PRESS RELEASE Human/Aeromedical Factors Training Expanded

EPS Expands Human and Aeromedical Factors Syllabus in their Training

ORLANDO: January 4, 2026

It is the goal of the FAA and its associated Safety Team (FAASTeam) to increase safety in aviation and reduce accidents.

EPS has always embraced this goal. Several of our instructors and staff are current members of the local FAASTeam group. It was decided that 2026 would be the Year of Safety at EPS and a significant portion of that emphasis would be in the areas of Aeromedical and Human Factors in Aviation.

Courseware designers at EPS have instituted a syllabus for each topic. It will be available to all pilots and crewmembers going through initial or recurrent training at EPS.

Our Instructors Are Focused

"After 41 years in aviation I have become aware of my own limitations, as well as others, in these areas." says chief pilot John Tenney, "It concerns me that we can still find errors in these decision making processes that lead to accidents, sometimes fatally."

"It's critical for pilots to understand fatigue, how it affects them, how to recognize it, and how to mitigate its impact." Jason Cutter, former Instructor at Flight Safety tells us, "We often times equate fatigue with long duty days or a lack of sleep but fatigue is insidious and can be caused by a number of factors including the complexity of the operation and/or situation."

Dr. Cutter shares a "real world story" in the sidebar below.

Prevention is the Best Cure

Recognition of a possible situation ahead and preventing it from happening is always the best cure. As our mentor and for FAA Inspector Diego Alfonso often tells us in FAASTeam meetings: "You never have to be anywhere. Staying where you are and waiting for the situation to improve is always an option."

A Real World Story

Dr. Jason Cutter shares this story with us

"Real world example that just happened to me... well rested, no flight duty for the preceding 7 days, NOT an abnormally long duty day (less than 12 hours hotel to hotel), good weather, 3 legs, and less than 4 hours of flying time total BUT...

We were outside of the US starting the day at a foreign airport, departing empty to another foreign airport, to pick up pax and bring them back to the US. To describe the day as a total disaster would not be an understatement. Multiple foreign ATC issues, foreign customs issues, service issues at an overwhelmed foreign FBO, pax waiting in the lobby 3 hours to depart, missing multiple US customs slots at at a port of entry that is busy on a good day and they were slammed this day due to holiday travel.

I wasn't tired but the entire operation was stressful from the beginning to the end and I didn't realize how fatigued I was until the last approach.

I was in the left seat of an airplane I've been qualified in for 12 years, flown 150 hours and probably 40 landings in the last 7 months so I'm current & proficient... the last item on the before landing checklist is "Flight Spoilers" and my response as PF should have been "Stowed" - simple, right? I could not for the life of me remember what I was supposed to say and ended up having to look at the labeling next to the spoiler lever to come up with "stowed". At some point, I finally snapped out of it and realized that I had been heads down for an inordinate amount of time trying to figure out what I was supposed to say for way too long during a critical phase of flight. It was one of those moments that were eye opening and honestly a bit scary. Yeah I had someone in the right seat next to me but he was as fatigued, or maybe even more so, than I was. Once we got the airplane put to bed we had a good discussion about the situation.