I write a Human Factors article for our quarterly Pilot Safety
magazine here at Southwest Airlines. I am working on the topic of
Captain/First Officer interaction. Is anyone familiar with any research
that has been done on the Captain's effect on the First Officer's
performance? The perfect study I seek would have FO subjects trying to
complete normal flight profile tasks. The Captains would be research aids
assisting the FOs either supportively, neutrally, or negatively. The study
would then measure the FO's performance objectively.
Common sense and experience dictate that the supportive Captain
would improve the FO's performance and the negative Captain would hurt the
FO's performance. I would appreciate anything you can offer in this area.
-Steve Swauger