Crew resource management (CRM) training should be expanded to include assertiveness training for first officers, the U.S. National Transportation Safety Board (NTSB) says, citing a 2009 crash in which the first officer did not press the captain on his decision to continue an approach even as they struggled with problems associated with asymmetric flaps.
The NTSB’s safety recommendation to the U.S. Federal Aviation Administration (FAA) called on the FAA to “require that role-playing or simulator-based exercises that teach first officers to assertively voice their concerns and that teach captains to develop a leadership style that supports first officer assertiveness be included as part of the already-required crew resource management training” for pilots in U.S. Federal Aviation Regulations (FARs) Part 121, 135 and 91 Subpart K operations.1
The accident occurred about 0437 local time on Jan. 27, 2009, when an Empire Airlines Avions de Transport Régional Alenia ATR 42…
