Life Lessons From Cockpit

In this lesson from the cockpit I would like to share with you how pilots minimize communication errors in the cockpit.

• Different words mean different things. We interpret words based on our own experiences and sometimes our culture. Take the work “sex” as an example. My interpretation and understanding of the word would definitely be different from yours. There are many other words that could be misinterpreted and therefore to eliminate this during flights, pilots and air traffic controllers use a “standard phraseology” for their communication. What they need to do is to learn them and use them for communication during all phases of the flight.
• Clarify. Besides flying the aircraft, pilots have other responsibilities as well in the cockpit. They have to carry out other tasks such as managing the aircraft systems, monitoring the weather enroute as well as monitoring the enroute charts and maps. During a non-normal situation their workload will be increased further. All the above will have to be accomplished whilst communicating with the air traffic controllers (ATC) and because of the distraction, they could easily misinterpret the ATC instructions. To eliminate miscommunication and misinterpretation of ATC instructions, the procedure calls for both pilots to listen out to the communication and whenever in doubt, they have to clarify with the other pilot as well as with the controllers.
• Good command of English. English is the medium used in aviation. As such it is a requirement for all pilots and air traffic controllers (ATC) to have a good command of the English language. It is now a mandatory requirement for all pilots and controllers to sit for a periodic “aviation English” test. Unsuccessful candidates will have to be retested or to attend a crash course in English before the retest, if required.
• Proper workload management. Normally the pilot who is not manipulating the flight control is responsible for communicating with the controllers and the other pilot monitoring. The pilot tasked with the communicating with the controllers is also responsible for carrying out other tasks to provide support to the flying pilot. As such it is important for the Captain to ensure that the pilot doing the communication is not overly stressed and overloaded with other unrelated tasks.

Witten by Azharuddin Osman

Tags: aircraft, Cockpit, Communication, life lessons, Pilots, workload management

During flight pilots communicate all the time. This goes on until the airplane arrives at the destination, engines shut down and all passengers and crew disembark from the airplane. In fact communication is one of the critical elements, or components of a flight. Studies have shown that a lot of incidents or accidents happened during flights due to a breakdown in communication in the cockpit amongst the pilots as well as miscommunication between pilots and others such as air traffic controllers and engineers.

In our daily life, we too are continuously communicating. It is often said that “we cannot not communicate.” Think about that for a moment. Since we are doing it all the time we become unconscious about it. Yet how many times have we misinterpreted when someone was talking to us or we have been misunderstood when we were talking or saying something to another person.

Oftentimes we underestimate the importance of good communication skills. One can learn to be a good communicator from books or by attending courses. Learning is one thing, we also need to practice this newly learned skill and be aware and be conscious of the response that we get whenever we communicate.

Just how important is good communication in the cockpit? Well, from my own experience I know for sure that it is very, very important. In fact it is crucial for the safety of the flight. Take a typical long haul flight as an example. It flies not only over long periods of time; it also flies across many countries. Although everyone speaks English, however each of them speaks English with a different accent.

Another area that could be of concern is the altitude that an aircraft flies at. Some countries use feet as the unit of measurement whereas some use meters. At most airports the surface wind is reported in knots whereas some other airports report surface wind in meters per second. Apart from the above, different countries could have different air traffic control procedures. All the above could be confusing and if not properly clarified while communicating, it could be a safety hazard.

In my next post I will explain how communication errors are minimized in the cockpit.

Written by Azharuddin Osman

Tags: aircraft, Cockpit, Communication, life lessons, Pilots, workload management

All of us are leaders to some extend and in our own way. We could be a leader at our workplace, a leader at home, a leader in our own neighbourhood or our community. So what is a leader, what are the qualities of a leader, and what do leaders do? How do we see ourselves as a leader?

Perhaps we can learn something from the cockpit discipline at how the commander of the flight, who is the captain, conducts himself during flight, as the team leader in charge of a multi million dollar asset that includes the lives of a few hundred people. The following are some of his roles and responsibilities that I have learned during my years as a captain:

• During flight, the captain is the designated leader. This role is bestowed upon him not only by the company, but also by the regulatory body. He therefore has wide ranging powers.
• He sets the tone for the flight. His crew members will react to his moods and idiosyncrasies. It is therefore important for him to be in a state that fosters teamwork and encourages the crew to be motivated to perform at their best.
• Workload management. Although all his team members have their own roles and responsibilities, the captain will distribute the workload accordingly especially during non-normal situations. He should be able to detect whenever any of his team members is overloaded with tasks.
• Leadership style. A captain will be scheduled to fly with crew members of various experience levels, ranging from a few months experience to a few years. He should therefore be able to use the most suitable leadership style depending on the experience level of his team members. The worst case would be to delegate tasks to an inexperienced crew member or to direct a very experienced crew member.
• Crew members briefing. If his mental state and behaviour sets the tone for the flight, briefing will ensure that all team members are “on the same page.” To work well as a team, it is important for the captain to conduct a briefing. This will address and resolve any differences in expectation amongst crew members. It will also allow crew members to clarify any issues or misunderstandings.
• Debriefing. In the aviation industry, experience is an invaluable asset. It is the captain’s responsibility to ensure that the inexperienced crew members learn something from the flight. Being the most experienced, he could guide them to discover lessons learned from the flight.

Written by Azharuddin Osman

Tags: briefing, Captain, debriefing, flight crew, leader, leadership, lessons from cockpit, non-normal