identifying the qualities of the ideal captain
TRANSCRIPT
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BEST CAPTAINS:
A SURVEY OF CHARACTERISTICS AND
SKILLS OF AIRLINE CAPTAIN EXCELLENCE
Captain Steve Swauger Southwest Airlines Pilots’ Association (SWAPA)
Safety Committee – Human Factors
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Motivation for this Study
• Society/Press is focused on extraordinary events
• Vast majority of operations are ordinary
• Excellence under the normal daily environment has not been well studied
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550 B-737 aircraft 3400+ daily flights to 72 cities 6000+ pilots in 8 crew bases
140 B-737 and B-717 aircraft 70 cities
1800+ pilots in 3 crew bases
Southwest Airlines overview
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Career Progress and Professional Job Skills
Prof
essi
onal
Exp
erie
nce
Length of Airline Career
New Hire First Officer
Captain Upgrade
Retirement
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What explains the variance?
- Human tendency to ease off following the attainment of a goal
- Pursue growth in other areas
- Lack of growth promoting conditions in the organizational environment
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Question? How do you promote professional growth?
Prof
essi
onal
Exp
erie
nce
Length of Airline Career
New Hire First Officer
Captain Upgrade
Retirement
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First step
Determine those qualities that you wish to promote within the
pilot group
What is the Standard of Excellence?
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Who is the target group?
CAPTAINS - Captain culture drives the culture of the rest of the pilot group
- Captains exhibit the greatest variance of professional growth
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Who are the best people to identify Captain excellence?
FIRST OFFICERS!!
- Greatest frequency of observation
- Most “naturalistic” environment
- All experienced Captains/Aircraft Commanders
- Not shy – very little distortion
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Survey Plan
- Survey the First Officers – define traits and characteristics
- Survey the “Best Captains” – techniques and best practices
- Publish results
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Survey Product List the names/numbers/domicile of 1, 2 or 3 Captains that you consider
exemplify the finest line operational skills and practices at the airline. Please consider the following areas: flight management, flying skills, situational awareness, open communications, team building, CRM environment, conflict resolution, decision making, instructional ability, and mentoring.
Please limit your selections to those Captains that you have personally flown with for at least one multi-day pairing. Include the Captain’s employee number, if needed. 1._____________________/_________________/_____ (Name/Number/Domicile)
2._____________________/_________________/_____ (Name/Number/Domicile)
3._____________________/_________________/_____ (Name/Number/Domicile)
Please identify some of the specific outstanding qualities that these Pilots demonstrate. What makes them rise to the top of your list? Use the back or extra pages, if desired. 1. 2. 3.
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Survey Results - 380 Captains received one or
more votes
- In each crew base – one or more Captains received multiple votes
- No difference between First Officer groups
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Data analysis – traits of excellence - Flight Management
- Flying skills
- Situational Awareness
- Open Communications
- Team Building
- CRM Environment
- Conflict Resolution
- Decision Making
- Instructional Ability
- Mentoring
- Professionalism
- Experience
- Personality
- Technical Expertise
- Company Asset
- Humor
- Easy-going nature
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Survey Results Top tier – technical expertise, promoting CRM environment, personality (12% each)
Second tier – professionalism, flying skills, instructional ability, easy going nature (8-9% each)
Third tier – flight management, open communications, team building, company asset, humor (4-5% each)
Fourth tier – experience, situational awareness, conflict resolution, decision making, and mentoring (0-2% each)
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Conclusions
Technically competent,
Psychologically confident,
and promote an effective CRM environment
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Follow-on “Best of the Best” Captains Surveys
Open ended essay surveys – designed to capture best practices
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Follow-on Captains Surveys 7 operational questions
- First impressions
- Open communications
- Team building
- Instruction/mentoring
- Personality
- Professionalism
- Deliberate and predictable
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Follow-on Captains Surveys
3 situational questions
Open-ended essay How do you view your role as the Captain? How do you get things done? What are your personal goals as the Captain? How do you know when you have succeeded as a Captain?
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Articles and follow-on
Series of articles in SWAPA’s Reporting Point newspaper
Incorporation in Captain upgrade
Positive feedback
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Current Project – The Professionalism Council
• Pilot Professionalism Council
- Develop a shared model of the measure of excellence
- Domicile-based Professionalism Council
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Professionalism Council Creed To promote professionalism, we will: • Cultivate leadership based on the Golden Rule by
demonstrating compassion and respect • Support flight ops priorities of safety, customer
service, and efficiently on time • Nurture excellence through personal growth and life
long learning • Honor integrity • Encourage open communications • Preserve and enhance the Southwest Culture
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Professionalism Council Projects
Selected 5 program ideas
• Identity promotion • “Myth Busters” article series • Improved Flight Attendant team building • Improved ops/ramp team building • Better recognition of pilot excellence
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Questions?
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Professional challenges of a single-type carrier
- Two-step career progression
- Clear lack of variety/challenge
- Environment promotes stasis
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Survey Execution
- Box-stuff surveys
- Promotion through SWAPA pubs
- Answer questions on forum
- Collect results
- Publicly acknowledge winners
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Conclusions Technical expertise is valued over experience, flight management, situational awareness, and decision making
CRM environment is valued over open communications, team building, and conflict resolution
Personality is valued highly in all measures
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Career Progress and Professional Job Skills
Prof
essi
onal
Kno
wle
dge
Length of Airline Career
New Hire
CA Upgrade
Retirement
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Question?
How do you promote professional growth?
Prof
essi
onal
Kno
wle
dge
Length of Airline Career
New Hire
CA Upgrade
Retirement
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Why does this environment lack growth promotion?
- Air carrier industry structure promotes minimalism
-- Cost savings
-- Union system
-- Lack of emphasis on excellence