Crew Resource Management and Cultural Dimensions in Aviation. Strengths and Risks

Bachelor Thesis from the year 2021 in the subject Psychology - Industrial and organizational psychology, grade: 1,6, University of Applied Sciences Hamm-Lippstadt, language: English, abstract: This thesis focuses on the impact of culture on the failure of crew resource management (CRM) in aviation. Three cultural aspects are used to identify what impact culture can have on the failure of CRM. Those three cultural aspects are safety culture, professional culture, and national culture. Furthermore, three case studies are brought as an example. They include the case of TransAsia Airways GE222, Garuda Indonesia GA200, and Korean Air 801.

On the 27th of March in 1977 many planes had to be diverted to other Canarian airports caused by a bomb exploding at the airport of Las Palmas de Gran Canaria. One of those was the small airport of Los Rodeos on the island of Tenerife that got very crowded due to the number of planes that had to be diverted, resulting in the runway having to be used as a taxiway. Two of the planes stranded at the airport were flight KLM 4805 and flight PAA 1736.

When the bomb threat was lifted and the planes started to leave Los Rodeos, KLM 4805 was instructed to taxi down the runway, turn around, and then eventually take off. The PAA 1736 taxied the runway after the KLM 4805 and was instructed to leave the runway at exit three so the KLM 4805 could proceed with takeoff. The tower then cleared the KLM 4805 for takeoff but told them to stand by, as the PAA 1736 still maneuvered on the runway.

Because of a communication issue, the KLM 4 805 understood its conversation with the tower as a clearance to takeoff and proceeded down the runway where it collided with the PAA 1736. All 248 passengers on board KLM 4805 died and so did 335 passengers on the flight of PAA 1736, making it the deadliest commercial aviation accident to this date, all because of a pilot error.