PPRuNe Forums - View Single Post - A breath of fresh air at last. One pilots view of CRM
Old 9th May 2012, 22:04
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Young Paul
 
Join Date: Nov 2001
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I work for a "low cost" airline. Because it employs people with many first languages in about seven countries, it receives a high level of scrutiny from a regulatory authority. It was the first airline to introduce an ATQP programme - that is, a sim exercise which is an alternative to the formulaic OPC and line check which reveals almost nothing about anything.

I also had a sim evaluation with another big low cost airline. Although I have many issues with that airline, none of them relate to what I saw of the quality of training, although I accept this was limited.

The bottom line with CRM is that it hasn't completely changed the world. The human factor in flight safety is the biggest issue, and whereas other issues (technical, weather) were diminishing in their impact on flight safety, the human factor wasn't. However, there are plenty of airline pilots who still believe that their role is fundamentally flying aeroplanes, rather than managing a complex situation of which the aeroplane is only one component. The fact that, in a far less authoritarian society, the rest of the crew want to regard the captain as a team captain rather than a deity they regard as a nuisance, and something they aren't fundamentally competent to handle, retreating instead to their old stereotypes.

For myself, I enjoy the relationship that I have with crew on most days out. The crew rarely raise silly issues with me, but I know that if the working environment is relaxed and open, then if a matter for concern comes up, I am likely to be told about it rather than have the crew worrying about the drongo in the left hand seat. Accidents and incidents are uncommon these days, and the human factor may not be a large component. I hope that my attitude makes it less likely to be a component when the chips are down for me. I can't guarantee that, but it doesn't stop me from trying to implement on a formal basis what seems to be best practice.
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