Introduction to Glider Flying > Introduction to Glider Flying > Factors Affecting Decision Making > Recognizing Hazardous Attitudes

Being fit to fly depends on more than just your physical condition and recency of experience. For example, attitude affects the quality of your decisions. Attitude can be defined as a personal

Figure 1-9. The three types of stressors that can affect a pilot’s performance.

motivational predisposition to respond to per-sons, situations, or events in a given manner. Studies have identified five hazardous attitudes that can interfere with your ability to make sound decisions and exercise authority properly. [Figure 1- 7]

Hazardous attitudes can lead to poor decision making and actions that involve unnecessary risk. You must examine your decisions carefully to ensure your choices have not been influenced by h a z a r d o u s attitudes, and you must be familiar with positive alternatives to counteract the hazardous attitudes. These substitute attitudes are referred to as anti-dotes. During a flight operation, it is important to be able to recognize a hazardous attitude, cor-rectly label the thought, and then recall its anti-dote. [Figure 1-8]