Chapter 10:  Aeronautical Decision-Making and Judgment  Introduction History of ADM Aeronautical decision-making (ADM) is decision-making in a unique environment—aviation. It is a  systematic approach to the mental process used by pilots to consistently determine the best course of  action in response to a given set of circumstances. It is what a pilot intends to do based on the latest  information he or she has.  The importance of learning and understanding effective ADM skills cannot be overemphasized. While  progress is continually being made in the advancement of pilot training methods, aircraft equipment  and systems, and services for pilots, accidents still occur. Despite all the changes in technology to  improve flight safety, one factor remains the same: the human factor which leads to errors. It is  estimated that approximately 80 percent of all aviation accidents are related to human factors and the  vast majority of these accidents occur during landing (24.1 percent) and takeoff (23.4 percent).  ADM is a systematic approach to risk assessment and stress management. To understand ADM is to  also understand how personal attitudes can influence decision-making and how those attitudes can be  modified to enhance safety in the operation of a small UA. It is important to understand the factors  that cause humans to make decisions and how the decision-making process not only works, but can be  improved. For over 25 years, the importance of good pilot judgment, or aeronautical decision-making (ADM), has  been recognized as critical to the safe operation of aircraft, as well as accident avoidance. The airline  industry, motivated by the need to reduce accidents caused by human factors, developed the first  training programs based on improving ADM. Crew resource management (CRM) training for flight  crews is focused on the effective use of all available resources: human resources, hardware, and  information supporting ADM to facilitate crew cooperation and improve decision-making. The goal of  all flight crews is good ADM and the use of CRM is one way to make good decisions. Research in this area prompted the Federal Aviation Administration (FAA) to produce training directed  at improving the decision-making of pilots and led to current FAA regulations that require that  decision-making be taught as part of the pilot training curriculum. Aeronautical Decision Making and  Risk Management are topics that the FAA is required to test an applicant about for the issuance of an  sUAS certificate. ADM research, development, and testing culminated in 1987 with the publication of  six manuals oriented to the decision-making needs of variously rated pilots. These manuals provided  multifaceted materials designed to reduce the number of decision-related accidents. The effectiveness  of these materials was validated in independent studies where student pilots received such training in  conjunction with the standard flying curriculum. When tested, the pilots who had received ADM- training made fewer inflight errors than those who had not received ADM training. The differences  were statistically significant and ranged from about 10 to 50 percent fewer judgment errors. In the  operational environment, an operator flying about 400,000 hours annually demonstrated a 54 percent  reduction in accident rate after using these materials for recurrency training. Remote Pilot – Small Unmanned Aircraft Systems Study Guide  51