In the May 2019 issue, I couldn’t help but note the connection between Key Dismukes’ article “Stress in the Cockpit” and Mr. Burnside’s observations in “Cockpit Communication.” When there is poor communication in the cockpit, stress levels are going to rise. It doesn’t matter if the communication shortfall takes place in the air or on the ground. Two of the four categories of errors made by airline crews that were pointed out by Dr. Dismukes were “inadequate comprehension, interpretation, or assessment of a situation,” and “inadequate communication.” These categories are faithful descriptions of the failure to explicitly define and communicate expectations that your friend experienced with his flight instructor.
Flight (including ground) training these days emphasizes risk management, as well it should. But perhaps thought should be given to incorporating the concept of “stress management” into aviation training. We talk a lot about “cockpit resource management” as something that we want to work for us. Allowing stress levels to be aggravated by poor communication seems to me to be a situation that stands in the way of effective CRM. Being sensitive to rising stress levels may give us a pretty good indicator that something is amiss.
