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A person receiving information should:

•Appreciate that he must listen carefully to the transmitter; this is a definite two-way process in which the listener’s role is as important as that of the transmitter.

•Ask for clarification when in need of more information, and continually review/check information received.

REMEMBER.......WHEN UNSURE ASK!

THE AIM IS TO ACHIEVE THE SAME MENTAL MODEL BY GOOD COMMUNICATION!

Question Types

The question type determines the type of response. You should therefore have an awareness of question types, their advantages, disadvantages and appropriateness to the situation.

Three types of question are considered to be the most important:

Closed Question

A question in which the receiver’s response is limited to “yes”, “no” or a word or two by the way that the question is asked. The closed question allows for rapid transfer of specific information or the checking of understanding of information, which can be appropriate in high workload situations. However, closed questions do not fully use the potential of the person being questioned. Constant use of closed questions can break down open and effective communication and in particular, aspects of teamwork.

Open Question

A question which is phrased to elicit information from, or initiate discussion with, the receiver. It encourages open and effective communication and this in turn will encourage teamwork. It may not be appropriate during periods of high workload when time is limited and specific, rapid transfer of information is desirable.

Leading Question

A leading question is one in which the required answer is in the question.

The words “isn’t it” are often present in this form of question - the classic student leading question is during mutual flying.......”That is Witney down there... Isn’t it?”

If you ever use or hear a leading question, a loss of situational awareness may have occurred. This must be addressed.... alarm bells need to RING!

Methods of Communication

Although we naturally transmit information in a number of different ways, we are generally unaware of exactly how we do it. We know that in normal face-to-face situations the greatest proportion of information is transmitted through body language with a much smaller percentage being transferred by the words themselves.

We need to be conscious of how we normally transmit information if we are to communicate effectively when the situation changes on the flight deck. The physical location of two pilots side by side, a flight engineer behind the pilots or perhaps a flight attendant, situated at best in the pilot’s peripheral vision restricts communication. The result is that for effective

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communication to take place the balance between body language, the way we say the words and the words themselves must change.

Therefore in the flight deck situation we note that the body language which we naturally use has greatly reduced effectiveness and that the words themselves now become more important.

In consequence, on the flight deck we must:

•Convey concerns through words and through an assertive style (the way we say the words), and not use body language which will probably be missed.

•Concentrate on the choice of words we use. Now the words need to carry much more information and therefore must be more concise.

In addition flight attendants, dispatchers, ground engineers and others whom you may encounter on the flight deck can, because of their different training and backgrounds, interpret your turned back as negative body language. Try to show them you are interested and listening through the way you speak to them, and if you can, turn around so that you are at least partly facing them.

Communication Styles

Four communication styles are discussed and, of these, two are positive whilst two are negative forms of communication.

Supportive Style

Here the receiver or transmitter is trying to be receptive to the other person’s needs, feelings or priorities but without putting themselves down or losing sight of the task.

It is often used:

•As an initial helpful prod between pilots.

•To help calm down an agitated person so that the problem can then be addressed.

Assertive Style

The principle here is to convey your needs (for example speed 140 kt --flaps to half) for the task without “putting down” others.

An assertive statement/request clearly states your requirements and explains why and is an essential communication style on the flight deck.

Aggressive Style

An aggressive communication style focuses solely on the task or perhaps personal needs of the speaker without any concern for the other crew members. It is a very negative form of communication because it degrades teamwork and inhibits open communication. In extreme cases this will lead to team breakdown.

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Submissive Style

A communication style in which the transmitter has little regard for his own needs or even for the task. A submissive communication style will lead to inefficient teamwork and increase the workload on others.

Do not forget that someone who is sick may become submissive even though they may normally be an excellent team member (on the ground and in the air), and that this situation must be addressed.

Overload

When someone becomes overloaded, he/she is no longer able to process information, not able to operate an aircraft or indeed learn effectively! Therefore it is extremely important that the situation is resolved quickly if a pilot is not to become overloaded; this is often achieved by reducing his workload to a point where he can become effective once again.

Although this overload situation is more likely to occur with those of less experience (who need more capacity to fly and operate the aircraft), it can and does happen to the most experienced of crews. This is a particular problem when capacity is reduced through illness, stress or any one of a multitude of other outside factors. If you become overloaded at any time during your flying career you must admit it to yourself and tell someone (instructor, “mutual” student or fellow crew member) so that he can help you reduce your workload.

In the case of a learning exercise, when safely on the ground, the instructor will often be able to identify ways of reducing or reorganizing your workload, which will help you in the future. Importantly, if you notice someone becoming overloaded reduce his workload, at least temporarily, if you can. Please note that it is quite usual for the ability to listen to be lost when someone is overloaded and so you may have to gain his attention by changing the way you address him (“Captain”, rather than “Jeff”) or touching him.

Finally, remember that if you are ill or highly stressed you should not fly as your capacity is already reduced and you are at much greater risk of becoming overloaded!

Situational Awareness and Mental Models

Pilots combine large quantities of information from a variety of sources to make a mental model or picture of what they believe to be reality. A pilot with good situational awareness will have worked hard to assimilate this varied information, and will have developed a mental model which reflects reality.

Factors affecting the creation of a mental “model” include:

• Experience What we know, have heard or read.

• Expectation What we expect to happen through experience or expectation.

• Briefing

Training to expect a situation.

A pilot relies on situational awareness to operate an aircraft safely. Situational awareness is however prone to error when an incorrect model is created. This can have fatal results!

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Look out for:

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•Clues to the loss of situational awareness.

•The situation where confusion/concern exists.

•The time when leading questions are asked.

•The occasion when different sources and information disagree.

•The tendency to ignore or distort incoming information.

•That time when your mind becomes focused on one area to the detriment of others.

Respond by:

•Accepting that you may have lost situational awareness.

•Looking for disaffirmation and by collecting varied information which proves loss of situational awareness.

•Using all resources to create a new “mental model”.

Try to Prevent by:

•Keeping ahead of the aircraft. From the start of your aviation career make it a habit to work hard collecting information and constantly monitoring to create an accurate mental model.

•Recognizing that your perception and work activity is likely to fall during night flights or if you are ill/stressed and counter by working hard at maintaining situational awareness.

•Sharing your mental model with your instructor/mutual student or other crew members. It is unlikely that two crew members will have the same incorrect mental model and therefore constant communication to check and share models is vital.

Decision Making

Although we constantly make decisions during our day to day life there was no formal tuition as to how to do this in the aviation system. Because of this, two main ways of making decisions have been developed and these are intended to assist airborne decision making:

•Standard Operating Procedures (SOPs). For predictable (often technical) problems, a number of experts will have considered the malfunctions (for example, an engine fire - hydraulic failure - landing gear malfunction) for a considerable length of time and decided upon the best possible solution/course of action.

•For more complex, unpredictable problems a Standard Operating Procedure may not be possible and then a structured approach to decision making is required. British Airways have developed and use a system known as “DODAR”.

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