8 EMOTIONAL TENSION IN FLIGHT AND AIR TRAFFIC CONTROL 8.1. THE PHENOMENOLOGY OF EMOTIONS AND THE GENERAL CHARACTERISTICS OF EMOTIONAL TENSION

The specifics of flight and air-traffic-control work, despite being strictly regulated, are marked by extreme dynamism and unpredictability, and by
the impossibility of fully forecasting how events will unfold. This is why crew members and air traffic controllers remain in a state of constant
emotional tension, whose intensity and duration depend on the degree of uncertainty in the situation — that is, on the probability of a favorable or
unfavorable outcome. It is precisely the probability of one or another event occurring that is the key factor in the emergence of emotional tension.
According to P.V. Simonov's information theory of emotion (1970, 1975, 1981, 1984), emotion (from the Latin emovere — to excite) is a reflection, by
the human brain, of some current need and of the probability (possibility) of satisfying it, a probability that the brain evaluates on the basis of
genetic and acquired experience. A need should be understood as the organism's selective dependence on environmental factors that are essential for
self-preservation and self-development. Need is the universal source of activity of living systems. In this light, behavior is understood (Simonov
P.V., 1981) as a form of vital activity capable of changing the probability and duration of contact with an external object able to satisfy a need
present in the organism. Positive emotions arise when the probability of satisfying an important need increases, or when it is satisfied, whereas
negative emotions arise when the probability of satisfying a need decreases or when the need is blocked (left unsatisfied). Thus, emotions represent a
mechanism that signals a decrease or increase in the probability of satisfying a need important to a person, and in this capacity emotions act as
activators of nervous activity, thereby prompting the person to change behavior in a way that should bring them closer to satisfying the need
(increasing the probability of its satisfaction), which in turn either reduces the negative emotions or eliminates them entirely. Emotions signal to
the person themselves, and also to those around them, the significance of particular life events, whose occurrence increases or decreases the
satisfaction of one need or another. From a person's emotional reactions we understand what certain information means to them and how, accordingly, to
interact with them.

It should be remembered, however, that not all of a person's emotional reactions should be taken as genuine; some people skillfully conceal their
natural emotions while displaying entirely different ones. Note that it is not particularly difficult to detect a mismatch between the displayed
emotional reactions and the true ones. In such situations one needs to compare the person's previous emotional reactions to similar information, and
if a discrepancy is found between past reactions and the "current" one, this is a signal that one of these emotional reactions is false. Another sign
of a false emotion being displayed is a mismatch between the emotional reaction and its bodily expression (consciousness forces the emotion to be
expressed and selects the corresponding facial expressions and gestures for it, while the unconscious resists expressing this emotion because it is
not genuinely experienced — it is alien to it). In such situations it is best to watch a person's eyes — they are the least controlled by
consciousness and provide the most truthful information.
So, the group of positive emotions includes the emotions of interest and joy, although some authors are inclined to include the emotion of surprise in
this group as well.
The emotion of interest arises when the brain's need for external impressions is satisfied. People differ not only in the selectivity of the external
impressions they seek out, but also in how prominently the emotion of interest features in their lives overall. An outwardly interested person looks
as though they are peering closely or listening intently (facial muscle tone increases, but without clearly observable movements), and shows signs of
curiosity, absorption, and fascination (Izard C.E., 1980). During this emotion the face may at first be still, then the eyes open wider, the head
turns toward the object, the mouth opens, and, as the highest degree of expression, the whole body shifts toward the object of interest. It is
important to note that the emotion of interest allows a person to engage in a particular activity or practice a skill until they master it — there is
not a single skill that can be mastered without sustained interest (Tomkins S.S., 1962). The absence of the emotion of interest is the main obstacle
to the development of intelligence! The existence of the emotion of interest makes it possible to master complex kinds of activity and to turn a
person into a professional. The latter forms given two conditions — interest in the activity being mastered, and success in that activity (success
gives rise to the emotion of joy). Thus, becoming a professional requires that the activity be colored by the emotions of interest and joy.

Interest in studying a particular subject or mastering a specialty largely depends on the character of the influence exerted by the teacher or
instructor on the cadet (student). This is especially true for cadets whose motivation to master the specialty is not sufficiently high. Such cadets
are typically characterized by still having a pronounced "external" motivation coming from their environment (senior, authoritative mentors). External
motivation is generally characteristic of children — as they mature it shifts to an internal plane, that is, it becomes interiorized (from the Latin
internus — internal). In certain categories of people, interiorization is delayed for various reasons, so the main responsibility for the successful
mastery of course material falls on the teacher (instructor), who often does not wish to recognize this and acts mainly in a directive manner, without
emotionally engaging the cadets in mastering the given course. Motivation is a man-made phenomenon, and converting external motivation (based
exclusively on a positive emotional background) into internal motivation is more than achievable. If, however, motivation to master the profession is
entirely absent, nothing can be done about it anymore. A lack of motivation to master the specialty is serious grounds for expelling a cadet.
The emotion of joy arises upon the satisfaction of the most varied needs and is characterized by a feeling of pleasure and enjoyment. The satisfaction
of most needs leads to the emergence of this emotion.
Joy is characterized by a feeling of confidence and significance, a feeling of loving and being loved. The confidence and personal significance gained
through joy give a person the sense of being able to cope with difficulties and to enjoy life (Izard C.E., 1980). Joy eases everyday life, increases
resistance to psychologically traumatic information, and gives rise to the ability to cope with pain and achieve difficult goals. Joy eases and
strengthens social bonds and is a sign of release from psychologically traumatic influences. P. Dubois (1911) wrote about all this: "Bodily vigor and
cheerfulness resulting from pleasant events bring about a favorable state of feeling; we enjoy not only the feeling of pleasantness in itself, but
through it we also tune ourselves for further enjoyment; in this mood we overvalue pleasant experiences and can bear unpleasant ones with
indifference. We can feel spiritual vigor even after an illness, and even before complete recovery sets in — the contrast produces an optimistic
assessment of the situation."

Since joy can arise from a reduction in pain and release from psychologically traumatic factors, it fosters attachment to the objects that help reduce
these unpleasant experiences. In particular, this often happens when a person is denied communication by some figure significant to them, and the
people who happen to be nearby (whether by chance or not) and support them will be perceived more positively than those very same people would be
outside the situation described. It is precisely because of this mechanism that mistakes are often made when choosing friends: anyone who comes into
the field of view of the abandoned person and can "drown out" their negative emotions (can provide the attention so badly needed at that moment) is
perceived inadequately — they are attributed more positive qualities than they actually possess.
The biologically active substances released during the experience of the emotion of joy contribute to the faster and more durable formation of
conditioned-reflex connections — that is, the emotion of joy promotes better memorization of information. But memory is not the only mental process
affected by the emotion of joy; this also applies to thinking activity, which becomes markedly sharper. In addition, the emotion of joy increases
sociability in introverted temperament types (phlegmatic and melancholic).
Periodically experiencing the emotion of joy upon the successful completion of tasks is one of the most important factors contributing to professional
growth and creativity. Mastering any activity, especially a complex (professional) one, and refining acquired skills, is possible only through a
series of successful actions — "education through success."
Negative emotions are far more varied; they include the emotions of shame, anger, disgust, contempt, fear, and suffering.
The emotion of fear arises when a single specific need is blocked — the need for safety. The natural activators of fear include pain, anticipation of
pain, loneliness, sudden approach, and the unfamiliarity of a situation. Fear can also arise through social borrowing (direct experience of
encountering a dangerous stimulus is not necessary for fear to be acquired). Fear has an extremely strong effect on the processes of perceiving and
processing information and on a person's behavior. Under fear, attention narrows sharply, focusing on the object signaling danger. Intense fear is
experienced as a feeling of vulnerability and uncertainty about one's own safety.
A common form of fear is delayed fear, which arises not at the moment the stressogenic factor (the abnormal situation) acts, but some time afterward
(Evstigneev D.A., 2010, a). The reason the manifestation of fear is often delayed in time is that in a dangerous situation the first thing a person
does is carry out concrete actions that can increase the probability of satisfying the need for safety — the very need whose blocking causes the
emotion of fear in the first place! In other words, the expression of the emotion of fear is suppressed to a certain degree, because a full-scale
expression of fear

could paralyze the will (as indeed happens when a dominant focus of excitation connected with carrying out life-saving actions fails to form and is
unable to suppress the focus of excitation connected with the emotion of fear), leaving the person unable to resist the dangerous situation. Delayed
fear manifests in particular as tremor (from the Latin tremor — shaking) of the limbs — they begin to shake after the dangerous situation has been
overcome (the suppressed emotion of fear then begins to manifest fully).
Thus, whether fear manifests immediately or after a delay depends on which of the two foci of excitation (the one connected with action or the one
connected with the emotion of fear) becomes dominant and naturally suppresses the activity of the other. Anger delayed in time can likewise manifest
externally as tremor: the appearance of a person previously associated with the emotion of anger (which was suppressed at the moment it arose)
triggers tremor — evidence of the discharge of the focus of excitation (in this case, the focus connected with the emotion of anger). In other words,
the process of working through a previously suppressed emotion is triggered by the appearance of one of the elements of the conditioned reflex formed
during the affect (in this case, the appearance of the person at whom the anger was directed). In a number of cases, a person who exhibits tremor some
time after an affective experience cannot for a long time understand its cause, since at the moment they suppressed the anger directed at the
offender, they considered this the only correct decision, one that received positive reinforcement immediately after the affect ended. As can be seen,
after the affective experience ended, the person received positive reinforcement — by suppressing their anger they achieved resolution of the conflict
— but in fact they do not yet know at what cost this victory came; only at the level of consciousness does it seem to the person that the problem has
been resolved. In reality, when an emotion is experienced a focus of excitation forms, and if this focus is not allowed to discharge immediately (at
the moment the emotion arises), it will persist indefinitely, and when the conditions under which it formed are recreated, it will discharge all the
more readily — whether in tremor or in other mental and vegetative reactions of the organism.
The emotion of anger, unlike the previous emotion, arises when an entire range of needs is blocked and is characterized by the affect being directed
outward.
The cause of anger is physical or psychological obstacles to something we want to do (Izard C.E., 1980). This may be a personal insult, the
interruption of situations of joy and interest, deception, or coercion to do something against one's will. In anger a person feels their own strength
and wants to attack whoever provoked this emotion. The feeling of physical strength and confidence that arises when experiencing anger allows a person
to consider themselves bold and courageous. Control during anger is the lowest of all the emotions, and it is characterized by

extreme impulsivity. Low levels of anger can be suppressed for a long time, which is associated with harm to health and the risk of an extreme
outburst of anger (Izard C.E., 1980). The inability to express justified anger appropriately can hinder clear thinking, worsen relationships, and lead
to psychosomatic disorders — diseases of internal organs arising after psychological trauma.
It should be noted that the emotion of anger is dangerous both for the victim and for the aggressor. For a person to be able to use their anger
constructively, its bodily and verbal expression must fully and clearly reflect how they perceive the situation that provokes the anger, how it
affects them, and why they feel this way. With this form of behavior, the possibility of open, two-way communication is preserved, and neither party
can be regarded as the loser.
It is important to remember that expressing the emotion of anger, translated into words, means "I am not coping with the situation, I am weak," and so
to display anger is, in effect, to admit one's own weakness and inadequacy (Evstigneev D.A., 2010, a). It is entirely natural that, once this is
understood, the desire to display anger will arise less and less often, and the person will increasingly think about what is needed so that the
blocking of needs (and, as a consequence, the emotion of anger) does not occur. For the emotion of anger to occur as rarely as possible, one must be
prepared for the most unexpected situations and develop the ability to forecast how situations and people's behavior will develop.
The emotion of suffering arises when a variety of needs are blocked and, unlike anger, is characterized by the affect being directed at oneself
(Evstigneev D.A., 2010, a), as well as by mental pain. The main causes of suffering are alienation (physical or psychological) and failure (real or
imagined) (Izard C.E., 1980). Suffering can also be caused by remembering or anticipating the conditions under which it arose or is expected to arise.
The emotion of suffering performs the following functions:
1) it informs the person and those around them that certain needs are not being satisfied (in which case those around can help the person in a
difficult situation for them);
2) it prompts the person to take certain actions to reduce the suffering — that is, it forces the person to change their behavior so as to increase
the probability of satisfying the blocked need.
People who have gone through serious suffering most often become more sensitive to the suffering of others and become gentler and kinder. Another
portion of people who have experienced suffering become embittered and wish to do harm to others, thereby punishing them for their own suffering.
This, however, will not make things easier for them, since their suffering lies in the past — an accomplished fact that can no longer be changed.
Moreover, by condemning other people to suffering,

they clearly complicate their own lives even further — they create enemies and ill-wishers for themselves. Having ill-wishers is an impermissible
luxury, since being in a state of conflict means that, first, you must live up to the situation every time and not make mistakes (otherwise you will
give a pretext for someone to attack and deal with you), and second, you must take into account that the appearance of each new ill-wisher actually
threatens the appearance not of just one but of several enemies — you will have to fight not only the person with whom the conflict directly arose,
but also all of their supporters. Thus, a person trying to punish others for their own suffering ensures still greater suffering for themselves.
The emotion of shame arises when the need to correspond to a certain self-image is blocked — either in one's own eyes or in the eyes of others. It is
no secret that the emotion of shame can arise both in a situation where others point out to us some act they consider unseemly, and in a situation
where a person, without any outside help, begins to feel ashamed of their own actions or of thoughts that have come to mind.
During the emotion of shame a person hides their eyes, turns away, or lowers their head; the person tries to shrink, to become inconspicuous (Izard
C.E., 1980). The reddening of the face during the experience of shame arises from arousal of the autonomic nervous system. When ashamed, a person
feels increased self-awareness and self-control. They feel their own general inadequacy and incompetence — they forget words and make incorrect
movements. A person in this state often stammers, becomes clumsy, and grimaces terribly.
The feeling of shame is a feeling of defeat, humiliation, and alienation. Shame also implies a feeling of sudden loss of self-control. The threshold
of the emotion of shame is directly related to how sensitive a person is with respect to themselves and to the opinion others have of them, and this
sensitivity is, quite evidently, determined by needs formed over the course of a lifetime. The content of the need to correspond to a certain
self-image is thus set by conditioned reflexes, and, this being the case, the expression of the emotion of shame in response to the same life
situations will change in accordance with how the content of the need changes over the course of maturation. The danger of this emotion lies in the
fact that in some people the notion of the unseemliness of a single personality trait can easily undergo generalization to a notion of the inadequacy
of the whole personality.
Unlike anger, in which the blocking of needs leads to outward aggressive actions and a desire to deal with whoever caused it, and unlike suffering, in
which the aggression is directed at oneself, the next two negative emotions (disgust and contempt) are characterized by a desire to distance oneself,
to withdraw from the person with whom the experience of disgust or contempt is associated.

Thus, anger, suffering, disgust, and contempt differ from one another in the direction of the person's actions: "toward the person," "toward oneself,"
"away from the person" (Evstigneev D.A., 2010, a). In turn, disgust differs from contempt in that, in the first case, the person finds a specific
situation repugnant, finds the person associated with it repellent, and consequently does not want any contact with that person (it makes them feel
nauseated), whereas in the second case the person distances themselves from the object of contempt with a view to possibly dealing with them later.
The emotion of contempt is a feeling of superiority over others. Contempt is the core emotion in all forms of prejudice. It is the coldest of the
negative emotions (Izard C.E., 2000). Contempt is a detached experience that prompts aggression expressed through cunning and deceit. Contempt for
people leads to their depersonalization, forcing them to be perceived as "nothing," which can become a motive for murder. Situations that provoke
contempt are those in which a person needs to feel stronger, smarter, or better in some respect than another. Situations that provoke jealousy, greed,
and rivalry create fertile ground for contempt.
If we were to rank how often one negative emotion or another appears in the work of crew members or air traffic controllers, fear and anger would take
the top positions. The emotion of fear accompanies any failure of aviation equipment or abnormal situation, owing to the blocking of the need for
safety. The emotion of anger is mainly associated with dissatisfaction with one's own performance or with the performance of colleagues. Most often it
is precisely the emotions of fear and anger, when present simultaneously, that promote the development of affect.
The experience of negative emotions constitutes emotional tension, which manifests at the level of the human organism as stress. Since emotional
tension is the experience of negative emotions, and the latter are connected with a decrease in the probability of satisfying needs (up to their
complete blocking), then in order to eliminate or minimize the manifestations of emotional tension it is necessary, every time, to increase the
probability of satisfying the need (to reduce the uncertainty of the situation), which can be achieved in the following ways.
1. Through thorough and comprehensive professional training (knowledge of as many aviation-equipment failures as possible and of ways to remedy them,
analysis of aviation events, developed recommendations for preventing them, as well as skills formed for working in non-standard, special conditions,
significantly reduce the probability of situational uncertainty arising, ensuring that a person is ready to carry out actions already known to them,
from their own experience or from the literature, to prevent emergency situations) (Evstigneev D.A., Kopysov V.Kh., 2007).
2. By observing work procedures, which substantially reduces the probability of abnormal situations arising. Abnormal, special situations do occur
even when governing documents are fully complied with, but incomparably more rarely (Evstigneev D.A., Kopysov V.Kh., 2007).
3. By maintaining a benevolent working atmosphere in the crew cabin (or the controller shift), which fosters coordinated, orderly work in special
flight situations

(a larger number of people capable of suggesting the right decision in an abnormal situation significantly increases the chances of a favorable
outcome, and, this being so, prevents the person from moving into a state of severe emotional tension) (Evstigneev D.A., Kopysov V.Kh., 2007).
4. Through the prevention of somatic and psychosomatic illnesses and of conflicts within the crew (or aviation enterprise), which are factors that
substantially lower the threshold at which negative emotions arise (Evstigneev D.A., Kopysov V.Kh., 2007).
5. By applying the "50 × 50" rule: to avoid strong negative emotions in the event of some abnormal situation arising, the probabilities of a normal
and an abnormal situation occurring should be forecast as roughly equal (50% versus 50%). In this situation the pilot (or any other crew member) will
be relatively indifferent as to which situation actually occurs — normal or its opposite — since the expected probabilities of either situation
occurring are the same (recall that the strength of an emotion is proportional to the gap between what is forecast and what actually happens). If a
person begins to be guided by this rule, they will quite naturally be ready to act in abnormal mode: since the probability of an abnormal situation
arising is fairly high (50%), the psyche activates and actualizes the algorithms for acting in an abnormal situation, and so failures will not come as
something unexpected or unpleasant. If this rule is not used (the person has planned that the probability of a normal situation will be, say, more
than 90%), then the occurrence of an abnormal situation will be accompanied by very strong negative emotions, which will not allow their skills to be
fully realized (the person ends up in the second half of the graph — Fig. 8.1, A). If we are dealing with a professional, the failure of some system
or piece of equipment will not be perceived by them as something bad or unpleasant: the ability to cope with failures will be perceived as a measure
of professionalism. Indeed, system failures are described in regulatory documents and are practiced on simulators and in real flights, and so they
cannot be regarded as something unpleasant, but only as something that requires skills in countering it. It turns out that both
a normal and an abnormal situation are the norm in aviation, and should be perceived precisely as the norm, not as something unpleasant. In light of
the above it becomes clear why some people sometimes strive to ensure that no abnormal situations occur to them in flight — they simply are not
confident in their own abilities and have gaps in their professional training. Naturally, a person tends to distance themselves from anything that
frightens them, to reduce the probability of a situation dangerous to them arising, whereas the only real countermeasure is to move as quickly as
possible into precisely the area where the gaps exist — as soon as they are eliminated, the fear of abnormal situations will be eliminated as well.
Thus, thanks to the "50 × 50" rule, both alternatives (normal and abnormal situations) become equally
appealing: the normal situation is pleasant because it requires a minimum of effort to act in, and the abnormal one is pleasant because it offers the
opportunity to demonstrate one's professionalism — that is, to derive enjoyment from solving a difficult task.

Evidently unaware of the rule described above was the captain in command of the aircraft on a flight along the route "Khanty-Mansiysk – Yekaterinburg
(Koltsovo)," who in this connection displayed an extreme degree of emotional tension. Besides the captain, there were 22 passengers on board the
aircraft, as well as a first officer and a flight attendant. According to the crew's written statements, during the start-up of the right engine from
a ground power source, the voltage dropped to 21 V. The engine started without any issues, but the indications on the EADI (electronic attitude
director indicator) and EHSI (electronic horizontal situation indicator) temporarily disappeared, and the message "ATTITUDE FAULT" appeared,
indicating a failure of the inertial system. 2 minutes 15 seconds after the AHRS (attitude and heading reference system) was switched off and the
engines reached a stable operating mode, the operation of the inertial system was restored. After this the crew proceeded to taxi to the runway
without performing the alignment of the AHRS system after it had been switched off (had failed). According to the work procedure, the alignment time
for the AHRS system is at least 3 minutes, during which the aircraft must remain strictly stationary.
The climb to 6,000 feet proceeded normally. At an altitude of about 6,000 feet, an alarm activated indicating a mismatch between the flight-parameter
signals displayed on the EADI and EHSI indicators. No instrument-failure warnings triggered, and the display brightness of the instruments was
standard. The crew attempted to restore the operation of the AHRS system, but the instruments' operation was not restored.

Only 45 minutes into the flight, after signs of a navigation-system malfunction appeared and a recommendation was received from ATC, did the crew
decide to land at the alternate airport of Roshchino (Tyumen). The controller of the Tyumen area control center, "Tyumen Control-1," having analyzed
the situation, gave timely recommendations to proceed to the nearest alternate airport, Roshchino (Tyumen), which had stable, good weather.
Before commencing the approach, owing to pronounced emotional tension, the crew did not conduct pre-landing preparation; the landing parameters were
clarified during descent and approach, which violated the requirements of FAP-128 "Preparation and Performance of Flights in Russian Civil Aviation"
and the crew's work procedures. The approach parameters (the approach pattern, glideslope speed) were clarified in a discussion between the captain
and the first officer while performing the landing. In violation of FAP-128 "Preparation and Performance of Flights in Russian Civil Aviation," during
the approach and landing there was constant conversation between the captain and the first officer unrelated to flying the aircraft.
As the investigating commission noted, the captain's indecisive and erroneous actions indicate his inability to give an objective assessment of the
situation that had developed and to make a well-founded decision in a timely manner. Although the air traffic controller informed the crew more than
10 times over the course of the 45-minute flight that the aircraft's actual heading (according to radar) differed significantly (by up to 100°) from
the heading shown on the aircraft's instruments, the crew still did not realize that there were serious problems with the navigation equipment. Only
after becoming completely confused (following a prompt from the "Tyumen Control-1" controller) did the crew make an uncertain decision to land in
Tyumen. The captain told the controller: "I guess we'll be landing in Tyumen." After this the captain turned to the first officer: "In Tyumen, I
guess, yes?"
A vivid illustration of the failure to understand that system failures are nothing unusual for aviation and that one must be fully prepared for them
are the captain's remarks (reactions) to the navigation-equipment failure and to the inconvenient [as if it could be otherwise?] landing course at
Tyumen airport, remarks that were laced with profanity. The captain's remarks were as follows (the profanity has been removed): "… this means writing
explanatory notes …; we'll land in Roshchino, …, testing it in Koltsovo, they'll kick up a fuss there too, but here too right now …, of course they
will …; well, this will come up here too now …; what are we supposed to do?; an inspector's about to show up …" To the flight attendant's question,
"Is this serious?", the captain replied: "Yes, it's serious …, absolutely nothing is working …, like blind kittens …" To the inconvenient landing
course the captain reacted as follows: "Well, 301° …, again …, instead of 214°." The landing was completed safely.

Emotional tension is usually defined as a state characterized by a temporary decrease in the stability of mental and psychomotor functions and a
decrease in professional performance capacity (Marishchuk V.L., Platonov K.K., Pletnitsky E.A., 1969), or as a state of motor and mental rigidity that
adversely affects flight performance and, in a number of cases, health (Platonov K.K., 1960).
We, for our part, will primarily invest the concept of emotional tension with the meaning of the experience of negative emotions associated with a
decrease in the probability of satisfying needs, since this is the only definition that makes it possible to understand the mechanism by which tension
arises and the possibility of managing it — by changing behavior so that the probability of satisfying the blocked need that caused the negative
emotions increases.
Emotional tension can arise for the following reasons.
1. A lowered threshold for the emergence of emotions, brought about either by properties of the nervous system, or by character traits, or by the
presence of states such as fatigue, overwork, and neuroses (especially those associated with extreme expressions (actions) by instructors directed at
trainees).
2. A mismatch between knowledge, abilities, and skills and the requirements imposed by professional activity.
3. A deficit of information, or an overload of it.
4. Lack of confidence in the safety of the equipment, in its reliability.
5. Lack of teamwork and incompatibility within the crew (or controller shift).
6. Sudden loss of working capacity by one of the crew members (cases of acute cardiac insufficiency, epileptic seizures, attacks of urolithiasis).
7. Deliberate violations of work procedures, leading to tension both because of the need to conceal this fact and because of the need to apply
additional measures for piloting (air traffic control) under conditions for which there is no established course of action.
Thus, emotional tension is fundamentally based on the blocking of one need or another, and the task facing both the mentor observing tension in a
trainee, and the trainee experiencing the tension themselves, is to find the blocked need and unblock it. This process sometimes takes a great deal of
time and effort. An illustration of this is
the work of an instructor with a cadet who displayed extremely pronounced emotional tension in flight, which threatened him with possible expulsion.
The instructor himself described the process of this cadet's flight training as follows (Golubev G.G., 1958).

"There are cadets like this — a lion on the ground and a rabbit in the air. Such was my cadet Peganov, when I flew introductory flights with him on
the training aircraft. It was a pleasure to look at the man: tall, well-built, trim, impeccably disciplined, exceptionally diligent — his theory marks
were nothing but excellent — in short, he was good at everything, but the moment he began preparing for a flight, he would turn pale, his fingers
would tremble, his knees would shake. In flight, from the tension, he would bite his lips so hard that blood would seep out. And, naturally, he flew
very poorly. What can one expect with that kind of tension? I did not want to expel him. 'It cannot be,' I thought, 'that such a remarkable person
will not be able to learn to fly.' It was clear to me that his tension came from fear, but what he was afraid of I could not understand.
So one day I asked him: 'You get very tense in flight, Comrade Peganov — perhaps you're a bit scared to fly, afraid you might crash?' 'What are you
saying, Comrade Instructor,' he answered, offended, 'if you're afraid of wolves, don't go into the forest. Would I have gone to flight school if I
were afraid to fly? The thought that I might crash never even enters my head.' 'Well, if you're not afraid,' I told him, 'then tomorrow morning I'll
take you on a training flight in the practice area, you'll watch how the maneuvers are done, and if during the aerobatics you feel unwell, tell me — I
won't torment you with maneuvers.'
So we flew out to the practice area together. I piloted, performing steep turns, rolls, and loops, while glancing at Peganov in the mirror. During the
first roll he seemed to tense up, his face grew taut, but then he began to feel better. The same thing happened during the loops — at first he seemed
a bit apprehensive, but by the third loop he was already smiling, and not the kind of smile meant to show off his 'fearlessness,' but a genuine smile.
You can always tell a genuine smile.
'Yes, he really isn't afraid,' I thought, 'so what if I spin him in a spin?' I gained more altitude, put the aircraft into a spin, kept turning, turn
after turn, glancing at Peganov, and he sat there calm as anything, not batting an eye. I did ten turns, brought the aircraft level, and said to
Peganov: 'Take the controls and fly to the airfield.' He took the controls and his expression changed at once, just as before — he bit his lip and
gripped the controls as if they were jammed. He himself, of course, did not notice this. But, all the same, he flew the aircraft more or less
normally. He could already fly straight and level and made decent turns, but landing the aircraft simply would not work out for him.
After this flight it occurred to me: 'Could he be afraid of his own mistakes? Perhaps he's worried that he might break the aircraft on landing?' So I
asked him: 'Comrade Peganov, do you believe that I, as a pilot, will not crash the aircraft and can land it from any position?' 'I believe it like I
believe in God,' he answered. 'If that's so,' I said, 'then we'll fly to the alternate airfield, and there you land the aircraft however you like, try
correcting any deviations, act entirely on your own — I won't let you crash the aircraft, don't worry.'
We spent a long time working the air at the alternate airfield: we made eight landings. And imagine — Peganov became an entirely different person: he
came alive, as if shackles had been taken off him; he began to handle the aircraft boldly, and performed the last landings there superbly.
I then sent him on his first solo flight — but it did not go well. A gusty crosswind suddenly picked up. Peganov landed on one wheel; it gave way and
broke. The aircraft dug its wing into the ground, the wingtip brace broke, and the wing tip was somewhat crumpled. It was a trivial repair — an hour's
work — but a fact is a fact. Peganov came up to me and said: 'Comrade Instructor, I did not carry out your assignment, I did not justify your trust.
Nothing works out for me. Expel me.' 'And did you not see,' I asked him, 'how, just before your landing, Instructor Krivoshein and his cadet wrecked
their aircraft? For saving the aircraft while landing in difficult meteorological conditions, I hereby declare my gratitude to you, Comrade Peganov,
on behalf of the service.' Peganov at first could not believe his ears, but then, when he saw that flights had indeed been suspended because of the
crosswind and that they were already changing the runway heading, he cheered up.
From that time on I never again noticed either fear or tension in him — he flew boldly."

In a state of emotional tension, when action is required within extremely tight time limits, time tends to flow differently than it does in an
ordinary, normal situation. As examples let us cite two situations involving an altered perception of time in a pilot and an air traffic controller
(Mikhailik N.F., 1989). The captain of an aircraft, believing that he was looking at a rain cloud ahead of him, decided to enter it. On entering the
cloud it turned out that it consisted not of rain but of snow. The pilots, not expecting this at all (the flight was taking place in September), were
momentarily distracted from piloting as they tried to assess the situation. Not knowing the thickness of the cloud, the crew switched to instrument
flying. For the trainee pilot, encountering such a situation for the first time, it was unnerving: he could not look at the windshield, since the
snowflakes were striking the glass at tremendous speed, and it felt as though in just a moment they would break through the cockpit canopy. The
trainee pilot handled the piloting technique poorly (involuntarily blinking) and was distracted from the flight regime. The entire situation lasted no
more than 2–3 minutes, whereas the pilot was absolutely certain that at least 7–8 minutes had passed.
The second situation occurred with an approach controller — after the crew on one of the flights reported a fire in the fourth engine. The air traffic
controller immediately reported the incident to the ground control point. At that time four aircraft were under control. The aircraft made a linked
turn and settled onto the opposite heading with a lateral deviation of 2–3 km from the runway. At that time, other aircraft were on the second and
third turns at an altitude of 600 m (and also on final approach). The approach controller instructed the landing controller to move the aircraft on
final approach up to 600 m, and the aircraft on the third turn to take up 1,200 m. All approaches to the runway and movement on it were immediately
closed off. At an altitude of 100 m the aircraft made its third turn at a distance of 5 km and, with a linked turn, rolled out onto final at a
distance of 4 km. Throughout the entire approach the approach controller only kept the crew informed of their position on the pattern. Everything that
occurred, including the approach from the first turn to landing, took 4 minutes. According to the approach controller's account, he felt agitation
immediately after the crew's report of the fire; however, having experience working in emergency situations, no confusion followed. The first thought
that occurred to him after receiving the information about the engine fire was: "Clear the zone as fast as possible." By the controller's own
perception, the entire situation lasted no more than 40 seconds.
Disruptions arising under the influence of emotional tension may be emotional-motor, emotional-sensory, or emotional-intellectual in character.
Emotional-motor (from the Latin motor — mover) disruptions are characterized by a deterioration in the precision and coordination of movements.
Emotional-sensory (from the Latin sensus — sensation) disruptions manifest as changes in the functioning of various analyzer systems: instrument
readings and radar indications are read late and with errors; the distribution and switching of attention is disrupted, and its span is reduced.
Emotional-intellectual (from the Latin intellectus — mind) disruptions are characterized by a partial or complete loss of critical evaluation of one's
own actions and those of colleagues, a slowing of thought processes, and difficulty retrieving information from memory.
Emotional tension can manifest in three basic forms (Marishchuk V.L., Platonov K.K., Pletnitsky E.A., 1969).
1. The inhibited form — characterized by sluggishness, slowed switching of attention, and difficulty forming new skills. The reliability of
performance decreases because of the inability to carry out required actions quickly, within set time intervals. The number of errors in this case
increases only slightly.
2. The impulsive (from the Latin impulsus — a push) form — manifests as impulsive actions that do not correspond to the signals, disruptions in
recognizing incoming signals, and forgetting of rules and instructions. The pace of work either remains at the previous level or accelerates as the
number of errors grows.

3. The generalized (from the Latin generalis — general) form manifests as a sharp deterioration in performance combined with a decrease in the pace of
work and an increase in the number of errors. The presence of this form of tension in a pilot-cadet is grounds for their expulsion from the ranks of
trainees.
Thus, the generalized form of emotional tension often manifests as a refusal to carry out the activity and is grounds for establishing professional
unfitness. An example of an aviation event in which the generalized (that is, whole-organism) form of emotional tension manifested is the crash of a
Yak-18T that occurred in simple meteorological conditions at Khlebodarovka airfield during the day on 29 August 1979. In order to create an interval
behind the aircraft flying ahead, the crew of the first Yak-18 performed the third turn later, while the crew of the second Yak-18, without orienting
themselves by radio and without visually observing the aircraft flying ahead, performed the third turn on schedule, as a result of which they "cut the
circuit" ahead of the leading aircraft and collided with it in the area of the fourth turn. The first Yak-18 sustained airframe damage, struck the
ground, and burned with the two cadets on board. The second Yak-18 had its propeller damaged, and the crew made a landing with the landing gear
extended on the bank of a river, as a result of which the aircraft nosed over completely. The cadet of this aircraft (acting as captain), in a state
of panic, did not carry out the second-pilot cadet's command to raise the landing gear and completely withdrew from controlling the aircraft. The
forced landing was carried out by the second-pilot cadet, who demonstrated great composure and a high level of training.
One should not, however, think that the generalized form of emotional tension is characteristic only of cadets. Practice shows that withdrawal from
controlling the aircraft in a critical situation is also demonstrated by experienced pilots. This is what happened with a pilot holding 2nd-class
qualification. I.B. Kachorovsky (1978) took part in this flight as a pilot-instructor on a Yak-11 training aircraft: before pilots were allowed to fly
in difficult meteorological conditions on a jet aircraft, they were first trained on the Yak-11. After takeoff, the trainee, seated in the front
cockpit, entered a cloud, and as soon as he came out of it, another aircraft flashed past on a reciprocal heading just a few meters above them. This
was so unexpected that the pilot-instructor reflexively ducked his head, barely managing to catch a glimpse of the outline of the passing aircraft. At
first the instructor felt no fear; a few seconds later he felt a joyful relief, and then (owing to his understanding of the possible consequences of
the dangerous near miss, as well as the delayed working-through of the initially arisen but temporarily suppressed emotion of fear) he began to feel
unwell — "something like nausea rose to his throat." The instructor wanted to share his impressions with the trainee. Pressing the intercom button he
said: "Well, how was it?" There was no answer. He called the trainee again, and again there was silence in response. It turned out that the trainee
had not only fallen silent but had also stopped flying the aircraft. The instructor was forced to take over the controls himself. The trainee still
did not respond and made no attempt to take the controls back. After a safe landing the instructor shut down the engine, climbed out of the cockpit,
and went straight to the trainee. The instructor signaled for the trainee to get out of the cockpit. He climbed out with difficulty and was very pale.
He tried to light a cigarette but could not manage the matches. The instructor asked: "What happened?", to which the trainee, with difficulty, forced
out: "I was scared." The instructor continued: "How can that be? Everything turned out fine after all… And if you had been piloting the aircraft on
your own, what would have happened? Could you have completely lost control of yourself and abandoned the controls of a perfectly serviceable aircraft,
with all the resulting consequences?" A short answer followed — "I could have." In conversation with the squadron commander, the instructor reported
that it would be better for the trainee pilot not to fly at all.
So, the quality opposite to emotional tension is emotional stability. V.A. Ponomarenko (2006) understands emotional stability as a person's ability to
respond to extreme influences with such a change in emotional state that it leads not to a decrease but to an increase in performance capacity.
Emotional tension manifests, according to K.K. Platonov (1960), as disruptions of the motor system (rigidity of the facial muscles and posture,
gripping of the controls, inappropriate, uncoordinated, disproportionate movements), disruptions of mental functions (narrowing of the span of
attention, insufficient distribution of it, difficulty switching it, forgetting the sequence of actions and the order in which they are performed,
incorrect assessment of the flight situation, slowed decision-making, failure to carry out decisions already made), and vegetative disruptions (change
in facial color, increased heart rate, tremor of the limbs, dry mouth, increased sweating).
According to the degree to which emotional tension is expressed in cadets, K.K. Platonov (1960) proposed dividing it into four types:
1) minor tension, which quickly disappears without any particular effect on the training process;
2) prolonged, pronounced tension, noticeably affecting the process of flight training but removable through appropriate measures on the part of
mentors;
3) pronounced tension that appears suddenly, after some event that caused fear or growing uncertainty;
4) prolonged, sharply pronounced tension that practically does not disappear despite measures taken, and sometimes drives the cadet to despair.
K.K. Platonov (1960) grouped the factors giving rise to sharply pronounced tension in trainees into the following categories:
1) a mismatch between the trainees' existing knowledge and skills and the requirements imposed on them;
2) individual psychological characteristics of the trainees that are unfavorable for flight training;
3) an incorrect approach to training on the part of mentors (including a careless, tactless word);
4) deviations in the trainees' mental health.
Conditions for the emergence of extremely pronounced emotional tension in the ATC control room arise in cases where controlling an aircraft in an
emergency or catastrophic situation coincides with the handover of air traffic control from one shift to another: an active discussion takes place
over who is to control the aircraft's movement — those already controlling it, or the new shift, which quite naturally has less information reflecting
the events actually taking place. In the absence of instructions for actions in such circumstances, the situation is complicated not only by the fact
that the controllers of one shift must simultaneously think both about controlling the aircraft's movement and about handing over control to the other
shift, but also by the fact that their opinion may not coincide either with the opinion of their own shift supervisor or with that of the other
shift's supervisor. All this multiplies the probability of missed actions and errors.
V.L. Marishchuk, K.K. Platonov, and E.A. Pletnitsky (1969) report that a person in a state of emotional tension must be given very clear-cut commands.
As an example the authors examined the following situation. After making a forced landing, a pilot and a navigator could not manage to open the
emergency hatch in order to get out of the burning aircraft. The squadron commander, who was in the air above the scene, clearly gave the command:
"Navigator! Release the safety latch on the canopy! Ready? Pilot and navigator! Both of you brace your heads against the canopy. One! Two! Push!" The
crew was able to leave the aircraft safely. If we comment on the situation described by the authors, in a state of affect consciousness narrows and
thinking becomes dulled, and in such a situation outside help is needed, but that help must be clear-cut and must contain a list of specific actions
to be carried out, rather than merely a demand for the final result.

A very dangerous phenomenon that arises after a dangerous situation accompanied by strong emotions has been overcome is relaxation of the organism.
This kind of relaxation manifests in particular as a decrease in attention, leading to frequent errors and incidents during the landing roll,
something that was already known back in the first half of the 20th century (Platonov K.K., Shvarts L.M., 1948).
Very interesting data on the changes in air traffic controllers' speech occurring under the influence of emotional tension were presented by E.L.
Nosenko (1976). Under emotional tension the fluency of speech is disrupted — through an increase in various kinds of reformulations, self-corrections,
semantically irrelevant repetitions, and perseverations (from the Latin perseverare — to persist stubbornly), or repetitions at the syllable level.
The number of such indications of hesitancy in utterances under a state of emotional tension reaches 10–15 per every 100 words. Emotional tension
contributes to a decrease in the adequacy of perceiving pilots' speech and to a disruption of the order of one's own actions as prescribed by various
instructions. There are clear signs of a decline in the effectiveness of self-monitoring of the quality of the activity being performed. The average
length of the stretch of speech that an air traffic controller produces without hesitation pauses (without pauses of 0.25 seconds or longer) decreases
under the influence of emotional tension (the most pronounced decrease is recorded in the speech of controllers with the inhibited type of emotional
tension). The latent (hidden) period of the reaction to a speech request increases in controllers of the inhibited type and shortens in individuals of
the excitable type of emotional tension. In a state of emotional tension the rate of articulation (the absolute speech rate) increases, and an
increase in this rate is associated with "slurring" of pronunciation. Subsequently N.F. Mikhailik (1989) confirmed the information that, in a state of
emotional tension, the average length of a stretch of speech produced without hesitation pauses decreases. For pilots this reduction amounts to
20–30%, and for air traffic controllers, 10–39%. These reductions in the duration of "clean" speech are especially characteristic of people with the
inhibited type of emotional tension.
Hesitation pauses more regularly occur before words carrying high informational content. Emotional speech is characterized by a regular rhythmic
alternation of "slow" and "fluent" periods. The psychological meaning of this universal regularity lies in the fact that during the so-called "slow"
period, the speaker, while simultaneously unfolding part of the utterance in "external speech," carries out advance planning of the subsequent segment
of the utterance for the "fluent" period. The duration of the pauses is thus determined by the difficulty of the nonverbal task facing the speaker,
and by the expenditure of mental energy on deciding "what to say."
One of the characteristic features of speech in a state of emotional tension is a substantial reduction in vocabulary diversity compared with speech
in an ordinary state. It is characterized by greater stereotypy: the words chosen are those that occur most frequently in speech.
Difficulties in formulating a decision, characteristic of speech in a state of emotional tension, find expression in an increase in the number of
so-called "search" words such as "this," "such," "so." Difficulties in searching for the words needed for a given communicative purpose are also
indicated by a phenomenon such as the drawing-out of a word or of a final vowel in a word. Thus, an air traffic controller in a conflict situation
says: "… 675, for now descend, take-e-e uh-uh 4,500." Another example of this regularity is a phrase from an air traffic controller that followed the
display of a conflict situation on the monitor: "Malaysian 16, uh… um… rate of descent 8 m/s." An analysis of this aviation event is given in Chapter
13.
Besides search pauses, both filled and unfilled, and search words indicating difficulty in formulating thoughts, characteristic of speech in a state
of emotional tension, "silence fillers" also signal this — "filler words" such as "you see," "you know," "well," "so." In a state of emotional tension
the rate of articulation changes: from 4–5 syllables per second in a normal state to 8–10 syllables per second in a conflict situation.
According to data from V.L. Marishchuk, K.K. Platonov, and E.A. Pletnitsky (1969), a change in voice timbre in a state of emotional tension manifests
as unexpected shifts to high or low notes, as stammering, and as a "croaking" quality.

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Часть 1 8 EMOTIONAL TENSION IN FLIGHT AND AIR TRAFFIC CONTROL 8.1. THE PHENOMENOLOGY OF EMOTIONS AND