Increasing SOP Compliance

In the era where increased incidents and accidents are attributed to flight crew non-adherence to procedures, what can be done to ensure increased SOP compliance?

Standard Operating Procedures(SOP) are a critical component in flight operations and in improving the flight safety. They are intended as a guard against operational errors and help elevate crew performance leading to safe operation of a flight.

INADEQUACY IN TRAINING

B787Cockpit

Airline training is always a focal point in the aviation industry and the thrust should be to deliver training that surpasses well over the bare minimum regulatory requirement. More often than not, lack of training or inadequate training is a common contributor in incidents and accidents.

LINE ORIENTED FLIGHT TRAINING (LOFT)

Line Oriented Flight Training is representative line operations flight conducted in the simulator as if it were just like in real time, with weather, abnormalities , etc ,simulated, but not reversed to be retrained or practiced again.The whole essence of the LOFT being airline centred in checking the effectiveness of operational and training policies and not merely individual performances.

Of course, individual crew undergoing LOFT are encouraged to self critique and judge their performance, and more important from organization standpoint to check how robust its policies and procedures are.

LOFT malfunctions are not pre-briefed and no repositions allowed, which makes it as realistic as it can be on line and crew decision making and other attributes tested in a more realistic environment.

Also, being a training oriented session rather than a checking session, crew are more involved and receptive to the feedback derived from such exercise and the airline would do well to incorporate some of the LOFT scenarios from airline incidents/accidents to check the overall crew and procedural effectiveness.

The LOFT is more of a facilitation tool and the instructor plays more of a facilitator in the exercise and accords opportunities to crew to talk about the flight session happenings and derive benefits from it.

If you have experiences with LOFT exercise and have something to say, or are curious about it and have more questions, kindly send in your comments/posts.

FLIGHT PROCEDURES-- Standard Calls

   Standard Calls

Standard calls in a cockpit enhance crew coordination and ensure effective crew communication. They also serve to reduce the startle effect by conveying the approporiate information/meaning during high workload.

It also updates the situational awareness in crew, which is very essential as major accidents have been caused due to lack of situational awareness or loss of the same in operating crew.

Automation state awareness in crew increases with Standard calls and brings the crew back in loop with the current condition enhancing safety.

Have something to say on Standard Calls and their benefits??

Send in your comments.