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At the time of writing there is no mandated HF training for TCOs and dispatchers. Some airlines recruit their own staff, whereas others use contractors or 3rd party companies. Some airlines provide new hire and recurrent training for all TCOs. The airport services training team invariably runs these sessions. There are currently no recognised HF training

standards for the trainers and although they are often highly experienced and excellent in their roles they sometimes lack in depth HF knowledge. If the company has a human factors department (or specialists) then it might be possible to establishing a closer relationship with the TCO trainers, providing training support where required. Other

initiatives include inviting TCO trainers on pilot initial or recurrent CRM training. While this doesn’t expose all TCOs to a joint training session, it can build bridges and generate a positive response on the line. On the other hand, consideration should always be given to the effect this might have on the quality of pilot CRM sessions (i.e. if the session material needs to be changed, or certain topics are not followed through in the same depth as they would otherwise be).

The problem is more difficult with contractors, where the perennial problem of time and money emerges. Some proactive operators adopt a co-operative relationship between contractor and customer and as one senior manager said,

We are trying to move away from the unequal relationship between purchaser and service provider to a more collaborative relationship.

Problems experienced by most operators revolve around a clash of cultures and poor communications skills. Generally this is manifested by poor relations between pilots and dispatchers, which impacts upon efficiency and in some instances safety.

For a local CRM instructor tasked with trying to ease these situations there is no simple solution. The problem is often a lack of communications between the two organisations or reluctance to change. Frequently there is a conflict of interest between aircrew and dispatchers. The crew’s motivation is to make an on time departure while ensuring they don’t take any unnecessary problems into the air with them. The dispatcher is

performance driven and can sometimes fail to appreciate the flight crew issues. For

example, while they might return to their office grumbling about the crew being picky about the pre-departure routine, the same crew may have to spend many hours dealing with the fallout from a poor decision.

In some cases, airline senior management could help this by encouraging the contractor’s senior management to engage with HF training. This opening would allow the CRM instructor to invite these individuals to join in with company CRM where appropriate. Friction can occur on the line between the company and contractor managers, resulting in pressure being applied to the TCOs to adopt an inflexible or even confrontational attitude. Comments like “I don’t care what they say, this is the way we do it and that’s it” were mentioned by TCOs when they tried to discuss operational differences with their

managers. This attitude can then colour the relationship between pilots and TCOs that can lead to friction and compromise good CRM.

A typical scenario to illustrate this possible breakdown of trust is delay codes. TCOs are responsible for getting flights away on time and On Time Performance (OTP) is a major performance indicator. One airline CRM instructor reported that TCOs adopted a habit of putting any minor delays down to the crew arriving late at the aircraft or at “commander’s

CAP 737 Section B, Part 1, Chapter 17: Working with external teams

request”. Pilots, while keen to make OTP, are usually far keener on making sure everything is in order before they depart. Over time pilots became aware of the TCOs tactics and naturally this caused friction. This resulted in a case where one captain refused to depart until a TCO manager came to the aircraft to confirm that the delay was not coded as late crew arrival at aircraft. This crew was probably not in the best frame of mind as they taxied from the gate. This situation could not be allowed to continue so the HF

department arranged for a TCO to deliver a short briefing and discussion during recurrent pilot CRM training. This small intervention reduced friction and appeared to improve OTP. This is not to attribute blame to any parties. Very often (for example) TCOs are left with the feeling that captains give little or no thought to seeing the operation from the TCO point of view. TCOs also commented on poor communications skills by captains leading to

unnecessary conflict.

Below are some cases to demonstrate the issues.

Case 1

A captain was on the flight deck with his feet up during a turnaround when the TCO asked for the load sheet the captain firmly said that he was the commander of the aircraft and it was up to him when the aircraft was ready to push back, so he refused to handover the signed load sheet until he was ready.

Case 2

The dispatcher approached flight deck for the signed load sheet at ETD -7. The captain was clearly on a personal call. The engineer was also waiting to sign off the tech log. The dispatcher gently tapped the captain on shoulder and asked if he would mind signing the tech log. The captain was very apologetic and ended his phone call. The dispatcher advised LCMs were complete and first officer confirmed they had the final load sheet and it was ok to close up. The captain confirmed he was happy to do so. The dispatcher was in the process of closing doors when captain arrived at the door and (according to the dispatcher) shouted at the dispatcher for being rude and told him he'd been flying since before the dispatcher had been born.

CRM instructors should consider the best ways to spend some time with these team members to help improve communications and break down barriers. Options include CRM instructors shadowing TCOs on shifts and CRM instructors providing informal sessions in contractor crew rooms.