[snip]
>
> So here's what you do, Marc. Get the pilots to work out their own 'how
> we should fly as a crew' routines and training. They sit down at a desk,
> ordinary chairs, side-by-side, flight manual open at the 'cockpit' page,
> air route maps, departure and approach plates handy. (Anyone old enough
> to recognize the very first CRM sessions?) By 'flying' mission after
> mission, from pre- to post-flight procedures, no short cuts -- every
> procedure, intercept departure radial, fly the track, let down, good
> weather and bad, etc -- they first work out allocation of duties between
> Pilot Flying (PF) and Pilot Not Flying (PNF), and then, through more
> practice, adjust, re-practise, until they have written their own
> procedures. (A flight manual for a large jet would be a handy reference
> in PF/PNF task allocation routines.) Yep, basic indeed. And if they feel
> a little awkward about the process, a tad embarrassed, then that's good
> practice, too, practice at operating under stress. Shouldn't cost too
> much, either.
>
> Hope this is of use.
>
> Cheers
>
> Doug
>
Hi all:
While I am not certain that an unguided discovery-type learning situation
is the most effective/fastest way to improve the CRM skills, the practice
approach mentioned by Doug Edwards is clearly an extremely important and
effective one.
In our experience, you can improve the effectiveness of this approach even
more if, instead of "just" sitting at the table, you give the pilots a
personal computer with an off-the-shelf flight simulation (game?!)
program, such as Microsoft Flight Simulator. Pick the Learjet or the C182
(what ever is closest to the speed your pilots will fly at/incidentally,
DO NOT try to emulate the exact aircraft your pilots fly), select a city
pair, and, zoom, you have added so much operational realism to the
practice exercise that even the most skeptical pilot comes around and
starts working on his/her CRM skills. And all that at $60 for the
software, $60 for a joystick/yoke (pedals are not required for airplanes,
and probably get in the way), and using any old PC that's probably already
around in your organization.
The beauty of the whole thing (other than cost) is the fact that you can
practice (almost) anywhere, in an office, a classroom, etc. Further, REAL
charts and REAL checklists work with it (you might have to fake a switch
here or there), and the pilots get real time dynamics combined with actual
performance feedback (just look at their faces when they break out at 200
and 1 and the runway is not where they all along thought it would be). As
you can tell, I am enthusiastic about this...
After 10 years of using PC-based simulations in team training research,
development, and training, we firmly believe that these simulations are
extremely effective tools for CRM skills practice, especially if you
cannot spend the money for, or do not have access to full flight sims.
Incidentally, Aer Lingus has been using them, as has the U.S. Navy.
We have a number of papers that we (and others) have published/presented
on this issue. Please do not hesitate to contact me if you want more info
on the use of PC-based simulations and their validity in training research
and administration.
Best regards,
Florian Jentsch, Ph.D.
Research Scientist
Team Performance Lab
University of Central Florida