Where Birds Don't Fly

One upon a time during the pre-CRM years of aviation co-pilots job were only to obey Captains order, sit down and do nothing unless asked. Then CRM – Crew Resource Management came along. CRM opened the door for communication and decisions between pilots in the driver's seats. The co-pilot became enabled to initiate safety concerns to the Captain. Safety had moved forward, and everyone felt safe, secure and good about themselves.  Then one day a flight attendant spoke up against the Captain about a safety concern. It was snowing heavily and snow was packing on an airplane preparing for takeoff. This interference was a new and unfamiliar for the Captain, since flight attendance were not expected to interfere with the Captains safety decisions. Not only had Captains over years accepted and adjusted to consider advise from the first officer, but now the flight attendant also wanted to become involved in safety. The Captain decided not to take this advise and ordered the concerned cabin...

In non-aviation jurisdiction there is a law addressing the issue of honest mistakes being made in working environment. This law states that if the mistake is done by reason of an honest mistake the error cannot be punished with punitive actions. This type of law sets up any organization for failure and with no accountability to job performance. It may be assumed that the non-punitive clause under SMS is the same thing, but that is as far from the fact as it could be. SMS does not function in an environment where failure is accepted, or excused, but has to be embraced in a just culture with job-performance accountability at all levels. Accountability is to manage time and place. What is an honest mistake in job-performance anyway? Is there such a thing as a non-honest mistake? What makes a mistake, or a failure honest or dishonest? Describing an event as an honest mistake is an attempt to justify an outcome without accountability and by placing blame on the outcome itself. Applying the ...