thanks
here is a sentence by a very wise pilot I know:
"I will adhere 100% to SOPs when the SOPs are 100% perfect".
Which does not mean that he will ignore SOPs till that happens (that is, never) and therefore he will operate as he pleases, no...
It means he will adhere to SOPs except when in given situations or circumstances doing so is clearly wrong. That is, when according to HIS judgement, it is safer or just more efficient or appropriate to do otherwise.
No matter how hard they tried, SOPs would never foresee and adapt to each and every situation, and they must be taken as absolutely mandatory in a small number of items.
There is a force regarding SOPs which is in some airlines not counterbalanced by any other force. It is the force trying to standardize the operation in the airline, so that all pilots operate in the
same way.
An airline should be satisfied if all their pilots operate in a
similar way.
When an operator tries to force pilots to operate in the
same way, a number of undesirable effects take place:
1st: the "same way" is never fully described, nor fully agreed, even by the senior captains in the airline, and there is a lot changes and errors and a lot of of "they are going to change that...". There are traditional non-written SOPs, written and approved SOPs, both updated and old coexisting, and even soon to be SOPs!
2nd: SOP Talibans will create an atmosphere of terror in which SOPs are a deadly weapon, and people is accused or reported for not being standard.
3rd: traditional ways of operating which are not written anywhere are treated as SOPs, so pilots have to learn them by experience, instead of by reading manuals or training.
As a result of all of the above, many first officers are just incapable of being fully standard because it depends on the captain they fly with, in spite of them all being SOP talibans. They don't have any feedback and each of them is convinced of being fully standard. No matter how hard they try to be strictly standard, they will fail and constantly "deviate from SOPs", according to most captains they fly with.
Every minor supposed SOP deviation on the part of the F/O is treated as a very severe thing, and so F/Os are defenseless because every time a different perception of the SOPs is used as the law with which they are judged. On top of that, in many occasions these judges interpret SOPs in an extremely rigid manner, except when they choose to adapt them to the situation, but only they are entitled to do that, for if the F/O does it is then a blatant deviation. The judges are never judged about the many minor deviations they do every day.
In this airlines F/Os can't fly normally, relaxed and happy as a pilot must fly. They are afraid of their captains. This is not good for CRM, TEM, etc..
Speaking of which, CRM itself is used as a weapon, and you can be easily accused of having poor CRM skills in general, and every time the captain makes a mistake. F/O mistakes are never due to poor captain's CRM skills, though. Their briefings will be like mantras, that they give so the CVR records them but they don't care if you pay attention or not, even worse: they know you don't, because you basically can't (it is too quick) or the briefing is so exact to the official mantra that there is no use, or both. Reciprocally they will never pay attention to your briefings. They won't even bother to pretend they do (like F/O do) and will deal with the agent, the cabin chief or any one, while you are talking and tell you not to stop when you interrupt the briefing...
SOP super strict airlines produce SOP taliban captains, which destroys good team work and impairs safety.
However, in an airline that tries to make its pilots to operate in a very similar way and is not SOP taliban, pilots tend to be very standard and they are relaxed in the cockpit.
CRM is like dancing. You can't dance in a 100% predetermined choreography in a changing environment. It is a flexible thing, and you have to enjoy it and adapt to the music. Sometimes precious time is lost in doing things in a 100% CRM compliant way than in a more straightforward way. One thing is doing things in a very orthodox way when you are training CRM and quite another to be too picky with that every time.
The ideal crew operates in a
similar way, which is good enough, and both captain and F/O are tolerant with the other's minor deviations from the stated ways and the non written traditional ways. They speak up when they feel uncomfortable about anything, the F/O without fear or shyness, the Captain without anger. They fly in harmony and relaxed and coordinated in a natural way, like a couple dancing.