Crew Resource Management

Disclaimer: This lesson diverges significantly from what is covered in the Rotorcraft Flying Handbook, and is based on an HAI Educational Course (Flying in the Wire and Obstruction Environment). The basic text for this, and any modifications to it, may not be consistent with formal training in CRM concepts.

Definitions

Crew Resource Management (CRM) is the use of all available resources, skills, and experience to provide the information necessary to make flight critical decisions.

Objective(s)

Understand how CRM applies to the helicopter flight training environment.

Description

1. Understanding CRM
2. Defining the crew in flight training
3. Crew responsibility
4. CRM tools
5. In-flight communications
6. CRM for students

Instructional aids

None specified

Content

Explaining CRM

• See the definition in the RFM (p 14-2). Basically it’s making use of all resources that are available to the pilot to ensure the safe completion of the flight.
  • Human resources include the skills, knowledge, and experience of the pilot, copilot/CFI, passengers, ATC, FSS specialists, pilots in other aircraft, etc.
  • Hardware resources include the helicopter and it’s equipment, and all the equipment available to you through the human resources.
  • Informational resources include all of your pre-flight planning, the performance data in the helicopter POH, situational awareness during your flight, any information you can get from your human resources, and your knowledge and experience.
  • What’s available is limited only to your knowledge (eg, how do you contact the nearest FSS) and your creativity.
  • Safe completion of the flight, not the mission or the lesson. Sometimes applying CRM means ending a flight prematurely.
• Critical elements of CRM: Recognize the hazard, Communicate it promptly, and React appropriately.
• CRM is a formal and mandatory process where the crew communicates flight critical information promptly. For example:
  • Positive exchange of aircraft controls between student and CFI: “I have the controls, you have the controls, I have the controls.”
  • Communications on the CTAF: “Municipal Airport Traffic, Helicopter One Alpha Bravo, 5 miles west, 2500 feet, inbound for landing, Municipal Airport.”
  • Communications between crew members: “Wires 2 o’clock. I have the wires.”
  • For general safety information, you should have a formal process. How would you, as a student, communicate to your instructor that you spotted an airplane that was on a collision course with your helicopter and closing quickly? (see here for suggestions.)

For CRM to work, it must be ACCEPTED and EXPECTED.

• The crew must accept that CRM procedures are a good idea, and what the procedures should be.
• The crew must have a standing procedure for communicating during the flight, or they must brief that procedure before the flight (except for positive exchange of aircraft controls, most flight schools will not have this).
• Crew members must expect all members to be responsible for participating in the CRM structure, and the PIC is expected to respond to crew’s flight-critical communications.
• Possible failures at the Acceptance level include: an instructor that dismisses CRM procedures as stupid or too formal; instructors who don’t view flight training as a real job; crews who do not discuss communication procedures or have standing procedures in place; crews who do not brief passengers/clients on their role in the CRM structure (eg, “Tell me immediately if you see another aircraft that’s getting too close; I might not have seen it.”); not maintaining professionalism in the cockpit.
• Possible failures at the Expected level can mostly be avoided by Acceptance. If CRM communications are Accepted, the PIC is more likely to respond to a communication than if they aren’t. For example, the pilot-ATC role is accepted. “Traffic 2 o’clock. Descend and turn right!” from ATC will elicit an effective response from the pilot; if CRM is not accepted or expected, the same communication from a student might just result in confusion. When CRM procedures are not expected, the critical communications may be delayed, may be ineffective or subtle (“Heh, guess sitting on the beach catching some rays is out of the question.” vs “Our visibility getting worse. Let’s turn around now.”), may come as a surprise to the pilot, or the pilot may not feel obligated to react to it.

Defining the Flight Crew

In-flight Communications

• When concerns or challenges are verbalized, ensure that they are acknowledged: (“Do you have the helicopter traffic, 2 o’clock, 3 miles and climbing?” “I have the traffic.”)
• When a crew member asks a question, an answer is expected.
• Use sterile cockpit procedures during critical phases of flight. This includes not giving or accepting a critique of a maneuver while setting up for another.
• Be assertive when necessary, and use the challenge and command method as appropriate.

CRM for Students

• Demo rides set a lot of bad precedents. Usually you chatter during the entire flight. You’re overwhelmed with the controls and the excitement of it all. You are looking to the instructor to ensure the safety of the flight. That habit needs to be broken after your demo flight.
• Ask your instructor about sterile cockpit procedures. Usually the chatter starts once the engine is running, and continues during taxi, take off, and through the pattern. These are all critical phases of flight where a missed communication or a distraction can result in an incident.
• Accept instruction and criticism for flight maneuvers only when it is safe and efficient to receive it. This means a full pre-flight briefing (not 5 minutes on the ramp) and a full post-flight debriefing (not while you’re walking back to the hangar). During a lesson, this might mean setting the aircraft down. Consider the quality of the critique you’re getting if the instructor is flying while delivering the critique, and your ability to make good use of that critique while in the cockpit.
• Establish a procedure for CRM with your instructor that gives you authority in the cockpit. For me, I would verbalize my concern (“Airplane turning onto our taxiway.”) and state my action (“Making a go-around.”). My instructor might provide feedback (“Okay. I woulda just landed at the next intersection, but a go-around is fine.”) or would take the controls. This needs to be something that you discuss with your instructor, maybe several times during your training. You don’t wan’t to be constantly deferring to your instructor (“Airplane on the taxiway. Should I go-around?”), but you also need to set up a procedure that ensures that he is comfortable with you exercising authority over the flight.
• You have the responsibility to terminate a maneuver or a flight. Your instructor should respect you enough to act on your concerns. You can always discuss the decision back at the airport.
• Set a plan for every flight and stick to it. If you complete the plan and have time left over, go back to the ramp. If you have to change plans in flight, your alert level should go up a notch. Going out to “Just practice some maneuvers” is inefficient and can set you up for problems (like not having TFRs and NOTAMS for an unanticipated flight out of the pattern).
• Acknowledge instructions just like you’d acknowledge ATC communications. If your instructor tells you to “Climb up to 3000 feet and let’s set up for another auto,” you should reply “Climb to 3000.”

Real-life advice and experience

httpv://www.youtube.com/watch?v=xT0uc5m9bFk

Additional resources

• Scenario 1: In this case, saying “Do you have the airplane?” isn’t going to be effective. “Airplane, 3 o’clock and closing!” or “Airplane, 3 o’clock and closing! Descend now!” would be more appropriate.
• The FAA has done a disservice to the value of CRM by placing it in Chapter 14 of the RFM. Some CRM lessons are integrated early in training (positive exchange of controls, if the instructor accepts the “I have/You have/I have” routine is one good example), but others are never formally discussed. Without getting CRM concepts out into the open and providing early, formal training, the student goes through most of his initial flight training in a position where he doesn’t have responsibility for the safety of the flight, but may only occasionally be given that authority. First, this weakens the concept of crew responsibility, and second, it excludes limits the opportunities where the student can make flight-critical decisions. In my case, ADM/CRM was a hurried stage 4 ground lesson that was just one more lesson to get signed off on so I could take my check ride. Yeah, the chief pilot said it was important, but I was 95% through my training by then. For CRM to be truly integrated into a pilot’s training, it should be one of the initial lessons, so that the principles can be applied from the earliest flights and throughout PPL training.
• More than you ever wanted to know about Situational Awareness, from the USCG. Take a look at the 2-Challenge Rule.