Human Factors and Crew Resource Management
Core human factors concepts
Candidates must understand threat and error management (TEM), situational awareness, workload, fatigue, communication, and automation management. Traps include confusing a threat (external condition) with an error (crew action), and assuming CRM is only about interpersonal skills; it also covers decision-making, leadership, and monitoring.
Communication and authority gradient
Effective CRM requires a clear but not steep authority gradient, closed-loop communication, and assertiveness by all crew. Traps include believing that the captain's authority means junior crew should not speak up; the opposite is true for safety. Briefings, callouts and cross-checks are the mechanisms that catch errors.
Worked example
During approach, the first officer notices the aircraft is high and fast. The correct CRM behaviour is to state the observation clearly and specifically ('we are 300 ft high and 20 kt fast'), not to hint. The captain acknowledges and corrects. A candidate who says the first officer should wait to see if the captain notices has misunderstood monitoring responsibility.
Fatigue and fitness
Fatigue risk management includes duty limits, rest, and self-assessment. The trap is treating fatigue as a personal weakness rather than a managed operational risk.
Rule of thumb
For any CRM scenario, name the threat or error, the barrier that should have caught it, and the communication behaviour that would have helped.