TEMers, What Do They Do? How They Do It?

Aviation industry has always been a head of the game due to its nature, proximity of danger, hazards or threats related to the safety of human. Therefore the industry has developed what is called: Threat and Error Management (TEM). It is a concept developed to address the increasing occurrence of aviation accidents resulting from human error.

It identifies threats source as; external, internal, environmental, organisational and latent or hidden. Errors can be categorised as handling, procedural, communication, proficiency, operation decision errors.

The idea is to integrate TEM into aviation training, with the aim of enabling pilots to better identify threats and avoid , trap or mitigate threats and errors that could ultimately result in a catastrophe.

So who are the TEMers? And what do they do?

Many aviators and researchers have extensively written about the subject and many TEM models have been integrated into training curriculums by various operators. The aim of the TEM is to foster a culture of learning and continuous improvement, ultimately reducing the likelihood of future accidents. TEM is designed to help pilots learn from their experiences and develop situational awareness.

They are the #Pilots, they are the “Threat and Error Managers”, they identify, evaluate, and mitigate threats and errors to avoid incidents or accidents. TEM encourages pilots to take a proactive approach to safety, encouraging them to be more vigilant, aware, and prepared.

One of many good papers on the topic was written by Captain Dan Maurino and was published in 2005. It provides an excellent overview of this concept and investigates the types of errors that occur in aviation, including operational, tactical, and strategic errors. It also examines the many threats that pilots face, such as poor communication, weather changes, stress, fatigue, equipment failure, and more.

TEM is based on several key human factors principles, including situational awareness, decision making, communication, and workload management. These principles provide the structure for developing a proactive approach to aviation safety.

Unfortunately, many of the models on TEM lack the implementation part. Indeed, it is challenging to implement. While pilots may benefit from training in TEM, it can be challenging to apply the principles in real-time operational conditions, where pilots are faced with complicated and often unpredictable or unexpected situations or what is known as Black Swans.

This made the TEM look like a reactive approach to aviation safety; responding to mistakes rather than preventing them. It has also been criticised that pilots may become overly reliant on TEM training and may fail to exhibit critical judgment in some situations. Many of the TEM models have narrow focus on the exact role of pilots in managing threats and errors. Human in aviation are not only pilots, there are teams of a critical factor in aviation safety, such as Air Traffic Controllers [ATC], Engineers, Technicians and GroundStaff. What if we have a comprehensive TEM model that benefit all those teams?

One might argue that the TEM models lack what is argued to be an ‘ empirical evidence’ to support the effectiveness of the models proposed.

Nowadays, with the emergence of EBT (evidence-based training) and the spread of CBTA (competency- based training & assessment), the effectiveness of TEM might be witnessed more than ever, but only if both themes properly integrated not only in training but also in line-operations. This should provides both a theoretical framework for TEM and empirical evidence

Surly, implementing TEM strategies in practice is one main challenges that airlines face during implementation.

Although none of the TEM the proposed models is ‘perfect’, they have been innovative and useful approaches to flight safety. They remain valuable tools that can be an effective part of aviation training, helping “TEMers” reduce the risk of accidents and promoting continuous learning and improvement.

Nowadays, the industry is shifting Pilot Training away from the Classical Instructional Systems Design (ISD) towards newer paradigms whereby competency-based approaches are used for training and assessment. This has emerged from the Training Needs Analysis (TNA). The International Civil Aviation Organisation (ICAO) has set a number of core competencies that the new approaches will work around.

• Are there any new or different competencies that need to be considered?
• Is or will the cultural dimension be considered?
• What changes we are expecting to see in the coming years in CRM/TEM training?

Don’t forget to Aviate > Navigate > Communicate > Manage

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Greetings from #Bangkok!