Non-Reporting Culture

There's a Sign! 

Photo from: blogs.valpo.edu

Yesterday I wrote about the elements of Safety Culture.  One of the easiest ways to identify if your organization has a positive safety culture is to ask employees if they are comfortable reporting safety related issues. If you hear employees speak of fear in reporting with comments such as, "I'm not saying anything, I need to keep my job", then the chances are your company may be lacking a positive reporting culture. Personally I think a reporting culture is one of the most important elements of a safety culture. 

Photo from mentalhealthy.co.uk

Without a reporting culture, supported by open communication, that encourages and rewards reporting safety related information and is free from retaliation, the opportunities to demonstrate flexibility will be non-existent, and there will be no opportunity to identify if the culture is just, informed, or provide areas for learning. Systems must be established that enable employees to report without fear of retaliation to support a positive safety culture.

 

I found the above photos on line. The statistics are appalling. During the final quarter of my doctoral course, I began researching elements of safety culture and associated retaliation. What I learned was nothing short of shocking:
 

I know of seven pilots, from multiple airlines, that have been pulled from flight status with a fitness for duty challenge due to mental health accusations in retaliation for reporting safety issues, and 24 additional pilots (I have yet to speak with) have been identified to be off duty for a similar reason. Airlines are using a mental health clause to retaliate against employees who have reported safety issues, and they can do it to anyone for any reason.  

These pilots are being paid because the company thinks it is only illegal to fire an employee for reporting safety. But they are ordered to go through horrendous psychiatric evaluations, with questioning and interrogation that nobody should be exposed to. They are set aside for months at a time, isolated from their airline family, humiliated, kept from flying, not allowed to maintain currency in the simulator, haunted by nightmares of the fiasco, and many end up just quitting. Therefore, the company thinks they are not liable for unjustly firing them.

The fact that the Germanwings crash is being used in support of and justification for this retaliatory tactic is one of the most criminal things an organization could do. Not only does this methodology harm the psyche of the pilot, that will be carried with them for life, but it creates a stigma for pilots to self report if they needed help. If this is a punishment from a manager, why would anyone who really had a problem come fourth? They wouldn't.
 

Mental health problems are a disability, not a punishment. For anyone to mock the disabled, by using their illness as a tactic to punish an employee who is attempting to make their work environment better, should take careful consideration of what they are doing. Many pilots who are facing this retaliation think there is nothing they can do until they are fired, that's not true.

Join me Tomorrow to Learn 

Your Rights!  

Enjoy the Journey!

XO Karlene 

Author of:

Flight For Series

Flight To Success Be the Captain of your Life

I am Awesome. The ABCs of me. 

Safety Culture

A brief update on ...

Safety Culture 

A lack of accidents does not indicate safety.  It’s more than pretty airplanes, fancy uniforms, or a great marketing strategy. A safe airline will have a strong safety culture.  Safety culture is the essence of how the organization operates, and is identified by five critical sub-components to include a reporting culture, a just culture, a flexible culture, an informed culture, and a learning culture.

Reporting Culture

Reporting cultures exist where open communication and reporting safety related information is not only encouraged, but rewarded.  Ground floor employees are working in the field and are the closest to the operation, and the first to identify hazards. Operations must have systems in place for these employees to report without fear of retaliation.

Just Culture

A just culture is where fairness prevails and those people who report are listened to, right or wrong, there is always something to learn.  Honor, ethics, and leadership are the core of a just culture.  There are no special favors for the good old boys, everyone is a valued employee, and they all have the same opportunity as everyone else. 

Flexible Culture

In a flexible culture, leadership will adapt and shift from a hierarchy structure to a flatter structure where control passes to those employees making the decisions, where the system can adapt to 'on the spot decision making' versus an ivory tower mandate. Silos are replaced with a cross-networking structure. 

Learning Culture

A learning culture is where employees learn, grow, and improve the overall system. Every experience can be a learning moment, and information sharing is key. Without a strong reporting culture, that is flexible and just, learning will be hard pressed.

Informed Culture

An informed culture indicates that management has the experience and knowledge, not only about the technical aspect of the operation but they also understand the psychology of people. This knowledge is supported by diversity and subject matter experts, and will determine the safety of the organization.

 

The FAA states, “All levels of management must actively promote and provide leadership to foster a positive safety culture,” and further defines safety culture as, “the shared values, action, and behaviors that demonstrate a commitment to safety over competing goals and demands” (FAA, 2013a, p. 9).

Leadership is key to a Safety Culture 

DOT Safety Culture

The department of transportation (DOT) safety council identified the most critical elements of a safety culture:

1. Leadership is clearly committed to safety.
2. There is open and effective communication across the organization.
3. Employees feel personally responsible for safety.
4. The organization practices continuous learning.
5. There is a safety-conscious work environment.
6. Report systems are clearly defined and non-punitive.
7. Decisions demonstrate that safety is prioritized over competing demands.
8. Mutual trust is fostered between employees and the organization.
9. The organization is fair and consistent in responding to safety concerns.
10. Training and resources are available to support safety (FAA, 2013a, p. 9).

 

Why is Safety Culture Important?

Safety Culture is the foundation is of Safety Management Systems (SMS). SMS is an FAA mandate, required for all US airlines, January 2018, that will improve the safety of the operation.  However, without a Safety Culture, an SMS will be nothing but lip service.

Does your airline meet 

all aspects of a safety culture?

Enjoy the Journey!

XO Karlene 

Author of:

Flight For Series

Flight To Success Be the Captain of your Life

I am Awesome. The ABCs of me. 

 

Reference: 

Federal Aviation Administration. (2013a, May 8). Safety Management System 8000.369A.  Retrieved from http://www.faa.gov/documentlibrary/media/order/8000.369a.pdf

A330 and Honest Fiction

As I edit Flight For Safety, I am reminded how much we can learn from honest fiction. Honest Fiction? Sounds like an oxymoron. But there is more truth that you know, and we can learn from it. 

Long-term memories are made when emotion is involved. When we see the action verses hearing or seeing the words, we remember. I am willing to bet that all of you can remember a highly emotional situation, no matter what it was, that you were involved in.  Imagine if you could read a a fun story and learn something that will stay with you forever. Perhaps save your life, and those of your passengers. My goal is to take you into the story so you feel the emotion.

 

For those of you who know me, I have spent 22 years instructing on many different Boeing aircraft. Now I am on the Airbus A330, and I'm writing fiction. What do you think is going to happen in Flight For Safey? You just can't take the teacher out of the pilot once it has been ingrained. 

I am taking you into the flight deck of another world and you will learn many things the easy and fun way. After much research and a huge thanks to the assistance of my technical editor, Bill Palmer (the pilot who wrote the systems manuals and help to put the A330 into service at Northwest Airlines),  every detail will be accurate. The story will take you to the next level of understanding, and a greater level of fear.

Not a pilot? Who cares. Flight For Control pulled everyone into the story for one heck of a ride. With powerful characters, strong women, an important message, and a little sex... what's not to love? 

Teaser Alert~ 

Rain streamed up the windshield. Darby had never seen such a thing. The outside air temperature was -50C and the total air temperature was -21C. Was it possible to get liquid water at these temps?

            “Beep. Beep. Beep. Ding. Ding. Ding.” The master warning and master caution lights flashed, and the airplane cried warning. The autopilot and autothrust had both disconnected.

            Their airspeed indicators rolled back to 65 knots. The flight directors disappeared. A roar like machine gun fire attacking the plane, vibrated in the flight deck. Messages displayed rapidly across the ECAM—Electronic Centralized Aircraft Monitor, and were being replaced by others faster than she could see what they were.

             “Jesus fucking Christ!” Keith yelled. One hand grabbed for the thrust and his other grabbed the stick. 

            “Don’t do anything!” Darby yelled over the noise. “Let the plane fly.”        

            “Stall! Stall! Stall!” The plane cried.

          “We’re not stalling,” Darby yelled. “Look at our ground speed," She said pressing the data button on the MCDU and then selecting GPS data. “Here ya go…We’ve got a ground speed of 486 knots.” 

            “Ding.” The plane warned them that the autothrust was disconnected, and would continue to scream every five seconds until they acknowledged it. But if they left the thrust levers alone the power would remain in the last setting. If it were good enough before, it was good enough now—and one less thing to worry about.

            Darby looked back at her PFD. Their pitch was supposed to be at 3 degrees for level flight. 
They were at 10 degrees and increasing! What the hell?

            “Stop climbing,” Darby yelled. The A330 could pitch up to 10 to 12 degrees very rapidly 
without much effort. 

            “What?” 

            “Don’t climb. Bring the pitch down to three degrees.”

            “Ding.”

            “But I let go of the stick.” Keith yelled. “It shouldn’t be climbing.”

            “It's going where you told it to go,” Darby shouted, as she pushed the stick forward. “We have to put it on 3 degree line.” 

            “DUAL INPUT!” a synthetic voice blared over the speakers. Keith was back on the controls—they were both flying the plane. She focused on the goal of level flight, and her hand hovered over the stick.  Once stable, she removed it, but kept a watchful eye on the pitch attitude. 

            “Ding.” 

             Unlike the Boeing, the A330 trimmed to relieve elevator pressure for whatever pitch attitude the pilot wanted without the pilot's help. When Keith had let go of the stick, the stick had moved to neutral but the nose stayed pointed up because he had put it there. 

            "Ding." 

            This was the first plane Darby had flown that the pilots did not trim. It took an effort to pull a Boeing into a stall with cruise power and not touching the trim. Not the Airbus, because it trimmed itself. The A330 was smart. But not smart enough to out think a pilot who screwed up when the plane was in Alternate Law. 

             “Shit. What the hell is this?” Keith said, breathing rapidly. Almost hyperventilating.

            “Ding.” 

            “You’re in Alternate law. Just fly what you’ve got.” But he had a death grip on the stick and worked it hard. “Just little pressures to keep her level. You’re not whacking off, just flying a plane.” 

            “Ding.”

            “What about our power? I…I think the autothrust is off.” The plane bounced and rocked.

            “Ding.”

            “Don’t rock the wings, you’re inducing instability,” she said. “Your autothrust is off. Don’t worry.” 

Today I'm in Atlanta doing a recency. Tomorrow we'll talk about Positive Dynamic Stability and answer the questions below.

Test your A330 (and story) knowledge:

1. Why did they get a stall warning if they weren't stalling?
2. Why did the plane stay pointed up if Keith put the controls back to Neutral?
3. Why is it easier to stall an Airbus while in Alternate Law, than a Boeing?
4. Why is it easier to stall a Boeing than a Airbus in Normal Law? 
5. Why did Darby say put the plane on the 3 degree line?
6. What was that ding, and how can they make it stop?
7. Why didn't Keith have to worry about the autothrust being off?
8. Is Darby a Captain or First Officer?

Enjoy the Journey!  Remember to get your copy of Flight For Control so you'll be ready for the continuation of the drama...

Please take a moment to LIKE my Facebook page and see what is in store for 2025! 
  

XO Karlene 
  

NOTE: Bill Palmer: A330 Check Airman who wrote the systems manuals for the A330. He has a book coming soon that you won't want to miss. Until then follow him on Facebook: And Twitter @WFPalmer  Whenever I have a technical question... he's my go to guy, and yours too.   

Prevention of Accidents: CRM

CREW RESOURCE MANAGEMENT:

As you know I am working on my second novel, Flight For Safety, the sequel to Flight For Control.  While many of us are impatient for the release, myself included, I cannot rush this novel. The message is essential.  

The Theme: Aviation Safety.  

Something not only pilots should feel passionate about, but passengers as well.  

Please welcome Captain Adelsohn once again, on  CRM:

"The Learning method in our every day job functions every day is a constant process that never ends.

 

As a professional  in our particular duties as Pilots, Flight Attendants, Maintenance etc., we must be constantly able to work together in a safety environment. This is even more important when you consider that this efficiency may depend our lives and the lives of others when we flying an airplane. 

 

Being updated every day as a Crew implies learning.
 

 

Today the constant development of aviation brings several extremely high loads of new responsibilities and tasks for those directly involved in the operation of an aircraft from the crew on board and ground maintenance personnel to air traffic controllers, to many others.

 

Aviation is not just boarding a plane, but also is to understand the principles that allow an aircraft to fly, but do safely. It is very important to understand the ability to understand the knowledge, as an airmen, why your aircraft fly, this emphasize how important it is that flight crews receive proper training and appropriate, not only to fly the aircraft correctly it is also to be prepare for any situation you will expect and resolve in any abnormal situation or circumstances that we can have during the flight.

 

From the beginning CRM, initially recognized as a Cockpit Resource Management. This concept after some years become much wider doctrine, being known until today as Crew Resource Management.

The CRM emphasizes the importance of using all available resources effectively to achieve air operations safer and more efficient. The goal of CRM is to improve every day the ability of the crew in a decision-making, administration and management of the resources available and have a good communication with the rest of the crew and other elements involved in the safest operation of the aircraft.

 

But CRM does not end here, because the operation is more deeply involved with two other important aspects in the training of flight crews, human factors and the organizational culture ,it is very important issues.

Statistically, the vast majority of air accidents occurring at present point one of the main cause are 80 % sometimes described as a Pilot Error. All of us in the aviation environment related or not specifically, when a plane crash we wonder many things and questions, when we read in the newspapers or listen to reports on the media the phrase that summarizes what happened  when an airplane crashed we think was a pilot error????? . Not necessarily incompetence or lack of experience. Some factors influencing a decision-making, that overload the workload and that in many cases inevitably lead to the accident.

 

In the meantime the organizational culture, which reflects the regular of social and intellectual expression of a group or organization that determines the assertiveness of all the members working together to prevent incidents or accidents. We need to focus and have a good safety business plan in the organization, defining a good Safety Program and the Safety Management System that includes the safety policies and objectives, Safety Promotions, Safety Assurance, and Safety Risk Management.

 

A change in the attitude of the group is reflected in a change in the attitude of the individual.

 

Today all this reflects that CRM tries to change the attitude in making decisions based on custom and culture, emphasizing the importance of knowing how to handle the resources and skills of the crew.

 

Today I am sharing this article and this reading to know a little more of this doctrine, to understand more deeply the importance of constant training and updated and motivated me to write these words, which targets to encourage everyone to read and share with others in the aviation community to learn to do the same. To be UPDATE, implies learning, Aviation Safety is a commitment. Safety First.

 

Eliminate cultural barriers it is very important for crews and safety, also establishing the importance of everyone’s contributions. Creating a spirit of shared commitment recognizing cultural differences and reinforcing a positive safe behavior. Remember always, upon you think you do not learn more of aviation, it's the time to retire because you're about to make the big mistake of your life."

Luis Adelsohn

What are you doing to improve Aviation Safety?  

Enjoy the Journey
XO Karlene

ATLA Push For Small Airlline Safety

Latin America and Caribbean Air Transport Association (ALTA)

What are They Doing for Safety?

 

Last month we got to meet Luis Adelsohn. Captain Adelsohn is all about safety and has been sending me interesting articles. 

Please enjoy and remember...

"Safety is the Answer to the Question."

"Leaders of ALTA called on the International Air Transport Association (IATA) to create a set of safety standards for airlines not eligible for the organization's existing IATA Operational Safety Audit (IOSA) program. 

Roberto Kriete, president of ALTA, says that, while accident rates in Latin America are declining, the fact that there is a subgroup of non-IOSA airlines, including those not eligible for the program, with a rate four-times higher than IOSA member carriers is disturbing, during the opening session of the ALTA Airline Leaders Forum 2012 in Panama City.

He calls on Tony Tyler, director general of IATA, and others to create such a program for carriers that are ineligible due to their size or the type of aircraft that they fly.

Tyler tells Airline Business that this is an issue around the world and that IATA is working to address the situation.

IATA is looking to collaborate with other organizations who have a focus on smaller aircraft regarding developing a comparable IOSA program, says the organization. IATA would then be able to validate and endorse this standard.

Speaking to Latin America's civil aviation authorities, Kriete says that countries should replicate the model set by Brazil, where IOSA participation is a requirement and not an option for airline certification.

ALTA has a goal of reducing the accident rate of member airlines to that of those in the USA by 2014.

Airport infrastructure and air traffic control are also concerns for ALTA. Kriete says that 30% of the airports in Latin America are "congested" and that the local aviation authorities have been slow to address capacity issues. He says that there are only 16 airport construction projects in the region while China, which also expects significant airline growth, has 94.

"The surroundings that airlines operate [in] is not always optimal for airline operations," he says. Kriete says that air traffic control is still subject to gaps around the region and that many of the systems have not been upgraded with the latest technology.

 

Fuel costs, regulatory harmonization, airport concessions and the environment are also concerns for the region's airlines looking forward, he says.

Latin American airlines have made significant strides during the past decade, despite these concerns. The number of city pairs connected to the rest of the world have increased to 953 from 687, low-cost carriers have boomed to about 50% of the market from a negligible market share, the average age of the fleet has decreased by more than four years and the region's carriers have grown considerably, says Kriete." 

Source : Airline Business Magazine.

Safety Information is a free Service of:
CRM 4 PILOTS. 

The best Safety device in any Aircraft is
a well-trained Safety Pilot!

PILOT FATIGUE

Cecilie Larson sent me an interesting file on Pilot Fatigue. This very serious issue is probably one of the most critical factors in Airline Safety Today. While it's never just 'one' thing, the one thing that can impact a flight with a perfectly good plane, more than anything else, is pilot fatigue.

Cecilie reminded me of critical factors specific to Norway... 

"Norway has one of the most challenging environment to operate aircraft in, most of the routes are short-runway-special ops and throw in some freezing fog, icy runways, snow, excessive crosswind AND pilot fatigue, I think you have the perfect recipe for disaster. That is why that 22-hour maximum duty rule just CANNOT be implemented, it would have a direct negative effect on safety." 

Cecilie also sent me a copy of a recent study conducted on Pilot Fatigue. Below is an excerpt on the findings:

The 2012 Barometer on Pilot Fatigue brings together several surveys on pilot fatigue carried out by Member Associations of the European Cockpit Association. Between 2010 and 2012, more than 6.000 European pilots have been asked to self-assess the level of fatigue they are experiencing.

The surveys confirm that pilot fatigue is common, dangerous and an under-reported phenomenon in Europe.

• Over 50% of surveyed pilots experience fatigue as impairing their ability to perform well while on flight duty.

• 4 out of 5 pilots have to cope with fatigue while in the cockpit, according to polls carried out in Austria (85%), Sweden (89%), Germany (92%) and Denmark (93%).

• A common indicator of the problem is that fatigued pilots are prone to fall asleep or experience episodes of micro-sleep in the cockpit. In the UK (43%), Denmark (50%), Norway (53%) and Sweden (54%) the surveyed pilots reported falling asleep involuntarily in the cockpit while flying. In the UK, a third of the pilots said to have woken up finding their colleague sleeping as well. 65% of Dutch and French pilots stated they have trouble with “heavy eyelids” during flight.

• Yet, fearing disciplinary actions or stigmatization by the employer or colleagues, 70-80% of fatigued pilots would not file a fatigue report or declare to be unfit to fly. Only 20-30% will report unfit for duty or file a report under such an occurrence.

• More than 3 out of 5 pilots in Sweden (71%), Norway (79%) and Denmark (80-90%) acknowledge to have already.

 

 Austrian Cockpit Association

A 22-hour duty day? I concur with Cecilie, this must not be implemented. 17-hours awake is equivalent to .05 alcohol level. Are pilots flying drunk on fatigue?

When I asked Cecilie when this is happening, and if there was anything we could do, she said, "The proposal for the new regulation was published October 1, 2012. The process of having it implemented will take a while. Organizations and groups will tell the European Union what they think of it, etc. Check out Dead Tired for more info. That's the site for the lobbyist group European Cockpit Association trying to fight against this regulation. They also have a petition that can be signed."

You can read and download the entire report here: Barometer on Pilot Fatigue

What are your thoughts? 

How rested do you want your pilots to be?

Did you sign the petition?

Together... we can make a difference on Safety

 

Enjoy the Journey... and remember to stay awake for it.

XO Karlene