Team-Based Human Factors

Human factors in aviation has always and will always be an area that requires attention to ensure the risks are mitigated. I am sure we have all heard some form of the phrase “I’m only human” referencing a mistake that was made. Despite rapid gains in technology, humans are ultimately responsible for ensuring the success and safety of the aviation industry (Graeber, n.d.). Human factors are a focus on how to optimize the performance and output of human workers while also taking the proper precautions to avoid human error events. This spans across all fields of aviation and is not just limited to pilots. If a maintenance technician does an improper repair or forgets a step it can cause a crash, that is a human error. The human factors are complex because they include things like training, competence, professionalism, and human limitations (Federal Aviation Administration [FAA], n.d.). As technology continues to advance there are constant innovative way to enhance human factors and limitations. At the dawn of flight pilots had to rely on their senses to guide them, but now the flight control display brings in information from outside the cockpit and allows the pilot to have substantially more information than they would be able to gather with just their senses (Salas et al., 2010).


Crew resource management is a team-based activity that requires each member to execute their responsibilities for the flight operations to flow smoothly and without incident. As stated, there are numerous technical aides for pilots to utilize and help allow the pilots to have much more information that they would be able to gather by just using their senses. Some challenges that may occur are that pilots in control of the aircraft might not make the correct decision all the time. Because there is not always time to discuss the correct decision, a pilot may make a mistake in a time crunch. In crew resource management requires a high level of trust and competence, and without that there would almost certainly be an accident.

 

References

Federal Aviation Administration. (n.d.). Human Factors in Aviation Maintenance. https://www.faa.gov/about/initiatives/maintenance_hf



Forrest, S. (2018). What Happened to Crew Resource Management? Flight Safety Foundation.   https://flightsafety.org/asw-article/what-happened-to-crew-resource-management/



Graeber, C. (n.d.). Human Factors. Aero Magazine. https://www.boeing.com/commercial/aeromagazine/aero_08/human_textonly.html




Johnston, M. (2020). Sky Safety: Understanding Crew Resource Management (CRM) In Aviation.

California Aeronautical University. https://calaero.edu/crew-resource-management-crm/


Salas, E., & Maurino, D. (2010). Human Factors In Aviation. (p. 150). Elsevier Science & Technology. https://ebookcentral.proquest.com/lib/erau/detail.action?docID=534983



Comments

  1. TJ BlanchardDecember 13, 2021 at 7:52 PM

    Micah, I totally agree! CRM does require more trust within your colleagues to make sure people remain safe. CRM can always be applied to almost every job in the aviation industry and why it's so important to have leaders who are willing to make sure that people are comfortable to bring up problems that others may do and correct those actions. Without training like that today who knows what type of mishaps may occur. Great citations all around it were really interesting to hear multiple career fields all pulled into one article.
    TJ

    ReplyDelete
  2. Geoff WhittingtonDecember 17, 2021 at 6:42 PM

    Micah, great write up! In CRM it is extremely important to have complete trust in one another. One thing not talked about enough is speaking up when something appears wrong. I have seen to many after action reports related to someone recognizing that something is wrong but assuming that the pilot in command knows what they are doing. Often times the complacency that is inherently in trusting your crew members can come back to haunt you. Being assertive can sometimes save lives when one crew member is unaware they are making mistakes. I definitely enjoyed your blog and how nicely it covered the topic!

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