A Simulation-based Analysis of “Resilience” in Enroute Air Traffic Control Tasks

Air Traffic Control Officers (ATCOs) routinely maintain safety and efficiency of air traffic operations by their resilient responses to unanticipated variations of a situation. Although resilience can be very essence of ATCO’s skills, it is hard to analyze their resilience for improvement of training program of ATCO trainees because their resilience may be derived from their tacit practical knowledge. The present research has proposes an analysis method of ATCOs’ resilience by using a cognitive system simulation. Through simulation-based experiments, a couple of features of resilience involved in their control strategy of air traffic have been successfully identified. The basic effectiveness of the proposed method for analyses of resilience at the sharp-end of the air traffic control domain has been demonstrated through this attempt.