As a psychologist who has worked with the military and with several
airlines, I agree with John Bent's comments as noted above. In spite of the
many myths which abound, our overwhelming experience in Australia, where the
major airlines employ varying percentages of ex-military pilots, is very
similar to that of Cathay (who by the way have many of our ex-military
working for them) .
The ex-military pilots are usually a more standardised commodity than those
from general aviation. As they have been selected by the military, we know
they have certain ability levels to begin with, and they have then passed
through a highly standardised training system, and gained the bulk of their
flying experience within a highly standarised operational environment. As
pointed out by an earlier writer, many military pilots are performing in a
multi-crew environment for the majority of their career in any case. When
involved in airline pilot selection, I have always felt comfortable with
ex-military candidates from the perspective of ability, training, and
standardisation.
Where military-trained pilots do not differ from their civil counterparts is
that they are, despite stereotypes, all individuals, with individual
personalities. Of course, Chuck Yeager may not have made a very successful
airline pilot from a team performance point of view, but I would suggest
that is more to do with his individual personality than the training regimen
which he passed through. We now recognise that good stick and rudder skills
are necessary but not sufficient to make a good AND safe multi crew pilot
(witness Bud Holland and the Fairchild B-52 case study). We are in a de
facto sense also recognising that personality is a most important component
of the make up of a prospective multi-crew or airline pilot.
CRM training is a very effective way of raising awareness of safety issues
and providing skills for improved teamwork and communications, conflict
resolution, etc. However, we all know of "CRM resistant" crew members. Why
are they resistant? In most cases this is to do with personality, and does
not reflect on their training or flying background. All said, the best
place to start to ensure that we have appropriate performance and behaviour
on the flight deck is at the front door of the organisation, by selecting
people with skills appropriate to the job. While their technical
proficiency is vital to the performance of their duties, so are their
attitudes and behaviours, and these stem, again, from personality.
Irrespective of their flying backgrounds, they are individuals, and should
be treated accordingly.
Brent Hayward
Aviation Psychologist
PO Box 217, Albert Park VIC 3206, Australia
Tel: (+61 3) 9690 4258; Fax: (+61 3) 9690 7070;
e-mail: brent_at_melbpc.org.au