How would I do it, if I did it? Airmanship & CRM simplified

How would I do it, if I did it? Airmanship & CRM simplified

 

‘Airmanship‘ is one of those intangible yet essential qualities that distinguishes a true pilot from a mere ‘flyer’.

It begins with our earliest experiences in aviation and, when nurtured over a dedicated career, it grows ever stronger.

For some decades, airmanship remained a respected yet awkward term: every pilot knew its importance, but few could articulate and define it, clearly. A  number of seriously sad and fatal aviation accidents through the 1960s and early 1970s brought cockpit management under intense scrutiny.

Regrettably, some of these accident investigations revealed that some incidents stemmed from various autocratic and self-centred attitudes and acts, practised by senior pilots, usually being the captain. If that sounds awful, I can honestly state that, reflecting on my 12-years’ experience in TAA as a F27, DC-9 and B737 First Officer from 1970, there were only 4 captains out of 300 that I preferred not to fly with. Of, course, I did fly with them, and while I learned how to manage their challenging personalities, the point is that I shouldn’t have had to. With little self-awareness, they never knew what they didn’t know; and worse than that, they didn’t want to know. They just had to be told, respectfully, in the right place, at the right time.

Ironically, I probably learned more from those 4 ‘flyers’ about how not to conduct myself as a future captain, than I did from the other 296 captains who were a joy and a privilege to be with, in and out of the flight deck. I remain forever in their debt, especially the last of the former wartime pilots. Thorough gentlemen, each had nothing to prove, having seen and done it all. Yet, they were still self-aware 40 years later, to realise, “We just didn’t know what we didn’t know.” (Captain Reg Eisenhauer – B727 Check Captain – 1981, in response to my innocent question, “What was it like?”.)

The result of this research ultimately led to the recognition that effective and safe flight operations depend not only on the long-acknowledged skills, experience and good looks of the pilot in command, but of the entire technical flight crew and of the highly skilled cabin crew as well.

 

The introduction of ATM and CRM

In the early 1980s, the airlines for which I flew -(Trans-Australia Airlines – TAA, later re-branded in 1986 as Australian Airlines and Qantas Airways) – were early adopters of high quality team-building courses. These were named Aircrew Team Management (ATM) and Cockpit Resource Management (CRM), respectively.

My way of simplifying the vast quantity of training material was to describe CRM as ‘combining ‘common sense with good manners‘.

For what it’s worth, I still remember the TAA ATM memorable problem-solving acronym, S-A-D-I-E (shades of John Farnham’s classic song, “Sadie, the cleaning lady“), to this day. The helped, in no small way, to harness and implement the vast and valuable resources of ALL crew members.

S – Share the information;
A – Analyse the information;
D – Develop a solution;
I – Implement the solution; and
E – Evaluate the result, so far.

And then, if that solution was not successful, repeat the whole checklist, as many times as necessary.

 

My Father’s Influence

My father, Lionel Jacobson, was a remarkable man. When I was born in 1947, he and my wonderful mother, Dossie, were already loving parents of my 2 adolescent siblings.

I mention Dad because he volunteered to serve as a cypher officer in the RAAF, at age 38-years, while establishing a new knitting mill business. He left the fledgling business in the incapable hands of his co-director and served his country for nearly 3 years, until January 1945, returning to recover what remained of his struggling company.

In 1965, at 19-years, I had the privilege and pleasure of working in that ultimately successful business, earning a means to pay for some of my flying lessons, supported by my good fortune in winning a most appreciated Commonwealth Flying Scholarship. That’s when I was able to witness my father’s work ethic and management style. I noticed his unique style of decision making, one that I have applied from aviation to domestic situations, business and community service.

When faced with a difficult business decision, Rather than asking, ‘ Will I or won’t I? ‘, he would instead take some time to consider, ‘HOW would I do it, IF I did it?’

This mindset, like the S-A-D-I-E model, very quickly revealed the most appropriate solution.

Over the years, I’ve come to appreciate how valuable this tool is, especially when applied to operational decision-making in the cockpit.

It offers a very practical way to simplify the once intangible principles of Airmanship and CRM.

 

Wishing you many safe landings

 

Captain David M Jacobson FRAeS MAP

 

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