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NOTECHS Categories and Elements

Co-operation
Co-operation is the ability to work effectively in a crew

Team-building and maintaining

Team-building and maintaining is about the ability to establish positive interpersonal relations
between crew members and their active participation in fulfilling the tasks

Examples of poor practice: Examples of good practice:

Blocks open communication Establishes atmosphere for open communication and

participation

Keeps barriers between crew members Encourages inputs and feedback from others

Competes with others Does not compete with others

Consideration of others
Consideration of others involves the acceptance of others and understanding their personal
condition.

Examples of poor practice: Examples of good practice:

Ignores suggestions of other crew members Notice of the suggestions of other crew members even if
s/he does not agree

Does not take account of the condition of other crew Takes condition of other crew members into account
members

Shows no reaction to other crew members problems Gives appropriate personal feedback

Support of others
Support of others relates to giving help to other crew members when they need assistance.

Examples of poor practice: Examples of good practice:

Hesitates to help other crew members in demanding Helps other crew members in demanding situations
situations

Does not offer assistance Offers assistance

Conflict solving
Conflict solving is about the articulation of different interpersonal positions and giving
suggestions for solutions.

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Examples of poor practice: Examples of good practice:

Overreacts in interpersonal conflicts, sticks to own Keeps calm in conflicts

position without considering a compromise

Accuses other crew members of making errors Suggests conflict solutions

Concentrates on what is right rather than who is right

Leadership & Managerial Skills

Effective leadership and managerial skills help to achieve joint task completion within a
motivated, fully-functioning team, through co-ordination and persuasiveness

Use of authority and assertiveness

The use of authority and assertiveness infers the ability to create a proper challenge and
response atmosphere. The given command authority of the Captain should be adequately
balanced by assertiveness and crewmember participation. If situation requires, decisive actions
are expected.

Examples of poor practice: Examples of good practice:

Hinders or withholds crew involvement Advocates own position

Passive, does not show initiative for decisions, own Takes initiative to ensure involvement and task completion
position not recognisable

Does not show appreciation for the crew, coaches Takes command if situation requires
very little or too much

Maintaining standards
Refers to the compliance with essential standards (SOPs and others) for the task completion.
Supervision and intervention in case of deviations from standards by other crew members is
also part of this skill. If situation requires, non-standard procedures might be necessary. Such
deviations shall be discussed and announced.

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Examples of poor practice: Examples of good practice:

Does not comply to SOPs, does not monitor crew for Ensures SOP compliance
SOP compliance

Does not intervene in case of deviations Intervenes if task completion deviates from standards

Applies non-standard procedures without announcement

or consultation of crew members

Planning and co-ordination

Planning and co-ordination refers to applying an appropriate concept for organised task-sharing
and delegation in order to achieve top performance and to avoid workload peaks and dips.
Communication of plans and intentions leads to co-ordinated activities within the whole crew.

Examples of poor practice: Examples of good practice:

Plans only for self, does not involve crew Encourages crew participation in planning and task
completion

Intentions not stated or confirmed Clearly states intentions and goals

Changes plan without informing crew or follows plans Having consulted crew, changes plan if necessary
blindly

Workload management
Workload management demands clear prioritisation of primary and secondary operational
tasks. Based on sound planning, tasks should be distributed appropriately among the crew.
Signs of stress and fatigue should be communicated and taken into account. Available external
and internal resources (including automation) should be used to accomplish timely task
completion.

Examples of poor practice: Examples of good practice:

Allowing secondary operational tasks to interfere with Awareness of signs of stress and fatigue
primary flight duties

Inadequate workload planning

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Situation awareness
The ability to accurately perceive what is in the cockpit and outside the aircraft. It is also one’s
ability to comprehend the meaning of different elements in the environment and the projection
of their status in the near future.

Awareness of aircraft systems

The crew needs to be constantly aware of the state of different aircraft systems.

Examples of poor practice: Examples of good practice:

Does not ask for updates Monitors and reports changes in system states

Does not signal awareness of changing systems Acknowledges entries and changes to systems

Awareness of external environment

The crew needs to be aware of their environment (position, weather, air traffic, terrain).

Examples of poor practice: Examples of good practice:

Does not enquire about environmental changes Contacts outside resources when necessary

Does not comment on relevant environmental factors, or Shares information about the environment with others
is surprised by them

Anticipation
The crew needs not only to be aware of the present state of the aircraft systems and
environment, but must also be able to predict future states in order to anticipate future events.

Examples of poor practice: Examples of good practice:

Does not set priorities with respect to time limits Discusses contingency strategies

Does not discuss relationship between past events and

present / future

Is surprised by outcomes of past events

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Decision Making
Decision making is the process of reaching a judgement or choosing an option.

Problem definition and diagnosis

Problem definition and diagnosis is the ability to collect the information needed to define a
problem and its causal factors.

Examples of poor practice: Examples of good practice:

Nature of the problem not stated or failure to diagnose Gathers information and identifies problem

No discussion of probable causes Reviews causal factors with other crew members

Option generation
Option generation refers to the ability of a crewmember to generate multiple responses to a
problem.

Examples of poor practice: Examples of good practice:

Does not search for information States alternative courses of action

Does not ask crew for alternatives Asks crew members for options

Risk assessment and option selection

Risk assessment and option selection refer to the ability of a crewmember to successfully
assess risks and benefits of different responses to a problem, and to select the best response.
Both should be accomplished through discussion with other crew members.

Examples of poor practice: Examples of good practice:

Inadequate discussion of limiting factors with crew Considers and shares risks of alternative courses of
action

Failing to inform crew of decision path being taken Talks about possible risks for course of action in terms of
crew limitations

Confirms selected course of action

Outcome review
Outcome review refers to the crewmember’s need to check the outcome of a solution against
the predefined goal.

Examples of poor practice: Examples of good practice:

Fails to check selected outcome against goal Checks outcome against plan

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Rating
The NOTECHS system proposes that non-technical skills should be evaluated in each category
according to the following five-point scale, and the associated definitions.

 Very Poor
Behaviour directly endangers flight safety

 Poor
Behaviour in other conditions could endanger flight safety

 Acceptable
Behaviour does not endanger flight safety but needs improvement

 Good
Behaviour enhances flight safety

 Very Good
Behaviour optimally enhances flight safety and could serve as an example
for other pilots

Principles for application

The final report presents guidelines for use of the NOTECHS framework based on five
principles.

Use of a two-point rating scale

The outcome of the NTS assessment should just mention whether the observed Non-Technical
behaviour was ACCEPTABLE or UNACCEPTABLE: i.e. the evaluation is done using a two-
point rating scale. For a training system it can be desirable to subdivide the ACCEPTABLE area
to facilitate feedback and debrief.

Need for technical consequences

Non-Technical Skills cannot be rated and cannot provoke a FAILED condition for the whole
exam out of the context of a related objective technical consequence leading to compromised
flight safety in the short or long term.

An unacceptable rating on any of the categories in the NOTECHS framework should be

considered as an indication of a need for additional training in that specific area. Nothing should
restrain the examiner from reporting any observed unacceptable NTS behaviour.

If the consequences of an unacceptable rating of behaviour observed under one of the

elements are a FAIL, the examiner may hesitate to report this when there are no clear objective
indicators in the result of the exercise. In this case it is considered wiser to report the
unacceptable NTS behaviour and to take the opportunity to indicate the need for training, but to

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base the final outcome of the exam on the technical result. NOTECHS proposes to require a
(potential) threat to flight safety before an exam can be rated FAILED. It is up to the company
and the authority involved, in determining what should be considered as potentially
endangering for the flight.

Explanation required
The rating of NTS behaviour is done at the category level. A negative rating on any of the
elements in one category should always lead to an unacceptable rating for the category and
hence for the whole NTS group. This seems like a rigid rule, but it should be noted that the
need for technical consequences acts as a safeguard against arbitrariness in the assessment.
For each category rated unacceptable the examiner must indicate:

The element(s) in that category where the unacceptable behaviour was observed

Repetition required
It is not the goal of an assessment on NTS to FAIL someone who at one single occasion does
not ask the crew member for options before making a decision. However, if this behaviour is
part of a repeating pattern, it should lead to an unacceptable rating on the Decision making
category. It is argued that this approach is probably not different from the current situation in
examinations: how many examiners will fail a candidate who is, in a further perfect exercise, at
one single moment 120 feet above the designated altitude?

Only observable behaviour

Any evaluation should be based only on observable behaviours. When inferences
(interpretation of facts) are required to have access to social or cognitive skills, they should be
limited and based on obvious observable facts and behaviours. The evaluation must exclude
reference to pilot personality or emotional attitude. The background material for the IEM
includes a set of behavioural markers that were designed to support an objective judgement of
the trainee, also for less visible elements such as Outcome review and System awareness.

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