Last week was a CRM week. I was immersed in a Crew Resource Management course for aspiring facilitators with three full days dedicated to talking, listening, and learning about flying, human factors, and facilitation. Learning from the experiences of others is a lot of what human factors training is about. You don’t do that withoutContinueContinue reading “Don’t neglect your CRM: The value of telling stories”
Category Archives: 2020
Flying SAR in the sunshine: What’s not to like?!
From the Atlantic to the Mediterranean: The Weather. Learning to adjust. And just learning. On moving to Valencia last year to try my hand at flying a Search and Rescue helicopter in Spain, the predominantly anti-cyclonic picture of Spain’s Mediterranean-facing east coast presented an entirely new meteorological situation to me. “SAR in the sunshine, what’sContinueContinue reading “Flying SAR in the sunshine: What’s not to like?!”
Is Human Factors in aviation at a crossroads?
Now seems like a good time to look beyond the dark prism of the current COVID-induced crisis in aviation to consider a future beyond the mire. The Chartered Institute of Ergonomics and Human Factors (CIEHF) recently published a White Paper called “The Human Dimension in Tomorrow’s Aviation System”. It’s made up of a series ofContinueContinue reading “Is Human Factors in aviation at a crossroads?”
Can you learn to deal with the unexpected & unpredictable?
Cognitive Readiness in Search and Rescue operations: What is it? Do you have it? How do you get it? There’s a problem with training to learn to deal with the unexpected: we simply don’t know in advance what the objectives of any training or instruction should be. If you haven’t come across it already, CognitiveContinueContinue reading “Can you learn to deal with the unexpected & unpredictable?”
Can a fatal accident provide proof that CRM training does save lives?
On July the 4th last year an AW139 departing from Big Grand Cay in the Bahamas at night hit the water shortly after take off killing all on board. The US National Transport Safety Board (NTSB) has just released the transcript from the cockpit voice recorder carried on board. Perhaps the most shocking part ofContinueContinue reading “Can a fatal accident provide proof that CRM training does save lives?”
Full Crew Flight Monitoring: mitigating the unique hazards in HEMS operations.
EASA’s Annual Safety Recommendations Review 2019 has identified HEMS as one of its key safety topics noting that, “EASA has received several Safety Recommendations over the last years related to this topic.” before going on to comment that, “There are several unique hazards faced by Helicopter Emergency Medical Services (HEMS) operations. The time pressure, planning challengesContinueContinue reading “Full Crew Flight Monitoring: mitigating the unique hazards in HEMS operations.”
Decision Making in a complex environment: The role of experience, intuition, and the contribution of team behaviours.
What is a complex environment? Put simply, a complex environment is a system or situation that has too many elements and relationships to understand in simple analytical or logical ways. It is a landscape with multiple and diverse connections, and dynamic and interdependent relationships, events, and processes. While there may be trends and patterns, theyContinueContinue reading “Decision Making in a complex environment: The role of experience, intuition, and the contribution of team behaviours.”
Crew Resource Management for Search and Rescue Operations.
It’s a personal opinion, but I think that one of the most enduring fallacies of Search and Rescue, (and one that SAR practitioners worldwide are unlikely to be working hard to shake off!), is that it is somehow an elite branch of the helicopter world that requires a higher level of skill or ability thanContinueContinue reading “Crew Resource Management for Search and Rescue Operations.”
Flattening the gradient
What former US Navy Captain and leadership guru David Marquet can teach us about managing power gradient. The premise of David Marquet’s book Leadership is Language, (For more on Marquet click to his website) is that the deliberate and self aware choice of language in how we communicate within teams can transform the way we communicateContinueContinue reading “Flattening the gradient”
The Chimp, the Virus, and the Helicopter:
Coping with confinement and COVID-19 induced stress. What is the link between a chimp and a helicopter?… apart from the fact that every instructor you ever had told you that any monkey can be taught to fly one! In his best-selling book The Chimp Paradox, Professor Steve Peters (click for further information) describes a sevenContinueContinue reading “The Chimp, the Virus, and the Helicopter:”
Crew Resource Management: Is it time to rethink our approach?
Let’s not beat around the bush, Crew Resource Management has an image problem. For many, CRM training means little more than a day in the classroom which generally inspires at best a resigned ambivalence. CRM has an image problem… Perhaps, there has been a failure to attempt to define CRM for what it really is.ContinueContinue reading “Crew Resource Management: Is it time to rethink our approach?”
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