On the surface, safety issues that subject matter experts explored in April during presentations to the airline pilot–track audience of the World Aviation Training Conference and Tradeshow (WATS 2014) lacked a common theme. Their proposed enhancements ranged from turning away first officer applicants who lack multi-crew flight experience to requiring flight simulator instructors to spend time in air traffic control (ATC) facilities.
Yet comparing the presentations shows that — while respectful of many past risk-reduction achievements in commercial air transport — the experts did not hesitate to call for industry stakeholders to relinquish any belief, practice or cultural norm when today’s best evidence proves an increased risk or obsolescence.
Upgrading CRM
Jim Green, a captain and professor of aviation science at Utah Valley University, has observed a trend toward less airline emphasis on crew resource management (CRM) — perhaps because airline flying overall i…
