Definition
A flight crew training and operating philosophy that focuses on the effective use of all available resources — human, hardware, and information — to achieve safe and efficient flight operations. It addresses crew coordination, communication, workload management, situational awareness, and decision-making, with the goal of preventing accidents caused by breakdowns in teamwork or judgment rather than by mechanical or technical failures.
Plain English
Using everything and everyone available — the other pilot, the autopilot, checklists, charts, ATC, and your own attention — in a coordinated way so that nothing important gets dropped during a flight.
Context Anchor
Encountered in pilot training, flight reviews, scenario-based training, and discussions of good decision-making in normal and abnormal flight situations.
Derivation
The phrase came out of NASA accident research in the late 1970s after several airline crashes were traced not to mechanical failure but to poor communication and teamwork on the flight deck. Originally called 'Cockpit Resource Management,' the name later evolved to 'Crew Resource Management' to emphasise that the whole crew, not just the cockpit, is part of the system.
Why Pilots Care
It reduces the chance of accidents by improving communication and preventing errors that occur when resources are ignored or underused.
Intuition Check
Cockpit Resource Management does not mean simply organizing the physical cockpit. In aviation, it means actively using every available source of help, such as checklists, instruments, air traffic control, passengers, instructors, and extra time.
Example Sentence 1
Good cockpit resource management meant the first officer felt comfortable speaking up when she noticed the captain had set the wrong altitude in the autopilot.
Example Sentence 2
Good cockpit resource management includes using both ATC instructions and the aircraft's navigation displays during an instrument approach.