The Cockpit of the Future - The Captain's Role 902343
The traditional role of the airline captain as a team leader and mentor for the cockpit and cabin crews in the aircraft of the future will continue but may be modified by some very potent factors - the new generation cockpits, the operational environment and the training required to equip the flight crews to operate safely in the future.
The challenge to those who influence the cockpit environment, i.e. the aircraft manufacturers, the airlines, the regulatory agencies and the flight crews themselves, will be to create “user friendly” equipment and procedures rather than spend enormous amounts of time and money in future aircraft modifications and/or otherwise better utilized training to overcome the built-in deficiencies in the cockpit environment.
Teamwork training geared towards integrating the crew and the advanced automation into a single, effective work unit within an error resistant and error tolerant environment would appear to be a key to future safe flight operations.
This paper will examine some of the challenges and opportunities associated with the role of the captain in the cockpit of the future.
