Why not examine flightcrew interaction to determine how many times
and why the flying crewmember failed to heed the warnings of the nonflying
crewmember and thence proceeded to bash the airplane. Study might reflect
whether there was a difference between Capt. and FO positions, age, or
other relational factors. Since most accidents are on landings or takeoffs,
i would study those areas with emphasis on the landings and aborted
takeoffs, where judgements come into play. What could be done to improve
the past record.
Another area might be crew alertness on long distance flights and
how CRM might be used to enhance this and avoid mistakes which lead to
accidents. Tracking all the past incidents and accidents related to this
might be involved.
One topic which has always raised a heated discussion over the years
has been when should the nonflying crewmember take over the airplane control
from the flying crewmember. This has several facets of interest, such as
why don't some Capts take control quickly when they see the FO screwing up?
There would seem to be a tendency toward allowing the flying member to dig
himself out of trouble with minor assistance or in some cases none, while
the other crewmember knows things are going bad. Accidents to analyse this
will have to be dug up out of the records.
As we have seen recently, the relationship between the flightcrew
and the cabin crew is also important to the completion of the mission.
There are many really fruitful areas in this relationship that could be
studied with recommendations for improvements. There are accidents related
to this topic that could be researched if your ears are not too tender.
This is a current area of interest for most airlines and I am sure that some
good research has already been accomplished in some of the areas.
And, if you want to take on some real meaty stuff, you could always
examine the CRM interface between engineer designers and the
flightcrews/cabin crews. How much do the engineers know about the flying
crew duties and requirements and how do they become aware of the needs that
their equipment should meet? How do they exchange ideas? What could be
done to make things better leading to improved safety records? There should
be plenty of accident analysis available to support some thoughts on this.
:) Have a good time!
Reid Fairburn
Creative Kingdom, Inc.
cr_king_at_seanet.com
253-946-9455/4815