Pilots flight deck baheviour to come under scrutiny
Last week, an NTSB meeting was held to highlight the dangers of unprofessional behaviour of some pilots and air traffic controllers.
The public forum was designed by FAA accident investigators to include pilots, air traffic controllers and even Union leaders in an attempt to change culture instead of new rules and regulations.
There is no easy fix to this situation but a fix is clearly necessary judging by the number of incidents in recent months. The hearings will touch on some of the most high profile occurrences of poor attitude such as flight deck crew conversing when the cockpit should be sterile, fatigued crew operating serviceable aircraft incorrectly and an air traffic controller allowing his child to issue instructions.
There will be speakers present from academia, industry and government in the hope that some ideas can be generated for solving the problem. The NTSB and FAA have already enforced some changes to rules governing pilot selection and experience requirements in the USA. The FAA is also encouraging more voluntary reporting of mistakes.
The FAA want to explore in more detail what pilots, on their own, can do to ensure the highest standards of safety are maintained. The Authority's chief, Randy Babbit, said last month that organisations must create "an environment where professionalism is fostered."
Distractions in the cockpit have been discussed as contributing factors in a number of recent incidents. Pilot Union officials continue to stress the importance of maintaining a sterile cockpit during critical phases of flight. However, this is difficult to enforce, especially with the increasing number of distractions in the modern glass cockpit.
Any non-essential conversation should be stopped during critical phases of flight, however enforcing this is down to the pilots themselves and particularly the captain. It has been recommended that more courses should be introduced to develop leadership and command skills in newly promoted captains.
The other option, open to the authorities, for enforcing pilot behaviour would be placing video camera's within cockpits. This is happening in Russia but has faced opposition else where. There is also the question of whether these recordings would ever be reviewed, except in the event of an incident.
It is possible for the authorities to enforce rule changes and use new technologies to monitor the flight deck crew. However, there will still need to be some change to the culture in the workplace. The onus at present falls to the airlines and pilots themselves.
Source: The Wall Street Journal
