What concerns me is the misstake that is sometimes made when well-meaning folks slide crewmembers through the myriad of ‘stick ‘n’ rudder’ tasks, expose them to the text book/classroom idea of C-R-M and pin stripes on their sleeves and send them out to make money for the airline. Typically, an understanding of what is affectionately known as “CRM” includes the following: 1) Opening or attention getter; 2) Statement of concern; 3) Statement of the problem as recognized; 4) Offering a solution; and 5) Obtaining an agreement.
It is certainly not my intent to minimize the importance of being able to communicate in the cockpit of airplanes (and, by that, I don’t mean ‘communicate’ as some understand it to mean “limited to verbal aspects”) however, I believe that the overridingly important skills and abilities that simply HAVE to be present in any airplane cockpit are those that are directly used to manipulate the controls to ensure that the airplane achieves and maintains the desired flight path and condition … and I define “condition” as the configuration, heading, altitude, airspeed, and direction of flight (both vertically and laterally) … where ‘configuration’ includes the position of reconfigurable aspects of the airplane (landing gear, flaps, speed brakes, throttle position, and all three aspects of trim). But, these ‘skills’ don’t stop there – they must include a knowledge of and an ability to recognize what the airplane ‘condition’ should be at any point, and if the necessity exists to modify that ‘condition,’ the ability to apply the proper adjustment of the available controls to achieve the desired condition. If one pilot has, and properly uses, these skills, the other pilot will easily recognize those skills and the associated competence – and probably do so very early in that particular pairing. It is THAT recognition (particularly when it is in BOTH directions) that will allow a regular and a meaningful reliance on one another to accomplish the tasks required to achieve a safe and efficient operation.
Again, it is not my intent to minimize the importance of proper, regular, and meaningful communications within the cockpit … but a recognition by one cockpit crewmember of the displayed competence of the other cockpit crewmember is critically important in any resolution of circumstances that portend a critical development that requires an immediate recognition – and possibly immediate action – by that cockpit crew.
So – all of the ‘classroom,’ textbook, and role-play efforts typically associated with CRM notwithstanding, and I continue to support their use, I remain of the opinion that far and away THE most critical aspect of what goes on in airline cockpits is the competent and professional recognition of any and all situations as they develop, and the display of equally competent and professional manipulation of the airplane controls to maintain the airplane condition or correct to the desired condition … and we absolutely must do all we can to provide the necessary exposure of these skill sets to each pilot to allow each one to develop and refine their own level of professionalism and competence. AND, as far as I know, the ONLY way to achieve this is through regular exposure of those pilots to the tasks defined in the regulations … and, importantly, we MUST regularly review those regulations to ensure that they say what they need to say to result in the competent professionals that are required at the controls of airplanes in the air today … and tomorrow.