Conceptual Models for Understanding an Encounter with a Mountain Wave

Conceptual models are one of many resources available to pilots for making sense of the flight environment. In this paper we describe the conceptual models a pilot uses, in interviews, to explicate his encounter with a mountain wave while flying an Airbus airplane on the line. In the discourse four models emerge: mountain wave, thrust to control speed, pitch to control speed, and climb-descend to control speed. The models he utilizes in his descriptions have a different conceptual structure from models presented in training materials. The analysis suggests that the pilot’s conceptual models have an operational organization, and this structure is somehow adapted for managing specific flight situations.