Flight crew performance is influenced by crew role assignment, and performance appears to suffer when the captain is the pilot flying, according to a study by a team of researchers and pilots in Australia.1
A report on the study, published online in April in Aviation Psychology and Applied Human Factors, said that the researchers found that crew role assignment affects flight monitoring, situational awareness (SA) and decision making. Task loading, the relative expertise of each crewmember, and the status and authority gradient also play a part.
“In particular, task loading and relative expertise may inhibit adequate monitoring performance, while status and authority factors may prevent the PM [pilot monitoring] communicating any observations or concerns,” the report said. “This sets up both pilots to have deficient SA, the foundation upon which decision making is conducted. Flawed decision making then leads to reduced safety margins, further errors, unsaf…
