SO, WHO SHOULD DO CRM? BY CHARLIE MARAIS

So, all of a sudden we want to take flight safety seriously…

Well, if you thought that we were serious all along, then tell me, why is it that we still do not have plans in place to enforce attitude training, compliance to legislation, or have proper legislation in place? Or maybe the biggest question then is, why do we not apply what we know is good and solid judgement practice in the first place?

Lately I hear that we are very worried about GA (General Aviation) and that flying training, and thus by implication flying training institutions, are to blame. Why are so many people new victims of old accidents and why do we have “Black Octobers” or for that matter “black” any month, where so many individuals die due to poor judgement? I do not confess to have the entire answer to these questions, I feel just like you; however, I do believe that a part of the answer is to get “Single Crew Resource Management” on the go.

I spend most of my days lecturing the good news of aviation safety. I spend hours trying to change peoples’ mind-sets concerning what is good “rules of thumb”. I cover issues such as, ‘What is our blue print model for judgement error and thus the avoidance thereof? What is our natural instinct and what is the antidote? What, what, what……?’

The personal moment of truth is every time one of my friends; students, ex-students, colleagues or any aviator loses his life or just messes up due to poor judgement. I tend to take it personally. I will easily sulk for a week; either because there was a gap in the individual’s training, or that he was clearly not following the rules, thus a short-fall in his mind-set. This happens all the time, and most of the ones we lose are not even from my camp, but I feel responsible anyway.

OK, I know I cannot be responsible for the lot, but maybe I can help to make more people aware of the real deal. What is the real deal you may ask? Let me explain it this way, the truth is that when I am dead, yes dead, you will probably remember me for a week if I am lucky and then sporadically mention my name or bring me up in casual conversation. Life will carry on as normal and my demise will not necessarily change the way you act or react. Quite frankly, my passing on will have little or no effect on you. But, to my family, my friends and my colleagues there will be a huge gap. Especially concerning my family. So, to be short and to the point, staying alive is not done for myself, it is primarily done for my family and those close to me that will experience the void I leave behind. So, stay alive for them, this is your duty, this is the real deal.

Man, don’t you hate it when someone mucks it up and then they change the rules just to spoil your fun? This makes me think back to years ago when I was flying for the Harvard aerobatic team. One of the solo manoeuvres was a “negative Humpty Bump”. I always wondered if that was the real name for the negative “g” pushover at the top of a near stall turn… Anyway, if you do this thing wrong many more things can go wrong. Not a problem though. That is of course if you understand the basics of aerobatics and oh yes! – you need some height to recover too. That last little bit is especially important when you start your training and exploration of your capability within the aeroplanes’ flight envelope. Well, some guys at the time, down in Langebaan Weg, tried this low level in an Impala and lost it big time. They ejected, landed safely with their parachutes, but the aircraft was destroyed. The end result was that all similar manoeuvres in the SAAF were then prohibited.

We were seriously unhappy cowboys, because this was part of our aerobatics show and it was a successful show! But, when the authorities say no, there is no way around it. Quite frankly, this p***** me off, sorry Ladies, but if they carry on like this, we would have to give up flying entirely, because I have known guys that mess up straight and level, let alone during aerobatics!

So yes, I do believe we need better procedures should the old ones prove to be poor, but to stop them completely would be a dead end in itself. So, we will not stop flying, but we need to understand that there are many proven ways to die. Just as a “rule of thumb” tells you the undeniable facts of the process to follow towards success, it also reveals the very opposite should you not adhere to it. By doing so, you open your ribcage and expose yourself to the serious, negative consequences. Oh yes, and by the way, if you get away with it this time, there is no guarantee that you will get away with it next time or every time.

This is the way I see it. All good rules have been proven through the loss of life, to be true facts. Shortcuts will always give you some rope, but remember that that rope is to hang yourself with and not to bask in your own misguided genius. Aviation rules are written in blood, but we forget so quickly and we are so blind to our own shortcomings. No wonder we think immortality and water walking are normal human traits. No guys, it is not “if”, but “when” the sub-standard practice will bite you, because it will.

In Genesis the Bible speaks of “seed, time and harvest”, and how it will forever apply to us. Good seed invested/sown renders a good harvest over time, and bad practice over time leads to bad results. That is undeniably part of creation. I think you have seen this in action many times, so why is it that we preach the correct way and then do the opposite? If I ever discover a single and quick solution for this one, I would be remembered for eternity. That would be cool, but I would still be dead.

I guess I should explain why everyone should complete the CRM course. Crew Resource Management does not only mean the management of the crew as a resource, but actually the management of all resources by the crew. Note that if you should list the resources, other crew members would only be one of the twenty or thirty resources available to a crew to aid in decision making.

On the other hand the singular form of crew is crew. It’s like sheep, but preferably not in the ability of decision making, just in comparison to the plural form. So what is the difference then between single and multi-crew resource management. Single crew still has all the other resources, other than the obvious, which is that he/she will not have other crew at hand in the cockpit. This in turn means that there would be no team and thus no teamwork in the aircraft or on the flight deck. This would mean that the concept of synergy is lost and synergetic decision making is always better than mono or singular source decision making. There is no one to check if you miss the point or if you make mistakes. No one can stop you when you feather the wrong engine!

It’s like we think that all accidents are avoidable. Ooh, now I have done it for sure, because all accidents are avoidable, or so all the safety books say that I propagate on a daily basis. If you were God yes, but otherwise I am sorry to inform you that mere mortals will make mistakes. We acknowledge this and it is from this assumption that we should plan our counter strategy. So, we would like and we believe, that all accidents have a human interface and that if we get it right somehow for everyone to do everything right all the time, we will stop accidents. Tall order if you ask me. Now we must tackle design. Have you heard of the “quest for zero defect”? Well, it’s a quest, it has not been perfected. So, we will always sit with design error and design limitations. For us to survive we need to understand two basic points of departure. Firstly, we need to know how to utilise our equipment with its design limitations, and secondly we need to understand how to react when they fail. Either way it depends on the following. Firstly, how expansive our knowledge is, secondly, how well we are skilled, and thirdly how well we stick to standard operating procedures (SOP’s). The last refers to our attitude towards a specific issue or situation facing us. It also has reference to how much we believe in what is palmed off as ‘good practice’ and then stick to it. A gap in any of the training of the three issues; knowledge, skills and attitude, yes attitude must be trained, will set you up for failure.

I recently made a study of CFIT (controlled flight into terrain) where there were no mechanical or procedural shortcomings. At least the ten accidents I chose, all from the NTSB (National Transport Safety Board), were just the homogenised sources I needed. By no means do I say that my research is so scientific that it is gospel, only that through it I will be able to defend this finding a little more than by speculating. In my research I found the following; the contribution towards the accidents or the percentage of accidents caused by poor skills was 6%, lack of knowledge was 19%, attitude or ill discipline was 25%, and human design, an astounding, 50%.

Now put that in your pipe and smoke it! Yes, we are human after all, despite all the training! So, sometimes the situation is bigger than us, the problem so complex or our awareness so limited, that we simply cannot use our knowledge, skills and good discipline to save the day. I got a serious fright when I saw this. Does this mean that 50% of the time we are just along for the ride? Probably, but if you know your human limitations, your human factors, and your non-water walking capability, then you could occasionally avoid the corner from which you cannot fly your way out of.
Take low flying over a water mass for example. Just one distraction and this exhilaration will end in tragedy. Please, do not go and try this to prove me wrong, rather respect those who have proved this right by losing their lives. What makes you all of a sudden more fancy than all those proving this to be a pure statement? Why act that after 100 years of flight history before you, that all of a sudden an aviation genius is born in you and you discover this new and shorter, easier way of doing the job. Sorry Bob, many have felt the same way before you and some only felt like that for a very short while. Your design or blue print simply does not allow for this high or extreme dynamic situation to be negotiated endlessly without fail.

Before you think that I think I have got it right. On the contrary, I have so many T-shirts in the flying game and quite frankly I was outright lucky. No, I am not some kind of spoil sport, I really was lucky, and now I am trying to let the others see the light, but boy, what a mission!

Right, so most accidents are caused because we are not capable of handling it through our judgement capabilities. There are many reasons; such as situational awareness, emotional state of mind, knowledge of man, machine, medium, mission and management, and many more. But very few accidents are caused due to our inability to fly.

So every time someone says that the training must be ‘better’ I beg to understand the definition and what training they mean exactly. Motorised skills have been proven to be only responsible for as few as 6% of accidents. OK, you can even make it 10%, but now you are stretching it away from our real shortcomings. This is our ability to generalise and sound clever at the same time. But the fact of the matter is, that if you have no idea, ask someone who does, otherwise you complicate the corrective strategy. That is if we have one!

Now we know that all the book knowledge will not be enough if we cannot couple it with the practical environment. We need to learn how to make decisions and we need to learn how to obey orders! An SOP is an order. Obey and live, do not obey and do not live. Simple? Probably not, but it is a start. Remember that when under stress or pressure, you will default back to the strongest instinct, or strongest trained response. But we only train for emergencies every two years for a PPL, and as it is they only fly now and then, and then when the engine fails, where has the subconscious auto-response gone?

So in short, who needs to get all this exposure as to what causes accidents and learn how we tick and how to avoid the tight corners? Naturally – everyone who occupies a space in the sky. We all share the same space. Some are carefully directed and nursed, like the airlines, and others must make due by themselves (game pilots etc). Then there are others who seize the moment (weekend sport enthusiasts and once a month farmer pilots), some who hang on parachutes and others on triangular pieces of cloth. They all need to hear the story, they all need to understand the human dilemma, and they all need to become part of Crew Resource Management.

How do we do this? Simple:
a. CRM certificate must accompany every licence renewal before issue will take place.
b. Only accredited and verified CRM presenters with the correct background and schooling as well as validation may present.
c. Presentations will be strictly monitored and form part of the oversight program.
Then after all is said and done, it will cost you money, so demand a good input and become serious about what is important – your family!