Quote -- "But is the company willing to spend the time and money on such a thing?!
In my experience, the minimum as required by the ruling Authority. Extremely high CC turnover (for other, long-standing reasons) means that you're also trying to hit a rapidly moving target. For example, a recent ultimatum to a large proportion of the cabin crew - "Take redundancy or move to worse pay and conditions" has also vastly increased staff turnover. Same ultimatum has led, IMHO, to short notice recruiting and a noticeably massive fall in standards.
I disagree that you can educate
all people to the required standard. You're trying to overcome twenty-plus years of behavioural mis-learning in some cases. They should have been filtered out at the recruitment stage.
I'm aware of the "them and us" attitude, but that dissolves, if present at all, once cabin crew get to know me. If CRM can target anything, then that's the main one. My CRM training has contained only half-hearted targetting of that aspect, which was a bit surprising.
Quote -- "And to get a bit more personal, how often do you take the time down-route to involve your cabin crew in discussions that get a bit technical?"
I do indeed ! Please bear in mind that "no frills" turnarounds are 25 to 30 mins, no Engineers assisting. There's just about time to say "Hello again, how's it going!" as you walk to the loo. Modern glass cockpits also require much more pre-flight input than the old-fashioned stuff. We are'nt ignoring cabin crew on turnarounds, we just don't have time. My recent contribution on Jet Blast, to which we both had inputs, to describe ILS approaches, approach separation, go-around separation etc, is an example of exactly what you're referring to. It's actually fun to do !
Quote -- "Someone who doesn't know what an APU is will not understand why you tell them it's not working."
I totally agree, in which case they should declare their lack of knowledge and ask for clarification. In the case I gave, I emphasised
senior cabin crew, 10 years service at least, who were fully aware of what an APU does (and it's effect upon water supplies).
Quote -- "....those people who would benefit most from a good dose of CRM training are usually the ones that scoff at it."
That must be me, then !
Back to the question re Engineer/ pilot CRM, I can't wait to be in a classroom with a bunch of them when a "trick cyclist" stands at the front and starts his inane waffling. Pilots give them some stick, despite being well under the management thumb, but Engineers don't have such inhibitions !