TABLE OF CONTENTS
ABSTRACT 4
INTRODUCTION 5
Background 5
Purpose/Audience 5
Sources 5
Limitaions 5
Scope 5
COLLECTED DATA 5
Importance of
Communication Among the Crew 5
Main Cause of Aircraft Accidents 6
Duties of the Crew Members 7
Expectations of the Crew 7
The Crew is a Team 8
Intimidatin in the Cockpit 8
Cabin Crew is a part of the Team 9
Trusting the Crew's Judgment 9
Crew Resource Management (CRM) 9
Outline of CRM Training 10
LOFT Training 10
Organizing Resources and Priorities 11
CONCLUSION 11
Summary of Findings 11
Interpretation of Findings 11
REFERENCES 13
ABSTRACT
The majority of
aircraft accidents are caused by human error, and an accident or incident is
linked together by a chain of errors. Most of these accidents could have been
avoided by the crew if they would have been communicating to each other better.
Some common errors that occur among the crew are poor task delegation,
assertiveness, and distractions. Crew training in communication and teamwork
will increase the crews' performance level. Programs like Crew Resource Management
(CRM) have been developed to try to help the crews work together and reduce the
human factor in accidents. CRM includes training in leadership/followership,
assertiveness, management, communication, teamwork, decision making, and task
delegation. Through programs like CRM crews learn to work together as a team,
and when they are working together it is less likely there'll be an accident.
INTORDUCTION
Background
The cause for most aircraft accidents (65%) are
by crew error (FAA News, 1996). When the Crews performance level is low due to
poor teamwork and communication this is when accidents happen. How can crew
error be reduced? Even though human error can't be reduced completely through
constant training and effort by the crew performance will increase and
accidents will be reduced.
Purpose/Audience
This report is intended for a general audience
and will show how important it is for the flight and cabin crew to work
together and communicate as a team. This report will also examine the CRM
program.
Sources
Sources have been obtained for this report from
the Internet and from the Waldo Library, Western Michigan University,
Kalamazoo, Michigan.
Scope
Teamwork and communication are a critical
factor in the crew's operation of aircraft. Accidents can be prevented when
these two factors are considered.
COLLECTED DATA
Importance of
Communication amoung the Crew
People communicate to each other every day.
From a kids talking to their parents about their report card, to doctors
working in an operating room. In order for us to understand one another we must
be clear in what we say. For instance, if a doctor tells a nurse to pull a
certain plug on a machine, he'd better be clear on what he says or the nurse
might end up harming a patient. Likewise, the cabin and flight crew must work
together.
In a typical cockpit the flight crew is very
busy, and they need to be well organized to handle the many tasks they perform.
They need to communicate properly and clearly for safe operations, if they
don't their actions could result in a tragedy.
Main Cause of Aircraft Accidents
Mechanical problems and technical malfunctions
do contribute to aircraft accidents, but human error is the main cause,
accounting for 65% of the accidents (FAA News, 1996). See the pie chart in
figure 1. This figure is quit high, and if
it were possible to reduce human error the accident rate would drop
significantly. Accidents that occur because of human error are not a direct
result of just one error but of a chain of errors. The human error chain
results when one bad decision leads to another which leads to the accident. The
question is, how can we reduce human error in the cockpit? Studies have shown
that most incidents could have been prevented if communication and leadership
skills were improved.
Pie Chart figure
1:
Duties of Crew
Members
In order to have a clear understanding of who's
involved in the crew, these positions with their duties will be discussed.
There are usually 2-3 flight crew members and 1-3 flight attendants aboard an
airliner. In the flight deck are the Captain, Co-pilot and flight engineer.
When there are only two flight crew members there's no flight engineer. (this
is to reduce costs). The Captain is the
Pilot in Command (PIC). He/she has the final authority of all decisions and all
responsibility rest on his/her shoulders. The Co-pilot assists the Captain in
his/her duties, like calculating fuel consumptions, weight and balance,
navigation etc. He/she is Second in Command (SIC). The Flight Engineer helps
reduce the work load of the Captain and Co-pilot. Some of his/her duties may
include fuel consumption rate, weight and balance, and communicating with the
cabin crew. The cabin crew consists of the Flight Attendants. Besides serving
coffee and making sure passengers are comfortable, they are also responsible
for briefing passengers on emergency procedures, evacuations, and informing the
flight crew when problems arise. Flight Attendants are very important and are an
asset to the crew as a whole.
Expectations of the Crew
Many
aircraft accidents have occurred because of role confusion amoung the crew. It
is crucial that each member knows what their job is, and what is expected of
them. A way for them to know is through communication. An example of
miscommunication is the Avianca jet that was in the pattern for over an hour
waiting to land at Kennedy Airport. The flight crew had told Air Traffic
Control (ATC) they were low on fuel and would run out if they did not land
soon. The plane crashed on final approach to land, the reason: fuel exhaustion
(Nader & Smith, 1994). The crew didn't declare an emergency to ATC. In
aviation saying the right key words can make a difference. Had the pilots
declared an emergency because of the low fuel level ATC would have cleared them
to land earlier. Or if ATC inquired about their fuel situation, the accident
wouldn't have happened. This accident also shows the human error chain. One
mistake leads to another which leads to an accident..
A Crew
is A Team
The words Crew and Team have the same meaning:
A group of people working together. The flight & cabin crew are a team and
each crew member is a team player. A military phrase heard often is "there
are no individuals here! You are a team!" It should be the same way aboard
an aircraft. In order for flights to be safe, efficient and enjoyable the crew
needs to be able to work together. It's not enough for the Captain to give
orders and the crew obey no matter what, there needs to be open communication.
Intimidation in the Cockpit
The Captain is the commander on board but this
doesn't mean he can't listen of take advice. Each member of the
"team" is interdependent on one another. Sometimes in aviation the
Captain is thought of as "god", you don't dare approach him or
question him. A lot of cabin and flight crews are afraid to approach the
Captain about a safety concern for fear of how he'll react. Slowly this
attitude has been changing. How can a cockpit be effectively run if the Captain's
own crew can not work together?
One example of how these attitudes can affect
the way hazardous situations are handled is the Air Ontario flight from Dryden,
Canada. The airliner had been waiting along time for it's turn to takeoff. The
weather was bad, it was snowing hard and the visibility was low. The last time
the plane was de-iced was a half-hour ago. From the pilots view out the window
everything looked normal. Meanwhile, a flight attendant noticed the snow that
was accumulating on the aircraft's wings. She wanted to inform the flight crew
before takeoff but was intimidated by what their response would be to her, so
she said nothing. There was also an airline pilot aboard who wasn't on duty at
the time, but was also concerned about ice forming on the wings. He thought
about letting the flight crew know what he saw, but didn't want to interfere
with their operations. The Air Canada barely took off when it crashed because
ice had built on the wings causing loss of lift (Chute & Wiener, 1996).
Cabin Crew is
part of the Team
Here again is the human error chain. If one of
the links could have been broken the accident wouldn't have happened. These
attitudes can and do cause harm. The flight attendant and off duty pilot should
have informed the crew of the possible danger and the Captain should have
requested another de-icing before takeoff. The crew should welcome the cabin
crew on their concerns, after all they too are a part of the team.
Trusting the Crew's Judgment
Trusting each other's judgement is a necessity.
Without it, how can the crew work
together? The Captain must be able to trust that his/her crew are performing
their duties properly and vise/versa. Besides having authority the Captain is
also the leader. He/she is the one when emergency situations arise pulls the
crew together to work as a team even when they don't know each other. A true
leader is willing to listen to others, be respectful and be able to take
command.
Crew Resource
Management (CRM)
A program called Crew Resource Management (CRM)
has been developed to help implement these leadership, communication and
decision making skills in crew members. Since the main cause of accidents is
due to human error it is hoped that through CRM training crew membfers will
communicate and work together more effectively. CRM is not required by the FAA,
but it is recommended. Many airlines are having their crews go through this
training and they look highly on pilots who not only posse the technical skills
but also the people skills.
Outline of CRM Training
In years past emphasis was put on the
technical, stick and rudder aspects of flying. In recent years it has become
evident that these skills by themselves are not enough, but that training in
people skills is needed. That is what CRM is about. It provides crews' training
in:
1.
Communication.
2.
Decision making.
3.
Assertiveness.
4.
Leadership/Followership.
5.
Teamwork.
6.
Task Delegation.
7.
Managing.
Crew members going through CRM training will
attend classroom instruction, watch video's and participate in role playing on
these subjects (FAA- AC, 1995).
LOFT Training
Because crews rarely work together more than
once and dont't have time to build a commrodery, using the Line Oriented Flight
Training (LOFT) simulator crews practice managing a cockpit with members
they've never met (Chute & Wiener I,1996). This simulator is like virtual
reality. Pilots sit in a cockpit where the windows are where the video screen
is, all the buttons and knobs work. (Pilot have come out of these LOFT
simulators sweating, because what they've just experienced seemed so real). In
LOFT crews can fly routes and have emergency situations come up, like an engine
failure, deteriorating weather, and
navigation problems. The benifit about LOFT is that it's a simulator,
there's no danger involved and yet the crew still learns (Helmreich, 1996).
Crews going through LOFT training are evaluated on how well they handled the
different situations, communication with each other and task delegation. These
training sessions are vidio taped so the crew can debrief afterwards how well
they did and what they need to change.
Organize
Resources and Priorities
Crew members are not only leaders but also
managers. They must be able to use their time and resources wisely. Thers's
only so many tasks that one person can handle and be efficient at the same
time. That's why Captains need to know when to delegate duties and when to
notice that another has to many. Also, They need to prioritise, know what
duties are the most important and when they need to be done. This is all part
of being a leader and manager.
CONCLUSION
Summary of
Findings
Human error is the main cause of aircraft
accidents, and it's a chain of errors that sets the accident into motion. Poor
flight and cabin crew communication does exist. A program called Crew Resource
Management has been developed to improve teamwork, proper task delegation,
communication, and trust among the crew.Interpretation of the Findings
The need for crew communication is evident.
When crews' don't work together their performance level is low and this is when
they are volnerable to accidents.
Programs like CRM are very helpful in
instilling these principles and breaking the bad habits. Poor attitiudes and
habits can't be changed overnight. That's why there is a need for recurrent CRM
training. Communicaiton and teamwork is the key to safe and effective
operations. There's no "I" in CREW but there is "WE".
REFERENCES
Chute, R. D.
& Wiener, E. L. "Cockpit/cabin
communication: I. A tale of two cultures."
[http://olias.arc.nasa.gov/personnel/people/RebeccaChute/JA1.htm.]. Oct 1996.
Federal Aviation
Administration. (1995) Crew resource
management training (AFS-210, AC no. 120-51B).
Washington, D. C.
Nader, R. &
Smith, W. J. (1994). Collision course:
The truth about airline safety. PA: TAB Books.
FAA News. "Atlantic coast airlines first to use
FAA crew performance program." [http://www.dot.gov/affairs/apa15596.htm]. Sept 1996.
Helmreich, R.
L. "The evolution of crew resource
management." [http://www.psy.utexas.edu/psy/helmreich/iata96/htm]. Oct 1996.
Chute, R. D.
& Wiener, E. L. (1996). Cockpit-cabin communicaiton: II. shall we
tell the pilot? The International
Journal of Aviaiton Phychology, 6 (3), 211-229
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