Why We Fired Captain Kirk?

[FN FAL]

I thought it was because he boinked the green chick on Rigel 4, but I could be wrong...

Changing Cockpit Culture: Why We Fired Capt. Kirk
Airline Pilots No Longer Act Like They Have All the Answers, and We're Safer Because of It

Commentary

Mar. 28, 2005 - How fast would you turn around and get off a big commercial jetliner if there was no co-pilot and the captain was planning to fly alone? Even though big airliners can be easily flown by one pilot, most of us would beat feet back to the terminal simply because the concept feels so unsettling.

Yet before the early 1980s, most airline flights worldwide might as well have had only one pilot because our so-called cockpit culture dictated that the captain was an absolute commander and everyone else followed. In fact, we were all taught to be like Capt. James T. Kirk of the starship Enterprise, a commander who needed no advice from anyone, least of all his co-pilot.

You probably remember Capt. Kirk from the original 1960s "Star Trek" series, which you still see in reruns. Kirk had all the answers to all the questions all the time and expected himself to be error-free. But he had a dangerous professional flaw: Kirk, like all of us airline pilots, was a carbon-based human virtually incapable of being perfect -- yet he was the very model of the traditional airline captain.

When Subordinates Won't Speak Up

But wait a minute: Any system that routinely expects imperfect humans to perform without making mistakes is dangerously delusional. Mistakes and errors will still be made, regardless of our best efforts. If we don't build our safety systems to expect them and safely absorb them, a single error can metastasize like a cancer into a major accident. And clearly, an airline captain whose subordinate crew members are unable or unwilling to point out his mistakes is flying the plane by himself.

Throughout the '60s and '70s there was a steady drumbeat of airline crashes in which a subordinate pilot had the very information that would have prevented disaster but couldn't pass it on to the all-knowing captain.

The absolute worst example of this was the runway collision of a KLM 747 with a Pan American 747 in the Canary Islands in 1977, which killed 582 people. At different times, both the co-pilot and flight engineer on the KLM flight deck knew something was very wrong, but the command culture prevented them from telling the captain -- the airline's chief pilot and one of the best and brightest -- that he was making a horrific mistake and beginning a takeoff without a clearance.

This was the lightning bolt of realization that forced us to change our culture. In short, we've fired Capt. Kirk and reversed the definition of how a good captain runs his or her cockpit by using a discipline called CRM -- Crew Resource Management. Now captains lead by constantly soliciting and using the intellect and suggestions of ALL subordinate crew members, as a team.

Today, in other words, we don't tolerate airline captains unwilling to listen to their co-pilots or utilize their expertise. And, we also no longer tolerate subordinates who are reluctant or afraid to speak up.

And that is the major reason it's been an amazing 3 ½ years since the last major airline accident in the United States. Yes, we've improved maintenance and training and added some black boxes to prevent airliners from flying into the ground, and those things have contributed to airline safety. But the major reason that flying the airlines is now statistically safer than walking is that two or more minds are clearly better than one, especially when it comes to safely absorbing and cancelling the mistakes that even the best of professional pilots can make.

John J. Nance, ABC News' aviation analyst, is a veteran 13,000-flight-hour airline captain, a former U.S. Air Force pilot and a lieutenant colonel in the Air Force Reserves. He is also a New York Times best-selling author of 17 books, a licensed attorney, a professional speaker, and a founding board member of the National Patient Safety Foundation. A native Texan, he now lives in Tacoma, Wash.

Copyright © 2005 ABC News Internet Ventures

 

[JediNein]

Obviously whomever wrote the article forgot about Spock & McCoy... Kirk's crewmembers that he frequently consulted during the various missions. Scotty's job as flight engineer remains the same "that's all she's got!"

Fly SAFE!
Jedi Nein

 

[Little_Bill]

Jedi's right. Spock & McCoy were always there to balance Kirk. Spock with his logic and Bones with his human compassion.

This author should watch some or more original episodes. Kirk has emphasized many times about the safety of his ship and crew. Now the Prime Directive...well that's another discussion.

Bill

 

[jimpilot]

It is an interesting study; the differences between Kirk and Picard and their leadership styles. Who would you rather fly with?

 

[FN FAL]

Jedi's right. Spock & McCoy were always there to balance Kirk. Spock with his logic and Bones with his human compassion.

This author should watch some or more original episodes. Kirk has emphasized many times about the safety of his ship and crew. Now the Prime Directive...well that's another discussion.

Bill

Heh heh heh...one thing's for sure, you never wanted to be the new guy on a landing party. Hence, the most often used line on the show..."He's dead, Jim."

 

[Little_Bill]

The infamous red shirt!

Right you are Fn.

A red shirt from security in the landing party. Only a matter of time.

Bill

 

[Dash8]

nerd alert, woop woop, nerd alert, woop woop

It is an interesting study; the differences between Kirk and Picard and their leadership styles. Who would you rather fly with?

i'm gonna throw my vote in for Sisko on the defiant,
he was baaaaadaaaassssss!!

kirk would always be trying to score on your woman
and picard...well he was french....

although archer seems like he might be cool to work with lol

ugh, i have to go take a shower, if feel so unclean after talking about this....

 

[Little_Bill]

I don't know but that Borg chick was pretty hot in weird S&M kinda way .Bill

 

[NuGuy]

Nah,

The new bad-a$$ on the block is Commander Adama from the new BSG. Plus, the show has mucho eye-candy...

Nu

 

[FN FAL]

Nah,

The new bad-a$$ on the block is Commander Adama from the new BSG. Plus, the show has mucho eye-candy...

Nu

Yea, Star Trek always had some good eye candy on it. Remember the episode "Gary Seven" where an alien guy's duty was monitoring a Saturn V launch at NASA for some reason and Teri Gar was his unwitting earthling secretary? I think Gary Seven had a cat that turned into sexy babe at will as well.

None the less, the camel toe on any Star Trek episode is better than what they had on Fox's "COPS" last night.