impossible to help everyone. Stress does overcome even the strongest, most highly training pilots and can take the worst toll.
Everyone deals with their own stress in a different manner, but military pilots stand out on their own with unique stress reducing and problem solving skills. Their main strategy is to find the problem causing the stress and solve it immediately[5] so that they do not have to move to a secondary option, which consumes time they do not have. This is what they are taught in flight school; a sensor goes off and they immediately fix the problem. The main problem appears when pilots are going high speed or undergoing complicated maneuvers[6]. Most times they are moving much faster than a human could even think, leaving allot of room for human error. When that error occurs, however big or small, the can take on immense guilt for any problems that were caused depending on their personality[7]. This can affect their mental state[8] and ability to continue their job. Stress can also take a physical toll on a pilot's body, such as grinding of their teeth[9] in difficult situations or even bladder problems when the pilot is flying with a higher G-force or for a long distance[10].
References
edit- ^ Ahmadi, K., & Alireza, K. (2007). Stress and Job Satisfaction among Air Force Military Pilots.Journal of Social Sciences, 3(3), 159-163. Retrieved November 17, 2015, from http://docsdrive.com/pdfs/sciencepublications/jssp/2007/159-163.pdf
- ^ Kholer, Nadia (2012). "Signs of Operational Stress Injury" (PDF). Valcartier Family Medical Centre.
- ^ Schumm, Jeremiah. A (2004). "Alcohol and Stress in the Military". Military Trauma and Stress Related Disorders.
- ^ Mahon, Martin. J. (2005). "Suicide Among Regular-Duty Military Personnel: A Retrospective Case-Control Study of Occupation-Specific Risk Factors for Workplace Suicide". Vol 162, Issue 9 p 1688-1696.
{{cite journal}}:|access-date=requires|url=(help); Check date values in:|access-date=(help); External link in|access-date= - ^ Picano, James. J. (1990). "An empirical assessment of stress-coping styles in military pilots". Aviation, Space and Environmental Medicine 61, (4) p 356-360.
- ^ Pandov, Dimitrov, Popandreeva (1996). "Investigation of the specific workability of the military pilots in the hypergravitational stress". International Congress of Aviation and Space Medicine, 44th, Jerusalem, Israe.
{{cite journal}}: CS1 maint: multiple names: authors list (link) - ^ Meško, Maja (2009). "Personality profiles and stress-coping strategies of slovenian military pilots". Psihološka Obzorja / Horizons of Psychology 18, (2): 23-38. Retrieved October 20, 2015.
- ^ Kemmler, R. W. 1981. Psychological therapy and prevention of stress reactions in german military pilots. AGARD The Effect of Long-Term Therap., Prophylaxis and Screening Tech.on Aircrew Med.Standards 11 p (SEE N81-26699 17-52); International Organization, http://search.proquest.com/docview/23808327?accountid=15115 (accessed October 28, 2015).
- ^ Lurie, Yehuda, Einy, Terracsh, Raviv, Goldstein (2007). "Bruxism in military pilots and non-pilots: Tooth wear and psychological stress". Aviation, Space, and Environmental Medicine 78, (2): 137-139. Retrieved October 19, 2015.
{{cite journal}}: CS1 maint: multiple names: authors list (link) - ^ Ohrui, Nobuhiro, Fumiko Kanazawa, Yoshinori Takeuchi, Yasutami Otsuka, Hideo Tarui, and Yoshinori Miyamoto. 2008. Urinary catecholamine responses in F-15 pilots: Evaluation of the stress induced by long-distance flights. Military medicine 173, (6): 594-598, http://search.proquest.com/docview/622029080?accountid=15115 (accessed October 26, 2015).