In mid-September, 1997, an unusual meeting took place in an unimposing
building on Kirtland Air Force Base on the south edge of Albuquerque, New
Mexico. The people who met were research psychologists, aircrew instructors,
CRM courseware developers, and instructional system designers (after this
known as the Team). Their purpose was to convert research data to CRM
courseware. They were to establish a baseline for CRM related products
(courseware, checklists, training guides, etc.) for the MC-130P training
program at Kirtland. They were also to define the attitudes, skills, and
knowledge required for crewmembers to be effective in the combat employment
of the MC-130P and in the larger tactical team.
The research data from the study of MC-130P crew processes and performance
during combat mission training indicated that there were aircrew skills and
behaviors in the CRM regime that had a direct, positive, and measurable
influence on mission performance. The researchers concluded that CRM training
currently offered could be improved in instructional strategies, training
content, and mission preparation. Their study provided a solid foundation for
enhanced MC-130P training, both technical and CRM. They defined tactically
relevant CRM processes, identified characteristics of effective and
ineffective aircrews, and developed and validated a CRM metric system. The
work also reinforced the concept that the technical and CRM training in a
combat weapon system are inseparable.
NOTE: The Reports of the study are included in the Proceedings of the
Eighteenth I/ITSEC (Interservice/Industry Training, Simulation, Education
Conference) and are to be included in the forthcoming Proceeding of the Ninth
International Symposium on Aviation Psychology and in the Nineteenth I/ITSEC.
The Team started with several assumptions that aided in the focus of the
effort. They agreed that there could be a new type of CRM course, focusing on
the skills and behaviors noted in the research, that could improve aircrew
mission performance. Any such "new" course would have to comply with current
Air Force guidance on CRM training, i.e., Air Force Instruction (AFI 36-
2243). Additionally, as several members were familiar with the direction of
the proposed changes to that directive, an effort would be made to meet those
requirements also.
It was assumed that the new AFI would mandate a CRM core curriculum as a
part of the Air Force aircrew training spectrum. The core would include
academic, simulator, and flight training in undergraduate, Flying Training
Unit (FTU), advanced or combat mission specific, and refresher training. Such
a program would have to meet current or reduced time and fiscal constraints
if Air Force training managers were to approve it. The Team assumed that the
new CRM AFI would require that all aircrew instructors, contract and Air
Force, ground and flight, be CRM trained.
The new courseware would "pick up" where previous training "left off".
Primary or initial CRM training would be conducted in undergraduate flight
training. "Basic" CRM training would be conducted in the Flying Training
Units (FTU) and deal with the general or generic weapon system issues. An
advanced CRM course, to be developed by the Team, would be taught in the
mission qualification portion of the FTU program and deal with the combat
employment of the weapon system.
The Team also assumed that a new, enhanced CRM course could be developed
based on the results of the MC-130P research data. They reasoned that the
research methodology and courseware that they developed could form a template
for similar action in other weapon system training programs.
With their assumptions in hand, the Team laid out the project before them.
First they reviewed the CRM training that the MC-130P crews were currently
receiving to define the links that would connect the new courseware to the
old. There was a consensus that there would be no repetition of the earlier
course other than that necessary to introduce the new. In the introductory
academic portion of the course the new concept of mission-focused CRM
training would be introduced. Some CRM language changes might take place
because of the new material or mission. The final introductory effort would
be the description of the complete integration of CRM elements in the
technical training program. CRM skills are observable and measureable and
they would be observed and measured as a part of the training.
The new program would focus on the application of the CRM skills in the
combat mission. They would be presented in a seminar format and in a mission
phases sequence. That is, the student would concentrate first on mission
planning, then on low level, then on air refueling, rescue, aerial refueling,
and infiltration and exfiltration. The new CRM academic course, like the old,
would be no longer that 14 classroom hours.
Training objectives will be written in terms that reflect desired behaviors
in follow-on simulator and flight training and then on actual missions.
Objectives such as "recall from memory the categories of CRM" or "define SA"
will not be included unless such recall or definition is a combat crew
requirement. All CRM training objectives will relate directly to the combat
employment of the MC-130P weapon system. The goal of the course is to provide
the crew with tools that enable them to work together as an effective combat
team and as part of the larger tactical team.
Three major sources will be used to generate course content: results of the
research study, flight and ground aircrew instructor and evaluator expertise,
and relevant accident and incident reports. Each source will provide
information that is not available from the other two. Team building exercises
using actual aircrew experiences will be used to cement the desired
behaviors.
All instructors, ground and flight, in the program will be trained in the
basic CRM program and how to provide consistent CRM instruction during the
technical training. Part of the instructor training will be about what to
expect from students, how to provide relevant feedback, and how and when to
debrief student performance. Students will also be trained in crew debriefing
for technical and CRM issues.
Part of the Team was separated from the group for two days to distill the
researchers data to a usable form for the ISD people. There is probably about
a week's worth of work yet to be done in that area. Then the Team can begin
to write the course and lesson learning objectives (All you ISD people out
there forgive my mangling of your language here, but I am not an ISD guy yet.
I'm trying, but every time I get ahead someone pops another ISD secret
handshake or code on me.).
That about wraps up our week in the desert. It was exciting, challenging, and
very satisfying. I remember sitting in a room in a hotel basement in Columbus
several years ago listening to Neil and Vince lamenting over the distance
between research and the development of usable courseware. We are not there
yet, but this effort is on the right track. Hopefully, when we do finish, we
can codify what we have learned and provide a "How To" on avoiding the
pitfalls we fell into and capitalizing on our success, which we hopefully
will have.
An old cowboy once told me, "You cannot feed a horse a 500lb. bail of hay all
at once. He has to eat it one bite at a time." Hopefully, this one week in
Albuquerque was a first bite on connecting researchers to the development of
usable CRM products.
Hope this hits a positive note out there in CRM Land.
Dave Wilson
HTI