Crew Resources Management

Interpersonal Skills:COMMUNICATIONS

Learning Objectives

By the end of this session, you will be able to• Understand the importance of COMMUNICATIONS in

aircraft operations.

Crew Resource Management• CRM is the effective use of all available resources to achieve safe and

efficient flight operations.

• CRM is concerned not so much with the technical skills but rather with the cognitive and interpersonal skills needed to manage the flight.

• Cognitive skills are defined as the mental processes used for gaining and maintaining situational awareness, for problem solving and decision making.

• Interpersonal skills are regarded as communications and a range of behavioral activities in the teamwork

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Cognitive and Interpersonal Skills

Cognitive Skills • Situational Awareness• Problem Solving &Decision Making

Interpersonal Skills • Communications • Teamwork

Lack of Situational AwarenessPoor Decision Making

Lack of CommunicationLack of TeamworkLack of Resources

Lack of KnowledgeLack of Assertiveness

DistractionPressure & Stress

Crew Fatigue

Major Causes of Human Error in Aircraft Accidents

COMMUNICATION

1. Definitions2. Importance of Good Communications3. Modes of Communication4. Communication Process

What is COMMUNICATION?• Communications: is the transfer of information from a

speaker (transmitter) to a listener (receiver)

• The objective of the communication is to ensure the process of transferring information is successful.

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Communication in Flight Operation

Environmental factorsInternal factors

Recognition of threats& danger.

Cockpit Crew Cabin Crew

Ground and Maintenance CrewATC Tower

communicatecommunicate

communicate

observe observe

observe

Why is communication important?• To pass information from one person to another (avoid

miscommunication)• To conduct effective missions• To avoid mishaps (unlucky aircraft accident)• To maintain group situational awareness

Remember

• Inadequate communications between crew members and other parties could lead to a loss of situational awareness, a breakdown in teamwork in the aircraft, and ultimately to a wrong decision which result in a serious aircraft accident.

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Communication

• Cockpit voice recordings of various air disasters tragically reveal first officers and flight engineers attempting to bring critical information to the captain's attention in an indirect and ineffective way

• By the time the captain understood what was being said, it was too late to avert the disaster.

• Example: United Airlines DC-8 crashed during approach near Portland. While the captain hold the landing time to fix the landing gear problems, the flight engineer & first officer (co-pilot) failed to effectively inform the captain about the low fuel level condition. Finally, lead to the crash because the aircraft ran out of the fuel.

Modes of Communication

VERBALVERBAL-Use words.-Use words.

Orally or writing Orally or writing

NON-VERBALNON-VERBAL-anything other than words-anything other than words

body language (facial expression, hand movements, smile), eye contact, posture,

touch.

Communication Communication modesmodes

Communication Achievements • 7% of all communication is accomplished Verbally. • 55% of all communication is achieved through Non-

Verbal (body language.)• 38% of communication is achieved by tone or sound of

voice

VERBALVERBAL

7 %

TONE OR SOUND OF TONE OR SOUND OF VOICEVOICE

38% NON-VERBALNON-VERBAL

55 %

Communication Process

Communication is an art of making yourself understood.

Explain Communication Process

Communication Process

Communication Process

• There are four elements in the communication process - the sender (speaker), the message, the receiver (listener) and the feedback.

• Both sender and listener have their responsibilities to ensure the successful of communication process.

• Moreover, anyone acting as the sender or receiver are also influenced by many factors - their perceptions, attitudes, values, knowledge, expectations, language skills, experience and their relationship to "the other person."

• These influences act like filters and can impact on the process of sending and receiving messages.

Communication Process

• Sender’s responsibilities- communicating information Clearly, Correctly, Completely.- communicate in a timely manner- requesting verification or feedback

• Receiver’s responsibilities- acknowledge communication- repeat information

-provide feedback

Some suggestions for the speaker• Know what response you want to achieve.• Tell the person why you want that response.• Understand where the other guy lives.• Be clear, correct, and complete.

Some suggestions for the listener

• Listen with both ears.• Repeat the message in your own words for

confirmation.• If you do not understand--tell him/her that

you do not understand.

Communication

5. Communication Levels6. Communication Barriers7. Communication Skills

Communication Levels

• 3 LEVELS OF COMMUNICATIONS

– POOR: the message is not even received, resulting in confusion

– GOOD: You have gotten your message across, but the receiver has not responded with the desired action

– EFFECTIVE: The message is not only received, but it has resulted in the action you wanted.

Communication Barriers

• Barriers: Anything that distorts or interferes with communications

Communication Barriers

Barriers that block the effective communication.

1.Physical Barriers: Physical barriers are normally barriers that prevents the communication from being received - items such as noise, hearing loss, confusion, fatigue, poor radio equipment.

2.Mental Barriers: attitudes, feeling, bias and prejudice For example, strong negative feelings in the cockpit can lead to a

total lack of communication.

3. Language Barriers

Results of Language Barriers• In 1977, at Tenerife in the Canary Islands, heavy accents and

improper terminology among a Dutch KLM crew, an American Pan Am crew and a Spanish air traffic controller led to the worst aviation disaster in history, in which 583 passengers perished.

• In 1980, another Spanish air traffic controller at Tenerife gave a holding pattern clearance to a Dan Air flight by saying "turn to the left" when he should have said "turns to the left" - resulting in the aircraft making a single left turn rather than making circles using left turns. The jet hit a mountain killing 146 people.

Results of Language Barriers• In 1990, Colombian Avianca pilots in a holding pattern over

Kennedy Airport told controllers that their 707 was low on fuel. The crew should have stated they had a "fuel emergency," which would have given them immediate clearance to land. Instead, the crew declared a "minimum fuel" condition and the plane ran out of fuel, crashing and killing 72 people.

• In 1993, Chinese pilots flying a U.S.-made MD-80 were attempting to land in northwest China. The pilots were confused by an audio alarm from other system. A cockpit recorder picked up the pilot's last words: "What does 'pull up' mean?"

Results of Language Barriers• In 1995, an American Airlines jet crashed into a mountain in

Colombia after the captain instructed the autopilot to steer towards the wrong beacon. A controller later stated that he suspected from the pilot's communications that the jet was in trouble, but that the controller's English was not sufficient for him to understand and articulate the problem.

• On November 13, 1996, a Saudi Arabian airliner and a Kazakhstan plane collided in mid-air near New Delhi, India. While an investigation is still pending, early indications are that the Kazak pilot may not have been sufficiently fluent in English and was consequently unable to understand an Indian controller giving instructions in English.

Overcoming Barriers

• Use active listening techniques• Require feedback• Use appropriate mode of communication• Use standard terminology

Active Listening Techniques

• Look Interested

• Inquire with questions

• Stay on target

• Test Understanding

• Evaluate the message

• Neutralize your thoughts, feelings an opinions

Communication Skills

Most people don’t want to tell someone off as the don’t like conflict. But in airline, by not telling the

other crew of the potential danger, you might meet an accident.

How you could communicate without creating a conflict?

Communication Skills

1. Opening or attract listener2. State your concern3. State the problem as you see it 4. State a solution 5. Obtain agreement

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Communication Skills

1. Opening or attract listener- Address the individual. "Hey Chief," or "Captain Smith," or "Bob," or whatever name or title will get the person's attention.

2. State your concern - State what you see in a direct manner while owning your emotions about it.

"We're low on fuel," or "I think we might have fire extension into the roof structure."

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Communication Method

3. State the problem as you see it "I don't think we have enough fuel to fly around this

storm system," or "This building has a lightweight steel truss roof. I'm worried that it might collapse."

4. State a solution - "Let's divert to another airport and refuel," or "I think we should pull some tiles and take a look with the thermal imaging camera before we commit crews inside."

5. Obtain agreement - "Does that sound good to you, Captain?"

Case Study

Cockpit voice recorder (CVR) transcript from the 1982 crash of Air Florida Flight 90 B 737 into the Potomac River in Washington, DC.

Pilot failed to abort takeoff

78 people killed

1982 crash of Air Florida Flight 90 B 737• Plane crashed immediately after takeoff in a severe

snowstorm from Washington National Airport.• The pilots failed to switch on the engines' internal ice

protection systems, used reverse thrust in a snow storm prior to takeoff,

• Pilot failed to abort the takeoff even after detecting a power problem while taxiing and visually identifying ice and snow buildup on the wings.

Cockpit Voice recorder (CVR) transcript15:59:51 CAPTAIN: Real cold, real cold.15:59:58 FIRST OFFICER: God, look at that thing. That don't seem right, does it?

Uh, that's not right16:00:09 CAPTAIN: Yes it is, there's eighty16:00:10 FIRST OFFICER: No, I don't think that's right. Ah, maybe it is.16:00:21 CAPTAIN: Hundred and twenty.16:00:23 FIRST OFFICER: I don't know16:00:39 [Sound of stick shaker starts and continues until impact]16:00:41 TOWER: Palm 90 contact departure control.16:00:45 CAPTAIN: Forward, forward, easy. We only want five hundred.16:00:48 CAPTAIN: Come on forward....forward, just barely climb.16:00:59 CAPTAIN: Stalling, we're falling!16:01:00 FIRST OFFICER: Larry, we're going down, Larry....16:01:01 CAPTAIN: I know it.16:01:01 [Sound of impact]

1982 crash of Air Florida Flight 90 B 737• In this example, the First Officer notices that something is

wrong with the engine instruments, but the Captain disregards the F/O's concerns and continues with the takeoff.

• In fact, the F/O addresses the issue of something "not being right" six times, with one of those six almost an acceptance of the problem. The captain, for whatever reason, justified those "things" as being "normal" and did not use any of the conflicting information offered by the F/O.

• What the F/O should have done was voice his concerns in a more assertive fashion (as the message sender, his message was not being received).

• Typically, if something does not look right by the co-pilot, an "abort" callout should be made and the captain should unquestionably abort the takeoff as per the takeoff briefing.

• Would a more assertive F/O have prevented this accident? • Was the F/O's fear of job repercussions a factor in not speaking up

to a superior (and highly experienced) Captain? • Would the captain have even performed an abort procedure if the

F/O were more assertive? We will never know these answers. But in its purest form, there was a lack of communication.

Exercises

• Time is late and your captain is in a hurry to take-off in order to reach home in time to meet the crew day deadline. But the runway visibility is poor due to fog, as you could hardly see 100 feet away.

a)What danger would the aircraft face if your captain take off and

b)How would you communicate with him of this potential danger?

Question

• Why is it that in communication, people always say it is not what you say but how you say it important?

Conclusion

Effective communications among the crews in aviation is a shared responsibility which

makes aviation a whole lot safer.

Shared responsibility

• It’s about responsibility.• It’s about airworthiness.• It’s about safety.• It‘s about professionalism.• It’s makes aviation work by holding to a standard.