Commercial airline accidents are often very catastrophic and can be attributed to human error in over 60% of all cases (Salas, Burke, Bowers, & Wilson 2001). One of the largest sources of human error is a lack of teamwork amongst the flight crew. The tasks involved in safely flying an aircraft are very complex and require several people to perform them. Because no one person can fly a commercial airliner alone, teamwork is essential to the safety of the passengers. A breakdown in teamwork can ultimately lead to an accident and cost passengers their lives. Because of this, the Federal Aviation Administration now requires that airlines give Crew Resource Management training to their flight crews to improve teamwork and, thereby, improving safety (Salas, Fowlkes, Stout, & Renée 1999).
             Crew Resource Management was introduced twenty years ago as a way to educate aircrews on better ways to employ all available resources by working as a team. CRM began as a program to focus on individual attitudes and behaviors. It later began to focus on group dynamics in the cockpit. Eventually CRM training was extended to include all personnel involved in the safe operation of the aircraft and not only the cockpit crew (Salas, Fowlkes, et al. 1999). Southwest Airlines views the maintenance crew, cabin crew, and cockpit crew as one single team and focuses their CRM training towards this idea (Morrison 2002). The Advanced Qualification Program created a set of procedures for CRM training and integrated it with the technical training that flight crews are required to receive. CRM is now focusing on recognizing breakdowns in CRM and minimizing their effects (Salas, Burke, et al. 2001).
             Crew Resource Management focuses on seven skills that have been found to be directly related to successful teamwork. These skills have been found to be communication, decision making, leadership, situation awareness, mission analysis, assertiveness, and adaptability...