How critical is communication is the aviation field; frequent and consistent communication in the aviation field planes would not be in the air for very long! I could kiss my dreams of being a pilot good bye. I choose to became part of the Aviation Field, because I want to travel all over the world; however you can not travel all over the world flying blind. First you must have a good sense of direction, second you need to be able to listen and follow orders, third you have to take charge, in case emergence situations; this is critical and vital for survival for your crew, passengers, and Co-pilot.
Logic and rational clear thinking is vital to analyze your situation; while a calm manner is necessary to communicate accordingly, and to not cause panic between your passenger’s and crew. The worst crash in aviation history can be attributed to pour communication; in fact most crashes can be attributed to communication errors. Communication is paramount between the flight crew members and air traffic controllers, it is apart of everyday flight aviation safety, Indeed, “. . . information flow is the ‘lifeblood’ of an organization. Sussman & Krivonos, 1976, p. 1)
Communication is a management tool that establishes interpersonal relationships, predictable behavior patterns, and focus the attention to task monitoring; which is essential for organizational and managerial performance and is necessary for a safe successful commercial flight experience. My goal is to illustrate how important the communication relationship is between his/her flight towers, ground crew, flight crew, and passengers is to make it from point A to point B in one piece.
From a pilots prospective, there is a lot of preparation that comes into play be for a flight, it requires a combination of communication, teamwork and situational awareness for optimum safety. The first vital part of fight communication, comes into play with Pre Flight Preparation. There are five essential steps to Pre Flight Preparation, AIS briefing, Meteorological Briefing, Route Selection, Chart Preparation, and Flight Plan Preparation. AIS briefing identifies all aeronautical information you could potentially come across that could affect the flight.
Meteorological briefing consists of determining forecasts and actual weather conditions a specified time, or period, and area or portion of airspace for specific planned route for selected airfields along the route. During Route Selection the following things should be taken into where, and when it applies. Flights across National Boundaries must obey the national AIPs regulations. When in a controlled Airspace pilots must follow the provisions of the appropriate national authorities, contained in the national AIP. Other flights must avoid controlled airspace.
When Airspace Restrictions are in affect pilots must avoid airspace restrictions, which included danger, prohibited and restricted areas, and other flight restrictions (e. g. VIP flights). RVSM Airspace must be avoided when operating aircraft for which RVSM approval has not been granted. Weather where and when ever possible, a route should avoid areas of forecast extreme weather conditions such as severe turbulence, or moderate or severe icing. Weather conditions at the departure, destination and alternate airfields must be better than the specified minima.
Mode of Navigation the Navigation equipment in the aircraft must be adequate for safe operation in accordance with national AIPs. Equipment serviceability must satify the relevant Minimum Equipment List. Where visual navigation is to be employed, the route should avoid areas of low cloud or areas where visibility is forecast to be poor; Where navigation is to be by use of radio navigation aids, the route may be designed to follow tracks between radio beacons or radials or bearings from radio beacons.
Over-water Flights. Special rules apply to flights over water: Flights across the North Atlantic above specified flight levels must conform to the North Atlantic Track structure. Similar provisions may apply in other geographical areas. Flights by twin engined aircraft may be required to route in accordance with ETOPS procedures. Between each and every one of these there are communication factors involved any one of theses processes or more could be subject to change in the blink of an eye.
Being well informed and prepared is very important, proper briefings, and dissemination of information must be relayed well, interrupted and communicate through the appropriate channels. Missing any vital part or piece of this vital information could be detrimental. In this situation both the sender and the receiver are responsible; both parties become responsible for any miscommunication, or mishaps. However since the sender is the one trying to get the primary information communicated to the receiver, it would be the sender’s primary responsibility to deliver to most important accurate information directly to the receiver.
Therefore briefings are conducted to minimalize the margin of human error, enhance flight crew and cabin crew preparedness, and to ensure mutual understanding maximizing effective cooperation among crewmembers. Briefings should be conducted during low-workload periods, in short structured, and concise methods geared towards effective takeoff, departure, approach and landing procedures. Ever hear the phrase, “the proof is in the pudding,” well in this case it would probably be in the quality of the pudding, and the combination of the ingredients, and how well they mix or blend together.
Briefing objectives is the ingredient’s that will prove the deliciousness factor prevails. SOP’s or standard operating procedures target the following objectives, by defining communication action plans and expectations under normal conditions, or non-normal conditions; Confirming crew members’ roles and responsibilities through applied task sharing; Briefing specific areas to the required level of details; Promote inquiry and or advocacy and feedback; Ensure a complete agreement and full understanding on sequence of actions by both crew members; and A transfer of communication objectives to fellow crew member, and cabin crew if needed.
The effectiveness of these objectives will sever to enhance the crews, cabin crewmembers preparation to face unusual requirements or respond to unanticipated conditions. Now that bring us to who is flying for the purposes of this paper in particular I will be discussing two primary roles by pilots for fixed-wing airplanes. Fixed-wing planes requires a two person flight crew, the air craft commander who primarily holds the rank of captain will occupy the left hand seat, and the First Officer, or Co Pilot will occupy the right hand seat.
The air craft commander is responsible for designating which pilot will take direct responsibility for flying the aircraft for the complete flight or for only certain parts of the flight, such the descent, approach, and landing. At that point that particular pilot who is the designated pilot to maneuver the aircraft becomes the “Pilot Flying” (PF) for that sector or the specified part of it. Then the following role of the opposite pilot would be come the ‘Pilot Monitoring’ (PM) or ‘Pilot Not Flying’ (PNF) for that sector or relevant part portion of the designated objective or task.
Pilot Monitoring’ (PM) or alternatively as ‘Pilot Not Flying’ (PNF) at that point is responsible for managing, and monitoring aircraft control actions of the PF, which includes communications, check-list readings, and handling supporting duties for the PF. The operations manual clarifies the roles of both the PF and the PM/PNF. Crosschecks are the most important tasks that are performed by the PM/PNF to confirm the actions of the PF; it is the single most valid reason why two-pilot flight crew is required.