COMPARISON OF FIXED VERSUS FORMED AIRCREWS IN MILITARY TRANSPORT

Historically, transport crews are formed to fly a brief series of sort ies together. But what would be the effect of keeping crews together l onger? This research investigates the effect of crewing policies on ac cident rates. We compare the crew coordination performance of fixed te ams that work together indefinitely with that of formed teams that wor k together for shorter periods. We researched 74 accident investigatio n records of two jet transport aircraft of the U.S. Air Force over 20- year periods. These aircraft used both fixed and formed crews. The ''i neffective crew coordination'' accident rates for formed crews were si gnificantly safer (x = 12.5 for one aircraft and 2.1 for another p < 0 .05). This may imply that airlines and military commands could enhance flight safety by following a formed crew policy. However, further stu dy is needed to identify more completely the effects of crew policies on sortie effectiveness.