An Evaluation of Crew Coordination and Performance During a Simulated UH-60 Helicopter Mission

This research was designed to develop measures of aircrew coordination and mission effectiveness and to identify crew coordination training requirements for U.S. Army rotary-wing flight. Twenty crews planned and conducted a three-segment mission scenario in the UH-60 Flight Simulator that exposed crews to situations requiring coordination. Crew performance and communications were recorded during the final two scenario segments and three mission effectiveness measures were developed from the records: navigational accuracy, threat avoidance and evasion, and instrument approach. Communication rate, topics, functions, and content areas were analyzed as indexes of crew coordination. The results indicate that substantial differences in performance and communication profiles exist between crewmembers and across mission segments. There were significant relationships between crew coordination levels and performance on the three mission tasks. The results also indicate the need for aircrew coordination training for Army helicopter pilots. Five recommendations are made for an Army aircrew coordination training program.