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Major Improvements Needed in Air Safety Emergency Procedures, Report Says
Report Urges Near Two Dozen Recommendations to Improve Aviator Performance

By ANDY PASZTOR

Abu Dhabi-Major improvements in pilot training, flying procedures and management oversight are needed to ensure airline pilots properly monitor automated flight-controls and react appropriately in emergencies, according to a report released on Thursday by a global air-safety advocacy group.

The wide-ranging study-drafted over two years by representatives of industry, labor, academia and the U.S. government-sets a new benchmark emphasizing the importance of monitoring activities performed by pilots. It also includes nearly two dozen immediate and longer-term recommendations to improve aviator performance, ranging from changing jetliner design to reducing cockpit distractions, to enhancing collaboration between captains and co-pilots.

On airliners, historically one pilot has operated flight controls and issued commands while the other monitors systems, checks instruments, helps troubleshoot problems and performs other tasks that don't require actually flying the aircraft. In the U.S. and many other countries, captains and co-pilots typically switch between those roles.

But over the decades, as automation has grown increasingly more complex and essential for routine flight, safety and human-factors experts have advocated more of a team approach with the nonflying, or monitoring pilot, assuming a substantially more active role.

"It must become accepted that monitoring is a core skill," just as important as manipulating controls or exercising proper decision-making, according to Helena Reidemar, the study group's co-chair and director of human factors for the Air Line Pilots Association. "Pilot monitoring is more than observing," she told the conference. "It is an active role."