Are Crews Empowered With All the Resources Needed to Successfully Address an Inflight Emergency? Checklists, a Necessary but Insufficient Tool

Abstract

Although safety in aviation has increased exponentially in recent decades, sadly, plane crashes will always be associated with the operation of the aviation world. The efforts should be directed towards the pursuit of “zero accidents”, providing aircrews with the necessary resources to minimize risks. One of the most important flight operation resources used in aviation is the checklist. However, when faced with an emergency, the crew cannot always make use of them, either because the huge diversity of potential emergencies does not allow to collect all of them in these manuals, or because the time available to react is so short that it makes it impossible to utilize them. This paper shows how aircraft checklists are a necessary but insufficient tool to solve complex, unpredictable, and novel emergencies. Furthermore, based on successfully solved critical events, the authors suggest the implementation of specific techniques for the learning and development of problem-solving programs focused on innovation and divergent thinking to decision making, as part of flight training, in order to increase the crews’ capability to face such emergencies.

CRM: Development of Pending Critical Aspects

“…Los eventos que se han presentado anteriormente representan ejemplos claros en los que la actuación de los TCPs fue crítica, tanto para la consecución del éxito, como para la del fracaso, en el desarrollo y gestión de la emergencia aérea. Lo que vuelve a poner de relieve la necesidad de seguir investigando en el ámbito de los factores humanos en la aviación y, más concretamente, en los aspectos directamente relacionados con el entrenamiento (Muñoz-Marrón et al, 2018). Es por ello, que, podemos afirmar sin miedo a equivocarnos que: (1) la formación en CRM debe incluir módulos de trabajo conjuntos para todo el personal de vuelo a bordo de una aeronave, de forma que pilotos, ingenieros, mecánicos de vuelo y tripulantes de cabina de pasajeros conformen una unidad de trabajo indivisible;…”

Flightcrew Procedures Experimental Training: Simulation Testbed Design, Development, & Interactive Demonstration

“…Training in support of procedural knowledge and skills must be effective and varied, particularly to train flightcrews to transfer procedures to non-routine and emergency situations on the flightdeck (e.g., Human Factors & Aviation Safety, 2019), or when workload may cascade such that even experienced flightcrews may lose situation awareness, misapply procedures, or lose control of the aircraft (Elias, 2019; Etherington et al, 2020; Filburn, 2020). Not every situation and necessary procedural response can be predicted or trained for, and time-critical events often impede flightcrews’ ability to consult procedural documentation (Muñoz-Marron et al, 2018). Effective procedures training remains an important part of ensuring safety in flight deck operations; examples of procedures emphasized in recent reports include those related to managing flight deck automation, responding to sensor system failures (e.g., unreliable airspeed indication), resolving unstable approaches, adhering to go-around procedures, and mitigating loss of control in-flight (e.g., Elias, 2019; Etherington et al, 2020; Filburn, 2020).…”