“I wonder if all the extra babble is required to … …”
Interesting thoughts, but should you be having them below 10?
Whether chatting, daydreaming, or thinking about issues irrelevant to the current situation, these all indicate poor attention management. This is the issue.
As above (#4), the industry should not require regulations to impose behavior. If an SOP is warranted then this must have additional information as to why it is important to focus attention on particular aspects in critical stages of flight. Education materials and training must support these aspects; why we should manage our attention, how we might improve it, what we should be thinking about and when this is important. Again as above, it is a matter of discipline.
Thus, yes, excessive verbalization might represent a lack of experience or weak training, poor SOPs or rule mania, but in particularly it is the critical lack of those individual qualities of self control and disciplined behavior, as seen elsewhere in modern operations.
If the comments above reflect the reality of significant parts of the industry, then, as a quick-fix, guidance to direct attention by requiring calls might be a suitable defense. However, during periods of change or introduction of ‘short term’ fixes, there is often increased complexity or unforeseen opportunities for error.
Operators should not follow the new guidance blindly; question why it is being given, what are the underlying problems and do these and thus the solutions apply to their operations.
Many parts of the industry forget to think before acting.