Cockpit Conflict

[CRMHOF]

Greetings! It has come to my attention that the looming worldwide pilot shortage has begun to have an impact on "cockpit dynamics". Among the issues that I've heard about are intergenerational conflict (eg. old guys not working well with Millennials - and vice versa), as well as intercultural concerns due to employers having to hire from outside of their "normal" resource pool.

I am doing research for an article on the impact of the pilot shortage on cockpit dynamics. Would love to hear your stories. You may remain anonymous if you wish, or WITH YOUR PERMISSION, we will quote you and you could be famous!

Looking forward to an engaging discussion... Thanks!

[Zaphod Beblebrox]

Could you tell us what University and what your background is. I might not comment bublicly but via a private message.

[B2N2]

old guys not working well with Millennials - and vice versa), as well as intercultural concerns due to employers having to hire from outside of their "normal" resource pool.

None of that is new. Actually it’s as old as aviation itself.
Anytime when demand outgrows supply in war or peace time hiring requirements get reduced and the existing pilot pool starts complaining.
I think you’re looking for the term synchronicity.
The fact that we have more hurricanes now that Trump is President doesn’t mean there’s a connection.

[safetypee]

CRMHOF, assuming that your background in research included the problems of bias and critical thinking, you might still consider “What you look for is what you find” (Hollnagel).
You appear to posit that intergenerational or intercultural conflict on the flight deck is proportional to the availability of qualified pilots, yet there might be many other aspects which could influence the ‘hearsay’ of cockpit dynamics (and what exactly do they involve).
I fail to see how uncontrolled ‘stories’ from an open web forum can contribute anything meaningful to research into a specific area.

Alternatively, looking for ‘stories’ about cockpit conflict might identify a vast range of aspects and perceived causes which pilots experience every day. All that this might show is that everyone is biased and we tend to relate stories about the world as we see it now. Also, often with little consideration of what we actually know about the subject or how we have been influenced by what we have heard.

[172_driver]

Try to get hold of expats in Asia and see what they've got to say. Coming to a foreign airline with twice the salary and taking up command positions from local FOs.


There's always been conflicts relating to mergers, seniority list, sub-contracting etc.

[CRMHOF]

Thanks, I'm hoping to talk with individuals on both sides of this issue. Hope to hear from some. Cheers!

[CRMHOF]

WTF! What kind of a moron starts his first Prune post like that, and then babbles on with some :mad: hypothesis he's hellbound to prove! Get a :mad: job, will ya!
Thank you for your thoughtful response.

(Good to see you have a sense of humour .. jt)

[+TSRA]

On the face of it, I agree with safetypee; this is a public forum where anyone with a keyboard and an axe to grind could claim they are a professional pilot and dilute the data set. As your profile says Tacoma, why not ask Alaska Airlines and Horizon Airlines (or any other local operators) whether you could poll their pilots and use that as your reference material? Otherwise, you are apt to have a number of wannabes comment on a subject they know little to nothing about, yet appear credible through convincing vocabulary.

Granted, contacting local airlines would provide a small sample size compared to the industry as a whole, but your argument would be stronger through credible sources.

I think you’ll also find most pilots are not in this career for fame. If they are, I would question their motives, and so should you.

[safetypee]

CRMHOF, as I surmise your company association addresses need the of operators to teach CRM, as defined by and as specified by regulation. I am not a fan of this approach, it pays the bills but questionably may not help improve safety; I qualify this that the problem is more likely to be with the regulator opposed to individuals or training organisations.

I note that you view ‘…CRM as it relates to human factors issues.’ There are many alternative views, e.g. CRM is the application of HF.
The definition CRM should always be stated; to what extent does this include include crew dynamics, … and how. Many people would reel off the standard book definition, where the ‘book’ varies with country, culture, even age.

As old school, pre CRM, I have had to grown up with HF, TEM, and CRM; the latter well conceived, but poorly implemented, and in many formats past its use by date. “Everyone knows what CRM is for, but they don’t actually know what it is.”
A thorough grounding and practice of basic thinking skills may be more beneficial, these should include considering the point of view of others.

Back to the thread; what is seen as cockpit conflict could be viewed as mismanaged crew dynamics. The management task applies to any crew composition, and may be of greater concern with ‘balanced’ crews than for perceived mismatches of age or culture.

Greater safety benefit might be gained from researching what happens in everyday operations, opposed to looking for new problems where none (no evidence) exist.
The vast majority of crews manage their inter-crew dynamics. Like any human interface nothing is perfect, thus the crew task is achieve an acceptable balance. What is involved with this, what is the process, the mechanism of management, particularly with mixed cultures, age, or experience?
There are some common misunderstandings; age equating to experience - not so for time on type, experience and rank, and so on, including extremes of national identity or language. So the first task is to identify the myths and bias in this subject, - a crew questionnaire on these beliefs would provide a good introduction to further research on everyday crew management - ask crews to explain how they generate success!

“In order to have any chance of successfully operating increasingly complex socio-technical systems, we need to abandon the myths and the ideal approach to safety that they imply.”

https://hal.inria.fr/file/index/docid/724098/filename/Besnard-Hollnagel-2012--Myths-industrial-safety-Tech-Report.pdf

http://www.iploca.com/platform/content/element/24312/ErikHollnagel-SafetyMyths.pdf