Solving the brittleness problem: Redefining airmanship in the age of increasing complexity

Abstract

The increasing performance of our aviation system has in-part been made possible through growing complexity of systems and operations, together with a drive toward standardization and compliance as safety foundations. Despite high levels of safety performance and reliability, commercial aviation accidents in the past two decades reveal a systemic, brittle crew response when faced with opacity and ambiguity resulting from this complexity. Building on research into effective flight crew behaviours and strategies in complex fourth generation commercial transport aircraft, this paper proposes a new concept for the human pilot operator – Airmanship 2.0 – to address the brittleness of the existing socio-technical flight deck system and further improve aviation safety. This concept proposes a compound pilot role to systematically harmonize compliant and adaptive behaviours and mitigate the current bifurcation of and related strain on the pilot role. This paper contrasts the proposed Airmanship 2.0 concept against notable accidents in the past decades.