Thank you from a different perspective

RBarnesAZ_at_aol.com
Sun, 6 Oct 1996 13:02:29 -0400


Every day for the past few weeks I've looked forward to new messages from
crm-devel. I'm an engineer (aerospace), instructor pilot (ex-USAF), and
independent project manager (certification flight test). My activities lie
in that niche between all the good work that is being done by the aviation
research community and the operational world of the airlines--certification
flight test.

The principles of CRM and even CRM training are very important in my
activities. And, this month's conversation re Loft Debriefing is directly
applicable to the types of debriefings we encourage during human factors
flight test activities.

Since we are sharing reference books, you might want to add another one to
the list: "Human Factors Certification of Advanced Aviation Technologies"
edited by John Wise (wise_at_db.erau.edu). One paper in this book ("Aviation
System Certification: Challenges and Opportunities") by Mica Endsley
(mica_at_mit.edu) provides a relatively brief but fundamental foundation for the
topic. And, one paragraph in particular should be of interest to operational
CRM folks:

"The acceptablility of a given system design configuration cannot be
adequately assessed in a vacuum. Certification must ultimately take into
account how the system as a whole is used, how various components interact
with each other in producing the system's performance, and who is using it.
This requires that a complete understanding of the proposed (and possible)
uses of the system be determined." (Endsley)

Thanks again for the extremely helpful discussion these past few weeks. I
hope that I can contribute my share in the future.

Regards, Bob Barnes (RBarnesAZ_at_aol.com)