Flight Crew Training - Coursework Example

FLIGHT CREW TRAINING Name University Course Date Introduction The invention of plane has been of great significance to the human race. As a matter of fact, the actual ability of people to stay in flight for long was never anticipated as it led to massive casualties due to falls and plane crashes. It was not until the Wright brothers made this a success through their significant developments to the plane. Until now, flight has become a fascination globally, with significant aero plane developments and flight training going hand in hand. Taking a centre stage, flight training equips the flight crew or air crew personnel with the necessary knowledge to operate aircrafts more successfully. For quality and efficiency during flight, pilot training is very essential (Evans, 2011). At present, the training of pilots is increasingly becoming a challenge in the face of current increases in aircraft accidents. To reduce the more increasing cases of accidents, there is a need for provision of proper training. Moreover, the need to implement Safety Management Systems (SMS) in airlines operation cannot be questioned. In view of this, this report discusses a variety of aspects of both pilot and cabin crew training in addition to Safety Management System (SMS). More so, it outlines pertinent issues relating to pilot training that significantly contribute to both airline safety and accidents. Flight Crew Flight crew, also referred to as aircrew, are personnel who operate aircraft during flight. They include both the pilots and cabin crew. Pilots, also called aeronautics, are personnel who navigate aircrafts. On the other hand, cabin crews are personnel offering customer services to passengers including ensuring safety and comfort throughout the flight. They include purse, flight attendants, flight medics, and loadmasters. Flight Crew Training Flight instruction (training) is not inherently dangerous as compared to other General Aviation (GA). The supportive case is the fact that it is conducted in a safe environment with minimal exposure to weather hazards. Besides, there are massive instructional operations under direct supervision. Despite the conducive training environment, there are unavoidable circumstances accompanied with the training of the flight crew. Since most of the trainees are young in the field, they lack accrued flight experience. The case can result in hazardous accidents to the young pilots and cabin crew. To join any field, training is very essential, and flight is not an exception. Both pilot and cabin crew ought to be trained to prevent the consequences that arise from accidents. All pilots operate using the same flight controls whether the plane is a large commercial airliner or small aviation airplane. Mistakes caused by a low-time pilot predict lack of proper training or inexperience. Further, lack of sufficient training of the pilots thus causes major accidents. On the other hand, cabin crew, having direct contact with customers; they also must have proper training for conducive operation in an airplane. In most cases, the major causes of aircraft accidents are attributed to a miscommunication between crewmembers. Training being the key to reduced associated causes, crewmembers are not exceptional to pilots (Ivan and Jana, 2012). Safety Management Systems (SMS) for Flight Training Organization Safety must be delivered to clutch the fundamental of SMS. In real words, security is a state in which damage to property or risk to harm persons is minimized and maintained at an acceptable level. A Safety Management System offers a systematic channel to identify the hazard and providing control risk while maintaining assurance of risk controls are effective. The aviation industry has prioritized safety and put it on the forefront by demonstration of diligence from learning from its mistakes and outlining changes that lead to improvements. This approach tries to minimize the rate of aircraft accidents. In recent years, the rate of fatal aircraft accident has remained relatively stable despite the increased rate of traffic. Fig 1: Illustration of Safety Management System (Matta, Vandenboomgaerde and Arlat, 2012) There are two ways in which aircraft safety is considered. The traditional way that tries to outline safety to cost avoidance. In this case, most aviation organizations have run out of cash that has resulted in major accidents. Efficient is the counter partway of thinking about safety. Researchers have shown that efficiency and safety are positively linked. Safety reduces loss, lowers insurance costs and enhances productivity. An SMS being diverse, it offers airports the need to anticipate and address safety matters before an incident or accident occurs. Furthermore, SMS also provide management with the aptitude to deal with accidents effectively. Airports are the principal vital parts of the aviation industry, on airlines, traffic organizations, and aviation service providers or cabin crews. With the improved initiation of these major elements, the rate of accidents will be minimised. With regards to Safety Management Services, their key role is to link between the safety professions, usually the airline crew who are at hand in hampering accident and the operators, majorly the airline pilots whose significant role is production of quality flight. The collaboration of two sectors if well integrated, offers improved safety. Fig 2: An illustration of accident causation model (Behm and Schneller, 2013) Functionally, SMS implements proven techniques and lay downs to analyse and identify hazards and their possible risks, inherent to the operation. The danger in turn is the dealt with if possible. SMS program majorly adds to the bottom line of the company. Aviation, for instance, especially FTOs offers a service; that is; provides flight training, accomplishes production output that is; yields safe and professional pilots. The combination generates some level of speculation to enable progress and continued operation. Aviation does not however take safety as the priority. Effective safety management is a progression that allows the aviation organization to provide its services and generate a profit. Pillars and Elements of System Management System (SMS) There are about four pillars that facilitate the safety in an aviation organisation as described in the figure above. The components include Safety risk management, Policies and Objectives, Safety promotion, and Safety assurance (Asee.org, 2015). Each pillar contains several elements that illustrate the functionality of SMS. Encoding these components together donates to developing a positive safety philosophy in the airport organisation. Safety policy and objectives Management can aid SMS by outlining standard safety procedures for the airport organisation. They should air out the facilitation of information flow, encourage the participation in the SMS progression, and supporting of safety objectives by either provision of resources or production of the resources. The policy safety plan should establish the set principles for the airport organisation that will enable conducive running, hence minimizing accident rates with respect to safety. The policy management should in turn then communicate its commitment and intentions to safe operation and incessant enhancement. These will be in the line with its achievements. Safety Risk Management Safety risk management (SRM) is the essential progression behind SMS. It is by SRM that an airport will detect and clarify risk to enable it adopt appropriate risk mitigation strategies. According to FAA, SRM is an orderly, comprehensive, and explicit approach to safety risk management at all level in an airport. SRM has five major outlines that try to mitigate the most frequent incidents of aircraft accidents. There is a continuous progression toward safety improvement. This framework enables the pilots and cabin crew to take cautions while on duty by doing their best to save the situation. Besides, safety and hazard matters are identified and documented. The established risks are monitored, mitigated and controlled with immediate effect. The later documentation enables the pilots and cabin crew to be conversant on how to deal with the same risk in case it re-occurs. Moreover, the risk is determined, assessed and classified. In case of unaccepted risk, it is mitigated. In the case of incidents or accidents, the corrective actions are implemented. Finally, disaster being unpredictable, the effectiveness of the risk mitigation policies is assessed and monitored. Realistically, some risks must be accepted. The depth of its acceptance by the airport organisation is still a prerogative of the Accountable Executive (Faa.gov, 2015). SRM typically is the progression for risk or accident control in an organisation, an instance being an airport organisation. There are varied levels of risks, some of which are acceptable in an airport activity. The SRM has five major steps in dealing with the risk as depicted in figure three below. The systematic steps from top include Description of the system, Identification of the hazards, Determination of the risk, Analysing and assessment of the risk and finally, Treatment and monitoring of the risks (American Institute of Chemical Engineers, 2010). Fig 3: SMS lifecycle (Chase and Aktan, 2001) Safety Assurance The safety assurance pillar includes external auditing, self-auditing, and safety oversight. To achieve safety monitoring, surveillance practices and verification are very essential. This support aims to ensure that the plans, activities, and action taken for safety improvement are efficient and are implemented. This support, Safety Assurance, is different from Safety Risk Management (SRM) because its target is to identify and evaluate their deficiencies and improve performance of systems. As for the case of SMR, it looks at individual hazards and associated risks. The centre of Safety Assurance is the efficiency of the SMS. Safety Promotion has various key roles. They include provision of SMS training, system and safety awareness and communication. Besides, safety promotion matches competence required to a system and dissemination of the learned lessons (Ayres, 2009). Safety Promotion SMS is most efficient when it takes clutch in an organisation with an optimistic safety culture. The component related to safety promotion are designed to support determinations in developing a stout safety culture. They also provide safety flow of information and transformation of understanding in an airport organisation; hence each is made aware of risks and hazards associated with a particular area of operation (Ayres, 2009). With an exceptional understanding of flight training and SMS, solution for FTO to use SMS can be thoroughly evaluated. With any program, the implementation must be analysed and completed first. As for the case of SMS for flight training organisation is not an unbearable task. Concerning flight training, there is truly a requirement for there to be a paradigm shift. Thus, flight training must be seen in equal perspective as other aviation endeavour, in terms of risks, hazards and their associated safety management practices. Besides, the outcome of serious safety events, such as injury, loss of property, damage to the corporate and property damage are still in question in combating through robust SMS program. Flight training workers have an ethical, professional, and professional responsibility to accept and use this program. Students, maintenance technicians, and flight instructors should gain sufficient understanding of the SMS program to prepare adequately and advance safely successfully in their careers. This knowledge can be achieved majorly through active participation in a System Management System (SMS). For proper operation of airlines and conducive working environment between the pilot and cabin crew, flight training organisation should opt to adopt and use System Management System (SMS) in facilitation of critical values of aviation safety (Bednarz, 2012).This value extends to further end to essentially to save even just one life. Conclusion To reduce the cases of major flight accidents, there is a need for proper and sufficient training of both the cabin crew and the pilots. To accomplish the later, there is a need to adhere to safety issues by the means of Safety Management System (SMS) program. According to the analysis, there needs to be outlined elements of SMS that govern the adoption of an incident or an accident in case of an occurrence. Actually, there should be outlined safety policies and objectives that can be of help to both pilots and cabin crew during the flight. Besides, sufficient training manual should be conveyed to trainees. Secondly, Safety Risk Management (SRM) element should be an outline to predict the future peril and find a proper solution. Furthermore, Safety assurance should be implemented. These increases the morale of those in an aircraft of safer means of travel as there is an outline system of dealing with any inconvenience in case of an occurrence. Lastly, the safety promotion should be vital to enable the conductive flow of information in an airport industry. They should include communication, training, and other actions to promote a positive safety culture within the airport. Bibliography American Institute of Chemical Engineers , 2010, “Process risk and reliability management: Operational integrity management”, Proc. Safety Prog., 29(3), pp.273-274. Ayres, M., 2009, Safety management systems for airports, Washington, D.C.: Transportation Research Board. Asee.org, 2015, Home: American Society for Engineering Education. [online] Available at: https://www.asee.org [Accessed 15 Sep. 2015]. Bednarz, S., 2012, Modernizing the mobility Air Force for tomorrow's air traffic management system. Santa Monica, CA: RAND. Behm, M. and Schneller, A., 2013, “Application of the Loughborough Construction Accident Causation model: a framework for organizational learning”, Construction Management and Economics, 31(6), pp.580-595. Chase, S. and Aktan, A., 2001, Health monitoring and management of civil infrastructure systems. Bellingham, Wash., USA: SPIE. Evans, J. (2011). How Airliners Fly. Ramsbury: Crowood. Faa.gov, (2015). Federal Aviation Administration. [online] Available at: https://www.faa.gov [Accessed 15 Sep. 2015]. Ivan, K. and Jana, K., 2012, “Selected information on flight simulators - main requirements, categories and their development, production and using for flight crew training in the both Slovak Republic and Czech Republic conditions” INCAS BULLETIN, 4(3), pp.73-86. Matta, N., Vandenboomgaerde, Y. and Arlat, J., 2012, Supervision and safety of complex systems. 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