Capt. Ken's comments

By Ken Armstrong

Last month Capt. Ken outlined the concept of cockpit resource management and its development since it was introduced.

NUMERO UNO
The captain is ultimately responsible for the safe conduct of the flight and is therefore awarded the power to carry out the final decisions relating to the flight (unless he/she becomes incapacitated and is relieved of duty). Other crewmembers should be fully aware of the captain’s duties lest they find themselves in that command position.
As captain, you should be able to exercise managerial control over the crew while at the same time being aware of their duties and abilities. In many instances, you will have to assign duties and responsibilities and otherwise direct the actions of the crew. Additionally, you will of course have to share the workload, perform flying duties and ultimately be responsible for declaring an emergency and conducting the outcome with the maximum safety margin.
As captain, you may also have to educate/critique a crewmember who has not met the goals of his/her assignments. Ideally, this should be accomplished with tact, the goal being to improve the crewmember’s efforts - as opposed to creating friction and perhaps an enemy.
Regardless of our flight experience, it is important to note that we can all learn and it is also proper for a first officer or other crew member to provide information that would help the captain in his decision making or flight performance.

PROMOTING POSITIVE PERSONALITIES
The cockpit is a forum for co-operation - not an area to be competitive. Perhaps the most important single aspect of CRM that will lead to the most positive outcome is the desire of all crewmembers to improve their safety and performance by working together. It should be the goal of all crewmembers to make each other look good. We have all seen examples of this crew concept where everybody has a great time together and the converse when crewmembers can’t wait for the day to end. We all want the former, but it takes conscious effort to accentuate the positive creating a cockpit environment that is attractive. Mutual respect for each other leads to open communications, a desire to co-operate, confidence in each others capabilities and a free exchange of ideas that increases flight safety without the fear of repercussions. Some personal techniques to accomplish this environment include: patience, not interrupting other’s communications, a willingness to consider other’s ideas, open discussion of worries pertaining to the flight, genuine care for the crew’s well being and respect for their individuality.
In my opinion, this positive, progressive cockpit is likely the most important contributor to effective CRM because it naturally augments all of the other factors. Essentially, a happy cockpit attitude leaves the crew relaxed yet alert and psychologists have proven this is the most productive environment for humans.

CHALLENGING THE CAPTAIN AND TAKING CONTROL
In the unlikely event that a subordinate crewmember needs to relieve the helicopter captain of command, a company program or protocol should be in place. One such technique is proposed by Robert Besco, a certified industrial psychologist specializing in aviation psychology. The acronym PACE stands for Probe, Alert, Challenge and Emergency action. These actions have been well studied and are aligned to minimize any conflict in the intervention process. The steps will lead to the return to non-threatening flight conditions in situations where normal CRM techniques have failed due to a flawed attitude in knowledge or judgement displayed by the captain. It could be an attitude problem on the part of the captain, or a physical ailment such as a stroke, food poisoning or a heart attack - to name a few.
In the probe portion of the PACE profile, the subordinate pilot attempts to discover why the captain is following a course of action that appears to create a safety risk. For instance, the first officer might ask, “Captain, why are you descending below the minimum safe altitude and continuing in deteriorating weather that is forecast to be below our limits when we are operating with the minimum of fuel reserves due to this headwind?”
The Alerting portion points out the risks associated with the captain’s course of action and the likely result of his poor judgement. Continuing with the example, the FO might state, “Captain, we will likely have to divert since our destination is below limits and with this stronger than forecast headwind we will not have sufficient fuel reserves to reach an alternate.”
During the Challenge segment, the subordinate questions the logic of the current flight regime and strategy for continuing and points out the folly of continuing on this course of action; i.e. “Captain, if we continue, we will not reach our destination and we will not have enough fuel to go to our alternate leaving us with no outlook other than a forced landing in marginal weather.
During the emergency phase, the First Officer would advise the captain to choose another tactic for continuation of the flight or else the subordinate will have to take over command of the flight. He might state this as, “Captain, if you do not divert to the nearby VFR airport to take on additional fuel, I will take over command in the interest of flight safety.
Obviously, it would be desirable to have a section of the company flight manual dedicated to this scenario so the subordinate pilot’s actions will be covered and company captains are aware of this provision.

CRM FOR THE SINGLE PILOT COCKPIT
The previous topics will in many cases apply to the S/P operation and in fact, resource management might even be more important to the solo pilot because he is responsible for the successful completion of all of the flight tasks. Moreover, he will likely be more challenged time-wise and will not have the benefit of a second set of eyes to help overcome oversights.
As a result, this pilot would benefit significantly from a more detailed checklist that prompts him to consider many “what-if” scenarios since they will not be discussed in briefings to other crew members. For instance, the S/P should consider back-up plans that consider inclement weather, fuel reserves, emergency procedures and their handling as well as other pertinent considerations that relate to that specific flight.

ADVANCED COCKPIT RESOURCE MANAGEMENT (ACRM)
In assessing the types of crew errors committed during flight, it has been found there are nine major factors that can contribute to narrowing of safety margins in the two pilot cockpit. In order of occurrence the first four are: procedural errors, monitoring/challenging errors, tactical decisions and aircraft handling. Obviously, the first three would benefit greatly from more structured cockpit resource management.
As a result, some organizations are “hardening” the procedures of the “soft” CRM process by making a number of CRM briefings a mandatory part of the aircraft checklists. For instance, with ACRM, the Before Start checklist would be preceded with a Pre-Flight Brief.
This briefing might include items such as: the checklists will be followed as published thereby setting the CRM tone, certain roles will be played whereby each crew member backs each other up, with respect to communications, all crew will advise others of the content of information they are receiving. The teamwork aspect of the flight will be discussed such as handling of switches, threatening traffic, emergency procedures and other standard operating procedures. This is also a good time for the captain to express his desire for crewmembers to question any concerns by speaking up freely.
After the Shutdown checklist, an ACRM operation would follow up with a debrief. Items might include: overall impressions on the flight and methods for increasing efficiency and safety. The crew might also discuss considerations relating to workload, fatigue, variations from SOPs and items or systems that need to be written up. They may also wish to advise senior management of some of their observations.
Essentially ACRM attempts to make everyone team players by bringing them fully into the information loop very early in flight planning and ensuring there are no loose ends after the flight.

CRM CONCLUSIONS
CRM is not only a two-decade-old buzzword but also a way of life in the cockpit. If you aren’t using CRM concepts in all your flight segments, you aren’t flying as safely as you could be.
Just as savvy customers demanded higher time pilots, larger liability coverages and other benefits as they became educated; they will some day demand that charter companies train their pilots in CRM procedures. Moreover, insurance companies will see the lower accident rates with trained crews and will offer lower insurance premiums to companies whose pilots meet CRM standards. You can grasp the concept now and be ahead of the crowd with safer flights or have it forced on you later when you lose customers and pay higher insurance premiums....

Ken Armstrong has enjoyed 14,500 flight hours on more than 350 fixed and rotary wing aircraft. He provides aviation consulting/training services and flies his Diamond Extreme motor glider out of a grass strip near Victoria, B.C.