Convergent Performance - SM4 Safety Articles & Resources
You Can’t Handle the Truth!
Lt Kaffee: “I want the truth!” Col Jessep: “You can’t handle the truth!” That’s the famous interchange from the movie “A Few Good Men” when the characters played by Jack…
Centers of Gravity (Living Ones)
Pilots are all familiar with the concept of center of gravity (CG), the fulcrum point around which thrust, drag, lift and gravity work. We know that if this point moves,…
Crushing Groupthink in Pursuit of Safety: A Case Study
I recently had the wonderfully unique experience of working with a group of experts who didn’t give a damn about hurting each other’s feelings. The team was tasked to produce…
A Source of Stability Amidst a Torrent of Change
Our industry is on the bow wave of some of the greatest change in the last 50 years. Tens of thousands of new pilots and maintenance professionals are entering the…
Professionally Uncomfortable
Adapted from Dr. Kern’s column in Skies magazine I usually take great care not to talk about recent mishaps, and for good reason. Typically, emotions are high, and friends and…
Overcoming Temptation
True professionals rarely need to deviate from technical limits, policy or procedure for mission essential purposes, but there are certain conditions that can lead individuals to breakdowns of discipline. In…
Why We are Losing the Safety Battle
As I reviewed the past couple of years worth of depressing safety statistics, it became clear to me that if we want to improve we need to do something different….
Take the Fight to the Enemy: Combating Human Error is Still Our Top Challenge
A few years back, after the publication of Blue Threat: Why to Err is Inhuman, I was interviewed on the topic of human error. With the rash of human error…
Sacred Ground: Walking the Path of Potential
I recently spoke at an annual safety stand down, held by an aeromedical evacuation company on the anniversary of a tragic fatal mishap they experienced a few years back. I…
