About me
Hello,
My name is Cristian Mandu, and I'm an A320 TRI/TRE (EASA - Swiss FOCA), CRM trainer, and a passionate advocate for practical human factors. I've accumulated around 10,000 flight hours and over 1,300 simulator training and checking hours, working for major airlines in Europe and the Middle East. About 2,000 of those hours are on the B737 and the rest on the A320 family. In addition to my aviation expertise, I hold a Master's degree in Human Factors and System Safety, and a Bachelor's degree in classical music - violin performance. I am currently a PhD student, researching ways to develop resilience in pilot training.
I strongly believe that by providing more practical human factors training, pilots can better understand their needs, abilities, and limitations in stressful situations and learn to use simple tools to develop their adaptive capabilities. This can help them perform at their best under challenging circumstances during simulator checks and in real life.
Through this platform, I share observations and practical insights from my experience as an Airbus A320 TRI/TRE, addressing the challenges pilots face during simulator training and checks. The goal is to provide a structured, practical approach to understanding and managing stress so pilots can demonstrate calm, confident performance during any simulator session.
The 5-step Failure Management structure presented here was originally developed by STRE Michael Watt, an exceptional trainer and examiner, critical thinker, my role model, and partner in academic research.
My PhD research focus
I am working on developing a Confidence-Based Robustness Training (CBRT) framework as a foundational complement to the existing Evidence-Based Training (EBT) approach.
While EBT focuses on identifying and addressing the root causes of pilot performance through observable behaviors, it overlooks the psychological and cognitive mechanisms that drive those behaviors — particularly pilots’ cognitive capabilities, needs, and limitations when operating under stress and high workload.
CBRT seeks to bridge this gap by focusing on the cognitive architecture that enables pilots to maintain effective control, decision-making, and coordination under pressure, aligning training more closely with the realities of human performance in complex operational environments.
Peer-Reviewed Publication
Mandu, C., Smoker, A., & Curșeu, P. (2026). Using Heuristics to Glide an Airbus A320 Following All-Engine Failure in Cruise: a Simulator-Based Experimental Study. Published in Ergonomics. Read the paper here.
This paper extends the experimental work originally conducted for my MSc thesis, Gliding and Airbus A320; Simplicity-Complexity Trade-Off (available here), by introducing two additional control groups.
Articles
Why We Should Start Calibrating Pilot Confidence — Adding Cognitive Robustness as a Foundation for the EBT Competency Framework
Read the article here.
Beyond Procedures: Training Astronauts in Team Dynamics and Decision-Making
Read the article here.
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