Understanding and Improving Flight Crew Performance of the Preflight, Flight Planning, and Briefing Task

The preflight, flight planning, and briefing task is critical both from an operational and a safety and human factors perspective. This article reports on research related to the advancement of a qualitative model of this task (i.e., normal practice and its challenges), along with the requirements for best practice in briefing. An analysis of this model suggests certain process and information technology requirements necessary for the implementation of improved briefings at an operational level. It is argued that by changing the flight operations process and in particular, changing what information is communicated to flight crew in the flight plan and how it is communicated (i.e., electronic format), it is possible to transform the way the preflight, flight planning, and briefing task is performed for the better.