Pilot, safety expert, consultant, and aviation journalist Stuart “Kipp” Lau writes about flight safety and airmanship for AIN.

Contributor - Safety

Stuart “Kipp” Lau

Nearly 10 years ago, Alaska Airlines redesigned its departure and approach briefings to focus on flight-specific threats. The airline moved away from lengthy, generic briefings that had become routine box-checking exercises on flight decks worldwide. In their place, it introduced a more dynamic process grounded in threat and error management, giving pilots flexibility to scale and tailor briefings to the situation at hand.
Research into threat-forward briefings began following the 2013 fatal crash of an Airbus A300-600 freighter in Birmingham, Alabama. Both pilots were killed.
After a review of the cockpit voice recorder, investigators noted that the pilot flying (PF) “ticked all of the required boxes” during the approach briefing—it was perfect and on script. However, neither of the fatigued crewmembers discussed relevant threats or countermeasures related to a nonprecision approach at night to a seldom-used short runway with limited lighting in weather conditions that were lower than expected.
The NTSB would list the probable cause of the accident as “the flight crew’s continuation of an unstabilized approach and their failure to monitor the aircraft’s altitude during the approach, which led to an inadvertent descent below the minimum approach altitude and subsequently into terrain.”
Alaska Airlines captains Rich Loudon and David Moriarty, members of the Royal Aeronautical Society’s Human Factors Group, wrote in the Flight Safety Foundation’s AeroSafety World publication that, following the Birmingham accident, research into U.S. and international airlines found that all had departure and arrival briefings that were “strikingly similar.” These researchers found that “a decades-old briefing method” neither adapted to next-generation flight decks nor incorporated breakthroughs in our understanding of human cognition.
These briefings were simply too long and redundant, and involved one-sided conversations that lacked involvement from the other pilot.
Alaska Airlines then reviewed its own departure and arrival briefings and found they were similarly inadequate. An analysis showed the briefings had become overloaded and were often performed by rote: crews either followed the policy mechanically, or some pilots disregarded it altogether. In both cases, significant time was spent briefing without focusing on the threats and countermeasures that mattered most.
<h2>Four Goals</h2>
Drawing on advances in cognitive theory and decision-making, the airline set four goals to improve its briefings:
Threat forward. Following the law of primacy (information presented first is better retained), crew briefings should first address the relevant threats to the flight, followed by a discussion about specific countermeasures to mitigate any identified threats.
Interactive. A threat-forward briefing should encourage interaction between the PF and pilot monitoring (PM). It’s recommended that the PM be the first to open the conversation about threats. To be successful, captains must set the tone and promote an environment that is psychologically safe and that encourages an open dialogue. The mindset should be “our leg,” not “my leg/your leg.”
Scalable. Crew briefings need to be scalable. This requires a high level of autonomy. Pilots know what is important based on experience, familiarity, complexity, and a host of other factors. A daytime visual approach to Cedar Rapids is much different than an arrival and approach into Teterboro in low-IMC conditions.
Cognitive. Following the principle of recency (that information presented last is also well retained), the conclusion of each briefing should include a recap of the critical threats and the associated countermeasures. By recapping the threats and countermeasures at the end of the briefing, crews are mentally primed to act quickly and accurately through pattern-matching. This is also a good time to discuss specific PM or PF duties.
<h2>A Little T-P-C</h2>
To support these four goals, it is recommended to begin with a “silent set-up.” Essentially, this involves normal preflight actions and cockpit set with very little discussion other than those things critical to flight safety.
The crew then begins the briefing using the threats-plan-considerations (T-P-C) framework. The PF prompts the PM to identify relevant threats, often with a simple question such as, “What are our threats?” This approach gives the PM a stronger sense of ownership and encourages open engagement. Once the threats are identified, the crew then discusses appropriate countermeasures.
Next, the PF outlines the plan, scaling the briefing to the situation. A visual approach to a hometown airport is typically low-threat and may not require an extensive briefing because of crew familiarity and proficiency. By contrast, a circling approach into Teterboro in gusty conditions may call for a more detailed briefing that covers the threats, countermeasures, instrument approach, circling procedures, automation use, and PF/PM duties.
Finally, the considerations portion of the briefing is intended to recap or summarize the discussion. In a scenario involving a high-risk or complex briefing, be sure to revisit the specific PF/PM duties.
<h2>Personal Experience</h2>
When Alaska Airlines began sharing its research on threat-forward briefings, the concept immediately resonated with me. I believed in the approach and was glad when my company adopted the policy. I had already incorporated threat management into my briefings; the new policy gave it a more formal structure.
The first step is establishing a psychologically safe microculture on the flight deck that builds trust and encourages open dialogue. Be interactive. Researchers have found that pilots engage in “self-silencing” when there is not a psychologically safe environment.
Effective use of a threat-forward briefing requires pilots to think carefully—not only to identify threats, but also to scale the briefing appropriately for the situation. This is not simply another canned briefing; keep it fresh, adapt it creatively, and make it engaging.

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