'Pilot Psychology at Work'
 

I have been given the above subject to make a 10 min presentation on.
Help needed on 2 fronts PLEASE .
Firstly , title COULD be a bit ambiguous , any thoughts ??
Secondly , any pointers as to where I might find some info / theories on the subject ? Preferably on the net as I do not have access to any decent bookshops where I am at the moment.
Any help /pointers much appreciated.

If you Google up 'James Reason' you may get something you can use.

Also, you may find something useful if you look at the Hofstede website (cultural influences), or the FAA have some useful material on aeronautical decision-making. Or- try the UK CAA website, and search for CAP 737, which is the UK CRM manual, which will provide some stuff on both human factors, leadership, judgement, decision-making, teamwork etc.

Parabellum and non-pc plod
Thanks for the tips ,will try your suggestions

Take care up there

CRM .. all it is IS common sense. CRM only came around to officially bring into line the big egos of Airline Captains years ago to prevent them from stuffing up and nearly causing accidents , originally perpetuated by hard nosed ex miliatary elitest types.

Well said!

Millions of papers, books and articles have been written, and grotesque amounts of money has been poured into the so-called CRM classes held all over the world. And what have we achieved? Zip. Use the money on better equipment for ATC & pilots, longer/wider runways, more precision approaches, better snow clearance/wx forecasting etc. That would really have helped. CRM is just a bogus term for, like you said, common sense. Those in need of an attitude change aren´t gonna learn anything from sitting in a group of friends/colleagues, discussing whether to bring the booze, shotgun or porn magazine along from the desert/jungle crash.
I haven´t noticed any change in behaviour in anyone from any of the many CRM refresher courses I have attended. Idiot captains remain idiots, and the rest already have a well developed common sense, so why bother with the waste of time and money? If a pilot exhibits "unwanted" attitudes and is incapable of working TOGETHER with his colleague - telle it to his face, give him one more chance, and then out the door if he doesn´t improve. Personalities and character traits aren´t cannot be changed through two hours of playing games in a classroom once a year. There - now I´ve said it.

Just out of curiosity when did kotakota say anything about CRM? The topic is 'Pilot Psychology at Work'! You guys will jump at any chance to spout your rather uneducated ‘CRM bullcrap’ blurtings. If you want to talk about a subject you plainly know nothing about, try the ‘CRM – The new religion’ thread. There you will find others have expressed their concerns about CRM in a much more eloquent and persuasive way.

Pilot psychology is part of the wide-ranging subject of CRM. Personally, I find it useful to study examples where people far more highly skilled and experienced than me have made mistakes, sometimes with tragic consequences. I hope to use the lessons learned to help me recognize the situations which might otherwise lead to me making similar errors.
Unfortunately, unlike some of the more professional contributors on this thread, I have my limitations, and it is possible that I will make mistakes, even with the application of common sense. Hopefuly, when I do, someone else on my crew will notice and put me right.
CRM is not just a simple question of dealing with difficult characters on the crew. Perhaps it is a failure of the quality of the CRM training itself that so many people who have been through it just don't get it.
How many people flying regularly out there can say that they have never made a mistake, never got lost, never got low on fuel, never pressed on into weather they regretted? If you have never made a mistake that you learnt from , then I bow humbly to your perfection. If, like me, you have made plenty, then surely you can also learn from other people's mistakes too?
Is this psychobabble or bullcrap? ...Well,if its bullcrap which keeps me alive, bring it on!

I know it's maybe drifting the thread slightly, but since the dreaded CRM has been raised, one point never seems to get aired..........

I can vividly remember twenty-odd years ago becoming involved with an obnoxious, rude, thoughtless, offensive, horrible captain who made everyone's life a misery.
Several attempts were made by the management to request/persuade/force him to change his attitude, all without success. His standard response was that he was paid to fly aeroplanes from A to B and there was nothing in his contract to say he had to be nice to people..............which, of course, was technically true.
The "Formalisation" of common sense, courtesy and communication (now called CRM) means that disagreeable people can be FORCED to change their attitude because it's now written into their Company Operations Manual and is a licencing requirement. If they don't conform, they can ultimately get fired in exactly they same way as if they fail their flying competence.

Them's that don't need it have no problems with it, those that vigourously object are usually the ones that are a bit scared of it.........it might turn them into nice people - at least while they're in the cockpit !

I love it !

I have to agree with non-pc plod in ref to pilot psychology & CRM. Psychology would be one of my favorite subjects and is used on a daily basis whether it being work/social/personal or private life as it is the basic thinking of human behaviour.

one acronym which I find useful is IDEAL

Identify the problem
Define and reresent the problem
Explore possible strategies
Action
Look back and evaluate.

Kotakota -try google searching 'Sigmund Freud' :ok:

Google on 'Neil Johnston or Nick McDonald' or Trinity College Dublin. They wrote a book called Aviation Psychology in Practice. ISBN 0-291-39808-1

Of course 'James Reason' is the man if your looking at human error.

PM if you need any more info.

Pilot Psychobabble
 

What particular personality trait or thinking process do pilots have that make them different?

Methinks it is the ability to process, or deal with a sudden totally different train of thought without blinking.

Example:

"So John was going through the ECAM while I requested to maintain present altitude and a hold at Delta to deal with the hydraulic problem."

"What was it, the Green or the Yellow?"

"First it was the Yellow but the second failure was the Green - high temp."

"That new girl in back's got a nice pair!"

"Pretty face too! Wouldn't mind having her for dinner."

"And breakfast!"

"So now we had a dual hydraulic just past the TMA at one seven zero."

"Good thing weather wasn't an issue."

"Yeah, CAVOK all the way."

And while this conversation is going on, the PF is monitoring TCAS and the WX radar, and the PNF the radios. This ability to maintain focus while shifting through different trains of thought is what makes a pilot able to deal with emergencies.

No different from other highly technical professions.

Kotakota,

I have drafted a short presentation bringing the 5 hazardous attitudes (as per FAA) into context of how it can manifest in the cockpit, workshop and ops room, with a bit of HF background. You are welcome to it, possibly you can salvage something out of there to use. PM me with an email adress (anyone else welcome, too) and I will forward, just bear in mind the fole is a tad on the big side.

Also, try www.hf.faa.gov

Best of luck!

Good point Non PC, it could be that those dissenters have not received any quality CRM training, it could also be that they have been able to avoid it by not flying commercially or it could be that they are ignorant dinosaurs who won't embace it cos they never make mistakes (they leave that to others!).

I went into this CRM thing with a open mind since 1995 and
agree with Yak From Yemen - load of crap. :hmm: So-called CRM
occured naturaly with Lanc and B-17 crews without them
having to go to some course that belavered the obvius. And it
occurs naturaly to any professionals in whatever field who are
up to specs.

Slasher
I think that all depends on the person, I used to work for an old man who was a scremer and shouter, he was always right even when the EGPWS was screaming TERRAIN & PULL UP in IFR going into Samadam! and when you tried to discuss the issue with him it was, I have 30 years in the industry I know what I'm doning... Two years later I had detailed 4 pages of A4 on CRM and down right unprofessional flying off the old man, and when I again tried to talk to him about issues he would resort to threats of the sack and more...

So I think CRM is a must and everybody should attend a course, but the bottom dollar is that it takes two to tango and if the other one is not playing ball then what can you do... its all about respecting the other person and team work... Most of the accidents you see and hear about include a break down of CRM in the cockpit... Thats why it is deemed so important today.

Hasher

Pilot Psychology
 

kotakota:

Your best bet by far is 'The Naked Pilot' by David Beaty. He is the father of CRM, a long-term professional pilot and successful novelist who then gained his degree in psychology.

Cheers,

Neppie
:ok:

Ladies/Gentlemen;

No matter what you want to call it, CRM, Pilot Physcology or whatever, one thing which seems to come to light in these threads is that the reference point is usually "that crusty old fart", the miserable captain in command.
No matter what the situation, CRM calls for the entire crew to be involved in better front end management to ultimately wind up with better performance as a unit.
Maybe those referring to that crusty old fart should be examining their own responsibilities in contribution to CRM. If the commander is as you describe and will not change, where have you stepped up to the plate? Have you done the best you can to support him with good communication, not being afraid to put your thoughts into the process when required or if there is confusion?
Allowing ourselves to be intimidated in this day and age is just as wrong as the absolute rule commander and it doesn't have to mean a punchup. Maybe, your contribution does make him see that everybody is trying to help and at least communication will take place, if he thinks you are right or wrong.
It is not just about the commander, focusing on him only absolves me of any responsibility and thus the breakdown in communication is already well on the way, maybe even before we get to the a/c.
Mumbo jumbo, common sense or whatever, if I enter that front end with the idea that #1 is unmanageable, I have failed to try and make things better already.
CRM isn't a mandate that it will work but it does offer a method of attempt.
And who knows, it might just be a good flight.

Regards

carholme

Have you ever been taught about change blindness or attentional blindness?
I can get you some articles, PM me if you'd like.

Lets see... lets see... available on the web...

NASA's Flight Cognition Laboratory: http://human-factors.arc.nasa.gov/flightcognition/
An article on SA: www.isi.edu/~ddavis/JESPP/2007_Papers/ TranCurielYao&Anhalt/7748.pdf
NASA's Human Factors 101: http://human-factors.arc.nasa.gov/web/hf101/index.html
The US Civil Aerospace Medical Institute has all thier reports on line: http://www.faa.gov/library/reports/m...orts/index.cfm
Recent reports include: HFACS analysis of commercial accidents, some articles on pressing into weather, information complexity and automation design and one on water egress.
NTSB research is published at: http://www.ntsb.gov/Publictn/A_Stu.htm
Includes items on fatigue, and risk factors associated with weather.

Hope this helps,
jolly