Does CRM Need A New Name?

Air Safety Week, Feb 28, 2005

It would seem incongruous (to some) that an institution is now offering a crew resource management (CRM) course that's designated as a single pilot CRM course. From some of the replies it got, (such as "CRM for single pilots is like doing a multi-engine glider rating"), it appears that many people still regard a CRM course to be all about being nice to each other, and could see little relevance for a single pilot (whether instrument flight rules [IFR] or not). So, should there be such an animal and, if so, what could it offer (besides the apparent titling misnomer)?

A modern CRM course covers much more than cooperation, communication and coordination. It has particular focus on the fact that all humans make errors and that many are prone to making poor or ill-considered decisions. There are tactics that can be taught to offset this characteristic and these are relevant to all aircrews. There are also the solitary aspects of situational awareness (SA) and other human/automation/machine interface limitations. Some might see this, for a single pilot, as being the loneliness of the long distance freightrunner pitted O Solo Mio against the triple tyrannies of weather, distance and fatigue.

But has "CRM" outgrown its name? Is the acronym CRM actually preventing the underlying message getting through to those who need it most?

CRM had already been through a name change in the mid 1980s, from "Cockpit" to "Crew" resource management. This was a natural evolution. CRM for single pilot operations could logically revert then to the original title of Cockpit RM.

CRM has undergone some significant changes (Cockpit, Crew, Corporate) over the last two decades. It even gets confused with Customer Relations Management. The initial efforts by NASA in 1978 were aimed at addressing the large number of accidents where "pilot error" was cited as the overall or paramount cause of the accident. But "pilot error," as we all know, can cover a multitude of sins. It became evident that a lack of communication, workload management, poor leadership, loss of SA, and automation-induced reverie were some of the more significant contributing factors, rather than a lack of technical skills by the pilots. This is why Cockpit Resource Management was developed. It filled a perceived need.

Subsequent efforts and research then indicated that other agencies (maintenance, ramp, ATC, cabin staff, etc.) were also very closely involved within the aviation system and this is where Crew Resource Management was developed to address all teams directly involved in daily flying operations. CRM was complemented by LOFT (Line Oriented Flight Training) where aircrew had the opportunity to operate as a crew under simulated flying conditions (in both normal and emergency situations).

CRM has now been tailored to address human factors in many other industries (nuclear, offshore, medical, maintenance, etc.) where "human error" has had a role to play in the actual incident or accident chain. It is easily argued that any accident will normally have a chain of linked events that create a window of opportunity for the accident to occur.

Efforts by Prof. James Reason (1990) gave rise to the concept of the "Organizational Accident," where various levels of the organization and other regulatory agencies subtly create the atmosphere, pressures, environment and ultimately, culture to promote unsafe acts. This then led to people at the sharp end (functionaries such as pilots, doctors, engineers, etc.) committing unsafe acts or violations of acknowledged sound practices.

Due to this approach to human error within complex systems such as aviation, it is argued that "mistake-making" is inevitable and that all personnel are prone to committing some form of unsafe act that will lead to a serious incident or accident. From this vantage point, fifth generation CRM is now seen as "Error Management" whereby errors are either: 1) Avoided if possible; 2) Identified and trapped; or 3) Consequences of error are mitigated to have a minimal impact on the overall integrity of the system (checks and balances).

There is a sixth generation of CRM. Coined in 1999 -- the concept of "Threat Management" emerged as being an intrinsic part of the job, coupled with the (5th generation) concept of "error" being an ubiquitous cost of humans being involved in the system.

The latest CRM courses are now all about Threat and Error Management (TEM). The "classical" CRM skills -- involving good communication, etc. -- are re-labeled as defenses in the pursuit of Threat ID and Error Management.

For an explanation of this evolution of CRM, see www.iasa.com.au/crm.htm. The quick overview highlights some of the subtle changes of the acronym CRM and what the latter day approach is to managing and living with "human error." Other names: Aeronautical (ADM) or Pilot Decision Making (PDM), Pilot Judgment Training (PJT), Crew Coordination Training (CCT). Some prefer to use the traditional codification of "airmanship." But then again, that was the name of the game way back when Pontius was a Pilot.