I bring you a weekly bite-sized chunk of the science behind helicopter human factors and CRM in practice, simplifying the complex and distilling a helicopter related study into a summary of less than 500 words.
TITLE:
Distributed Cognition in Search and Rescue: Loosely coupled tasks and tightly coupled roles.
WHAT?
A study exploring how helicopter SAR crews function as distributed cognitive systems, where decision-making and awareness are shared across individuals, technology, and the environment.
WHEN?
Published in Ergonomics in March 2016.
WHERE?
UK-based SAR helicopter crews.
WHY?
In high-risk helicopter operations, team coordination and communication failures remain a key factor in accidents. Understanding how cognition is distributed across crews can improve training, CRM, and system design, and strengthen resilience in safety-critical operations.
HOW?
17 experienced SAR crew members were observed during operational flights. Data collection combined flight observations, video, and communication transcripts over 12 training flights, covering tasks like winching to vessels and confined area landings.
Communication transcripts were analysed and coded using theoretical models to identify the team and information networks built by the crew for tasks, social roles, and information flow. Models help visualise these networks and analyse key interactions and metrics such as information nodes, density, and cohesion.
FINDINGS:
The models highlighted three types of network: Task Networks showed what was done; Social Networks showed which team members were most connected; and Information Networks demonstrated how these connections manifest as a perceptual cycle of interactions.
- Task networks were found to be structured around standardised, sequential checks and procedures (briefings, transitions, winching) with some flexibility for safety decisions (e.g., aborting exercises).
- Social networks included a broad SAR system (ATC, Coastguard, vessels, other units) which was loosely coupled (had low density transactions & cohesion); and a second crew network (PF, PNF, WO, WM) which was tightly coupled (had high density and cohesion), reflecting strong interdependence.
- Communication: Dominated by acknowledgements, descriptions, and instructions. Based on quality not quantity which distinguished effective teamwork.
- Cognitive processes: Teams displayed implicit coordination, shared leadership, and compatible (not shared) situation awareness, with workload distributed across members.
SO WHAT?
It is rare in complex socio-technical systems that an operator ever acts entirely alone. We know that team performance is paramount to system safety and team output is usually greater than the sum of the individual parts. However, little is known about mechanisms underlying the cooperative process that enables successful team performance.
The aim of models analysing distributed cognition is to make the complexity of socio-technical systems more explicit so that interactions can be examined, and to reduce this complexity to a manageable level to better understand team dynamics.
The study showed that for helicopter operations (especially SAR, offshore, and HEMS) safety relies on tightly coupled teamwork (pilots, winch crew) and loosely coupled inter-agency coordination (ATC, Coastguard).
Implicit coordination (anticipating without explicit communication) emerges from standardisation and shared experience but may break down in non-routine or degraded scenarios, highlighting the need for cross-training of roles and robust CRM. For example, the winch operator’s role is cognitively critical, acting as the PF’s eyes during low-visibility or obstructed tasks.
The findings support designing training, SOPs, and cockpit technology that enhance distributed cognition, ensuring crews act as a resilient cognitive unit under pressure.
REFERENCE:
Plant, K. L., & Stanton, N. A. (2016). Distributed cognition in search and rescue: Loosely coupled tasks and tightly coupled roles. Ergonomics, 59(10), 1353–1376. https://doi.org/10.1080/00140139.2016.1143531
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