Question for airline pilots about Crew Resource Management

Factual Questions
1

Poking about some NTSB accident reports, I’ve seen this alluded to. From what I gather, the point is that all members of the flight crew monitor each other, and that any one of them can challenge the actions of the others if they see departures from safe procedures.

  1. Is that a correct understanding?
  2. Does that actually work in practice?
    The second question might be better answered if I expand on it. As I understand it, flight crews are arranged heirarchally. There are formal ranks (pilot, first officer, etc.) and informal authority levels (length of service, flying time, etc.). This set of heirarchies would seem to conflict with the intent of CRM. In heirarchies, the lower-ranking members are discouraged from challenging the actions of teh higher-tanking ones. Such challenges are better-tolerated in flatter social organizations. Do these tendencies collide in the cockpit? Does it vary by airline? By country? Military/civilian status?

Thanks.

2

Until the actual airline pilots check in (Pilot141 and LSLGuy may be out working if you don’t hear from them for a couple days) I’ll put in my $0.02:

My understanding of CRM is pretty close to what you describe. There is a tradition of extremely autocratic captains, but the airlines have been trying to move away from that.

Even at my rather informal level of aviation you may still have a hierarchy. It’s a good idea to be clear from take-off who is the person primarially in charge of the flight. On the other hand, if I’m flying as “captain” and my “co-pilot” spots imminent danger I want him/her to speak up and keep me from doing something dangerous. The point is teamwork - the ideal being that the entire flight crew works towards a successful, safe flight not only through fulfilling their designated roles but also keeping watch for the unusual and unexpected and passing that information on to the captain as necessary. Human beings being human, the ideal is not always achieved but it seems a worthy goal.

And who’s in charge may be dependent on factors other than sheer numbers of total hours. If a 30,000 hour pilot steps into an aircraft type he’s never flown before with a pilot of a mere 3,000 hours - but 90% of them in the present aircraft - then who do you think should be in charge? Mr. 30K will learn the new airplane quickly, but if something goes wrong on the first flight Mr. 3K may be the better choice for dealing with the emergency at hand.

A good captain knows when to delegate. If I recall correctly, in the Gimli Glider incident it was actually the co-pilot who did the landing, having considerably more experience and skill in handling gliders (which is what the airliner was at that point). On the flip side, there’s a former space shuttle commander working as a co-pilot for American Airlines - arguably he may be a more capable pilot in many respects, but for day-to-day routine operations he hasn’t qualified as captain yet and needs more senority before he gets that job. That’s the way the system works.

And at this point I will shut up and humbly await any necessary correction by the Big Iron guys.

3

To answer your questions first:

  1. This is a part of CRM but only a small part.
  2. Yes it works in practice but it requires all crew members to follow their company’s procedures rigorously. And it requires those procedures to be effective.

Crew Resource Management (or sometimes Cockpit Resource Management) is just that, management of your resources including ALL of the crew (not just those on the flight deck), to enable a successful outcome.

It is most critical during abnormal situations such as an in flight emergency, but when used correctly in normal situations it can help create a team that has the trust in each other to be able to operate to a higher level during an emergency.

The basic idea in an emergency situation is that the Captain will make a decision after taking advice from all relevant members of the crew. Various alternatives and possible outcomes will be assessed and then a decision made.

What you are talking about, crew members being able to challenge the actions of each other, is only a small part of CRM and doesn’t negate the fact that the Captain is still in charge. It’s not a free for all or anything.

An example may be that the Captain is flying and has decended to an unsafe altitude during an approach. The First Officer (or any other crew member who notices) would be expected to point this out and then the Captain would be expected to correct his/her mistake. There would probably be a key word that the FO is to use such as “altitude”. On hearing that word the Capatain MUST respond, normally with an action to correct the mistake and a word (“correcting” for example) to acknowledge the mistake and inform the crew that it is being corrected.

Some crews may have poor CRM. Sometimes you may get a group of individuals who would normally have good CRM skills when working with OTHER crews but when you get them all together they don’t work well.

A classic example is a crew that has a steep authority gradient. The Captain may be very experienced and the FO very inexperienced. Perhaps the Captain is also a little overbearing and the FO feels intimidated by them. The FO, who would normally speak up, doesn’t because they feel that the Captain knows what they are doing, and wouldn’t respond to the FO’s input anyway.

That’s not to say that a steep authority gradient is a bad thing. A good Captain would recognise that the FO feels intimidated and go out of their way to make the FO feel at ease and comfortable with questioning the Captain.

The authority gradient can also go the other way. A very experienced FO may be flying with a new Captain. The Captain may have come of a different aircraft flying different routes and so the FO who is not supposed to be in charge, may end up being the defacto captain. Once again, a good Captain can turn this around and utilise all of the FO’s knowledge without relinquishing positive control of the crew and the flight.

In normal operations good and bad CRM just makes the difference between a pleasant flight and a tedious flight. Bad CRM doesn’t really rear its ugly head until something abnormal happens. In abnormal situations, a breakdown in communication between crew members can result in poor decisions being made before all of the facts are obtained and assessed. It can result in decisions being made and some crew members not being aware of what they are. It can also result in accidents where some crew members are well aware of what is happenening but are afraid to speak up.

CRM is a lot of things, personality, company operating procedures, company safety culture, management etc.

Good individuals working well together to form a good crew can make the best out of a bad situation. Good individuals working poorly together to form a bad crew can make the worst out of a mild situation.

4

I should say that I am not an airline pilot, but I do work in a multi crew environment where CRM is taken seriously.

5

I had an extremely long post ready to go but it got eaten by the computer (I’m posting from a hotel “business” office).

But while I was typing 1920s Style “Death Ray” has provided a very good definition of CRM.

I’ll just add a few points: CRM works very well, but there always needs to be a clear delineation of authority. For example, during the takeoff roll. In this case, it is the Captain’s decision whether to continue the takeoff or abort. No time for discussion: the final authority rests with the Captain.

In cruise, with time as a luxury, all crewmembers inputs are desired. However, someone has to make the final decision, and that is the Captain. The big change that CRM has wrought is that Captains now solicit input from other crewmembers rather than assume they know everything. Also, other crewmembers are now responsible for the safety of the flight. If I see something dangerous but do not alert the Captain, I am liable. (Also, I’d be a dumbass…but the CRM movement has made it so that people are not intimidated enough to withhold information).

As to time (experience) in the aircraft, CRM is a good thing. Whenever I sign in for a trip I can not only see my time on the aircraft but also the captain’s time. For a while I was always the low-time schlub, but soon I found myself getting close to most of my captains.

One thing never changed, though: when I was new on the aircraft, I told every Captain I flew with:“I’m new on this thing, so let me know if you see me screwing something up.”

After six months I heard a Captain say to me: “I’m new on this thing; let me know if I screw anything up.” THAT is what CRM is all about: not having a huge ego, and accepting input from other people.

To show you how fully CRM is ingrained at my airline, one of my interview questions was:

You are in the right seat watching the Captain fly an ILS to XYZ airport. At decision height, you don’t see anything and you call “Go around.” The Captain continues the approach.

What do you do?

My answer: I call “Go around” again. The Captain continues flying the approach.

Me: At that point, I take the aircraft and perform a go-around myself.

The Captain is the boss, but no crewmember should allow him/her to place the flight in danger.

Good stuff, that CRM.

It saved my butt while I was in the Air Force.
(Warning: War Story to follow. Well, not actually war but as close as a transport guy can get to it.)

Obligatory War Story Into: So There I WAS, flying my C-141 from Thailand to Guam.

About halfway into the 9-hour flight the aircrew oxygen system sprung a leak and vented all the aircrew oxygen overboard. It was the middle of the night (of course - these things never seem to happen during daylight) and we were almost four hours from the nearest airfield. So, over the Pacfic and thousands of miles from land we had no aircrew oxygen. If we descended to 10,000 feet (a safe altitude in case of a pressurization loss) we’d run out of fuel while still overwater. If we continued at 35,000 feet and lost pressurization with no oxygen, we’d all die (along with the 220 Marines in back).

What to do?

I was out of ideas. I called every crewmember up to the flight deck, told them the situation and our options, and asked if anyone had any ideas.

One of my loadmasters, all of 19 years old, said “What about the walkaround bottles?”

The “walkaround bottles” were oxygen bottles back in the fuselage that the loadmasters were supposed to use if they were fighting a fire in back, or if they needed to get to the back of the airplane when it was unpressurized or full of smoke. The bottles hooked up into a standard USAF oxygen mask, which we all had. They provided about 15 minutes of oxygen.

The loadmaster went back and brought both walkaround bottles up front. I hooked one up to my mask and the flight engineer got the other one. Now if we lost pressurization at least the flight engineer and I would remain conscious, and between the two of us we could get the airplane down to a safe altitude and onto a runway.

I was always a believer in CRM, but since that time I’ve been convinced that it can save lives.

(End of War Story).

And for the record: CRM is important in ANY type of flying that involves more than one crewmember: airline, charter, corporate, military, etc. Managing your available resources well can mean the difference between surviving or not surviving.

6

Exactly so.
[Small plane war story:]

Departing the airport on a photo job and as the gear was retracting, there was a loud bang and my feet were knocked from the rudder pedals. It seems we had a nose wheel that was now gently swinging in the breeze instead of being in the wheel well where it belonged.
The camera man, a pilot also, came forward and cinched in tight in the right seat and said, “I guess we should belly into the grass instead of the runway don’t ya think? Are you going to suggest that to the tower?” I said, “Well that may be a good idea but since we have about four hours of fuel onboard, I’m going to see if we can’t come up with a less dramatic solution.”

We did and it worked and we got all three down and locked and did not need to ‘belly in’.

[/Small plane war story:]

“The only time you have too much fuel is when you are on fire.”

7

Or you’re in a GA twin at max weight and have had an engine failure after take off into rising terrain :D.

The skills involved in CRM can be used throughout life, from relationships at home to driving the car with Dad as a passenger. When you go to a CRM course you find that a lot of it is common sense and you don’t necessarily find out anything you didn’t already know, but you do learn techniques for putting it into practice.

The ironic part about CRM is that those who are the worst at utilizing it, are often most likely to believe that they don’t need it.

8

Which means you will soon be on fire.

9

Good point!

10

Thanks for the reponses, everyone.

11

We didn’t have a formal name for it, but something similar to CRM is used in the nuclear Navy, in particular in the submarine force.

Like the rest of the military, there is a strict rank hierarchy for nuclear-trained personnel. This is extended to watch stations. For example, my watch station back in the engineroom was Engineering Officer of the Watch (EOOW), and I was the senior man back aft on watch. However, I (and the Navy) fully expected the watchstanders under me to speak up if proper actions were not being taken, or if I gave a screwed-up order.

Speaking up in this fashion was expected; in fact, we had a term for subordinates who followed orders they knew were screwed up: “malicious compliance.” It was no defense for a subordinate to just say that they were following orders (presumably from a disliked superior), if it was clear that the subordinate knew there was a problem with the order.

(However, if a subordinate spoke up, and was overridden by the superior, the subordinate would then be expected to follow the order.)

12

I think CRM is particularly important in the military, where you’re not even supposed call the commanding officer by his first name, much less tell he’s screwing something up.

The military has gotten very big on CRM since the old days when high ego mid-grade officers flying with very junior newbies managed to ball up quite a few aircraft. The recurring theme was the junior knew what was going wrong and chose to take no action because they either didn’t want to piss off the senior guy or they figured the senior guy had some magic pilot stuff that allowed them to defy aerodynamics, or they didn’t want to look chicken (a common quote used to be, “OK, nugget, watch how we do this in the fleet.”).

I flew in a squadron where the commanding officer always flew the first flight with a new pilot. The new guy would of course be nervous as all get out, and after a bit, the CO would say something like “Why don’t you relax. I’ll just fly us along the beach for a while here at 500 feet.” Then he’d start descending. The whole exercise was to see how far the nugget would let the CO descend below the altitude he said he be at. If the nugget didn’t chime in at 450’ with “you’re 50 feet low” and again at 400 feet, the CO would embark on a long discussion of CRM. Before word got out and new pilots were warned of this trick, it was not uncommon for a new pilot to let him get down below 200’ before saying anything.

CRM is a big part of every Navy pre-mission briefing, with a reminder that everyone needs to be assertive and not be afraid to speak up if something is making them uncomfortable. CRM in the Navy has come a long way in the last 15 years. But then again, it had to. Crew coordination errors accounted for a staggering percentage of mishaps in multi-piloted aircraft.