Measuring CRM Aptitude: Is NOTECHS a Suitable Tool for Pilot Selection?

Abstract

Airline pilot’s primary job requirements have shifted from stick-and-rudder to CRM skills. At the same time, eliminating airline pilots from the job due to a lack of CRM skills is highly inefficient. Hence, an efficient and usable selection tool that helps to evaluate airline pilot candidates’ CRM skills prior their advanced training is needed. This paper examines the usability of the NOTECHS CRM assessment tool for already trained airline pilots for the purpose of pilot selection. CRM skills were evaluated during a scripted simple flying scenario in a Flight Navigation Procedure Trainer 2 (FNPT 2). Results indicate that the standard JAR TEL NOTECHS score form, which is subdivided into two social (cooperation; leadership & managerial skills) and two cognitive (situation awareness; decision making) categories, is efficiently usable by examiners who do not have to be psychologists, such as Human Resource personnel and airline pilots. Based on the experiment, some modifications to the NOTECHS score form were suggested.