The effects of joint flight attendant and flight crew CRM training programmes on intergroup teamwork and communication
The aim of this research is to assess and evaluate the effectiveness of Crew Resource Management (CRM) training programmes for enhancing teamwork and cooperation between flight attendants and pilots. CRM programmes have been defined as the use of all available resources to achieve a safe flight (Helmreich, Merritt & Wilhelm, 1999). CRM programmes were developed for pilots following a series of accidents in the United States in the 1970s which were attributed to ineffective (or non-existent) communication within the flight decks. CRM programmes were extended to flight attendants in the 1990s after accident investigations had determined that some crashes could have been averted if flight attendants had passed on safety critical information to the pilots (e.g., the 1989 British Midlands crash at Kegworth). Human error is attributed to 60-80% of air accidents (Shappell and Wiegmann, 2004; von Thaden, 2008). Studies 1 and 2 involved a 36-item questionnaire for flight attendants which was administered before and after the introduction of the new CRM training programme for flight attendants at a South Pacific airline. The participating airline is a major air carrier so it was possible to obtain large samples (500+) for each of these quantitative studies. The results showed that there had been a significant attitude change in the positive direction. Multivariate analyses also revealed that there were significant differences between fleet type flown, crew position flown and length of service (seniority). As predicted crews with a greater length of service displayed safer attitudes as measured by the FSAQ (Flight Attendants) Crews on the narrowbodied A320 and B737 showed safer attitudes than their colleagues on the wide-bodied long-haul aircraft. Flight attendants in senior positions (ISD, ISC, and Purser) also displayed safer attitudes. Study 3 followed up on the significant positive attitude changes through a series of seventeen focus groups which involved 100 flight attendants. The purpose was to obtain high quality qualitative data on perceived barriers (and solutions) to communication between pilots and flight attendants. The major barrier identified was the locked flight deck door which meant that flight attendants could not see periods of high workload on the flight deck and there was difficulty in communicating safety critical information over the interphone due to noise and the lack of face-to face contact. Flight attendants suggested that one possible solution would be to install CCVT cameras so that the pilots could see that it was safe to unlock the door