Helicopter Crew Resource Management Course
Welcome to our course for helicopter crew, clients, operators and regulators.
The latest industry “best practice” updates will be presented by our staff and distinguished guest speakers who are leaders in their field. Rob Rich, a highly experienced Austrlaian rescue pilot, army test pilot and flight examiner will be your tutor for the two days, imparting insightful experiences from a long career. Certificates will be issued on completion.
Draft Programme
Day 1
0830 - 0910 “Introduction to Crew Resource Management." Registration, welcome coffee, meet fellow students. Opening address by host Ray Cronin. History of CRM development, purpose of your course, why CRM is different from other forms of training. Attitudinal course objectives, supporting references, training aides and local facilities. Do other industries have safety problems - how do they meet the challenges? Case studies: PHI (USA) where accidents are down by 57% following introduction of CRM training. Heavy industry Boral Industries achievements vs. dangerous aviation culture. Fire related accident data resources.
0920 - 1000 “Understanding Personal Strengths in Relating to Others – Part 1." Most CRM training is harnessed to a psychological engine which tows along the course modules. In this way we can adopt a common language for discussion. What is relationship awareness training and what can it do for you? Who is Dr Elais Porter, the creator of the Strength Deployment Inventory - what has he achieved? Other organizations are using his SDI. Students complete the Strength Deployment Inventory (SDI) up to page 5. Group plot results on wall chart. Comparison of motivational and behavioural styles of RFS Aviation officers to other industry groups. Who are you most like; police, rescue, medical staff, military, etc??
1000 - 1030 Morning tea
1030 - 1110 “Understanding Personal Strengths in Relating to Others – Part 2."
1120 – 1200 "Communication - getting the message across." Overview of NSW Rural Fire Service's chain of command and communication systems, especially during an actual fire fighting operations. Composition, transmission and reception of messages. Overcome the barriers to communication. Since communication is the means by which aviation resources are managed, it is the responsibility of the entire company and each crew to communicate effectively. Utilize advocacy, inquiry & feed back. If needed apply conflict resolution. Case study: Flight into Brussels - no one was listening.
1200-1300 Lunch
1300 - 1340 "Being assertive may save your life." Sadly, road rage is a media buzz word at present. Understand and control aggressive behaviour. Manage the barriers to assertiveness. Also a review of the differences between aggressive, assertive, supportive and submissive behaviour. Oddly enough, the person with submissive behaviour is a time bomb in a group! Using SDI skills to identify and defuse a potential problem. Become assertive if the situation dictates. Understand how human and organisational cultural problems can torpedo your best intentions as a fire officer. Being submissive is just as dangerous as being too aggressive. Case studies: Saudi Flight 163 and four-part exercise.
1350 - 1430 "Teamwork is crucial to success." The ability of groups such as the NSW Rural Fires teams and other contracted parties in the fire season is essential to overcome the fire threat and avoid accidents. Thus, to work together effectively and productively is crucial to task effectiveness. Manage the barriers to effective teamwork, use synergy in a team situation. Understand the principles of delegation. Case study: Anatomy of a midair. Collision between Bell 412 and Aerostar above school play ground, also a fire related incident.
1430 - 1500 Afternoon tea
1500 - 1540 “Leadership motivates others to achieve their personal best." Leadership must be learned and the most effective leaders realize that developing their skills is an on-going process. Understand situational leadership, apply follower ship. Identify and understand your preferred leadership style from your SDI. Case study: Video selected for group needs.
1550 – 1630 "Real men don't need human factors - where do you buy some anyway." Real men are now accepting the fact 90% of aviation accidents are caused by the nut behind the wheel - why? Is this a training or supervision problem. Fatigue, stress (both physical and emotional) and shiftwork have at last been recognized as silent killers. The human being is the weak link in the chain. What are human performance limitations? Case study: "Human Performance & Limitations” and sleep deprivation.
Day 2
0830 - 0910 "The awesome complexity of the central nervous system." Once aviation accidents were caused by bad engineering! However, we are a single channel system. Have you ever locked your keys in the car? A quick look at sensory, short and long term memory. Trouble with your golf? (Motor skills memory) The false hypothesis. Stress, fatigue and circadian rhythms. Why do women have better communication skills than men? Case studies: Bell 205 becoming airborne with LAME on roof in Sydney and the bull ant on the beach at Noosa.
0920 - 1000 "We always hit the wire we know is there!" NSW Rural fire staff do not need to be told of the dangers of aircraft manoeuvring at low level in smoke haze. Wire strikes are in fashion this year - why?How often do you hear "he hit the wire he knew was there!" We have a new theory about this - are these really memory processing problems! We discovered some agricultural pilots and British Army pilots have a technique to compensate for this human failing. There is a finite amount of information that can be processed by our brain at any one time and we can develop a bottleneck! There is a better way. Why is there so much “Controlled flight into terrain around.” Toss in automation and what do you have - disaster?
1000 - 1030 Morning tea
1030 - 1110 "Fatigue and poor performance." Many aviation activities are 24 hour operations. What is fatigue? Causes and effects. Differences between circadian rhythm changes and sleep deprivation. Does shift work shorten your life? What is the best shift cycle? Social implications. Do drugs, caffeine, etc., offer a solution? Managing your sleep bank – are you always in debt? Company leave policy can be a minefield. Pilot and crew procedures if fatigue is suspected. Differences between acute and chronic fatigue. Case Study: ATSB research into mustering industry where pilots were flying 120 – 140 hours a month.
1120 - 1200 "Decision making - when risk is high and time is short you just gotta get it right!" The critical step in decision making is to assess the situation - and then prioritize a number of responses. Training, currency and experience are real winners. Understand the decision making process, apply proactive decision making. Identify and manage the five hazardous attitudes. Case study: Aircraft hydraulic problem in South Australia. Fire incident workshop.
1200-1300 Lunch
1300 - 1340 "High workload situations can cause accidents - do you delegate correctly?" Workload management problems account for 35% of crew coordination errors in US Army. We are easily overloaded by multiple tasks and are more vulnerable when stressed or fatigued. One option is to distribute workload throughout the crew. Sometimes external assistance is appropriate. Case study: German student with US flying instructor.
1350 – 1430 "Risk management and the planning process." Fire fighting operations from the air are somewhat unique and are very high risk operational environments. A "can do" attitude can underplay risk assessment. How hard is it to say NO? We look at the risk management process, shared mental model for multi-crew aircraft. Flight planning and importance of keeping fellow crew members up to date and getting feedback. In recent times aircraft have run out of fuel during fire operations in Australia! Case study: Video: The High Risk Aviator.
1430 - 1500 Afternoon tea
1500 – 1540 "Debriefing is more than a grunt and telling the crew to get stuffed." To improve all
the necessary crew skills such as decision making, monitoring for hazards and communication skills, we need to involve all crew-members in a feedback process. Checklist debrief actions, provide effective feedback to others and you. Case study: Post trauma debriefing is a matter for the professionals - don't be afraid to ask for help for yourself or a crewmember - it could save their life!
1550 - 1630 "Putting it all together" Several years ago, an Ansett Boeing 747 accident at Sydney airport caused a major shake up within the company. Ansett produced an excellent video which shows organizational, crew and individual errors. These errors formed a chain of small events which finally combined to cause a major accident. Ansett is to be commended for the quality of the video which covers key CRM issues covered in your course. Very important lessons here for both small and large organizations. It could happen to your company …
1630 - 1640 "Closing address." A thank you to our hosts and guest speakers. Procedures for mailing out the CRM Course Certificates, class photographs, etc.
Remember you could qualify for insurance rebate for RSC. Book now and receive further discount of upto 20% for two or more courses.