Changing Cockpit Culture: Why We Fired Capt. Kirk

The absolute worst example of this was the runway collision of a KLM 747 with a Pan American 747 in the Canary Islands in 1977, which killed 582 people. At different times, both the co-pilot and flight engineer on the KLM flight deck knew something was very wrong, but the command culture prevented them from telling the captain -- the airline's chief pilot and one of the best and brightest -- that he was making a horrific mistake and beginning a takeoff without a clearance.

This was the lightning bolt of realization that forced us to change our culture. In short, we've fired Capt. Kirk and reversed the definition of how a good captain runs his or her cockpit by using a discipline called CRM -- Crew Resource Management. Now captains lead by constantly soliciting and using the intellect and suggestions of ALL subordinate crew members, as a team.

Today, in other words, we don't tolerate airline captains unwilling to listen to their co-pilots or utilize their expertise. And, we also no longer tolerate subordinates who are reluctant or afraid to speak up.

And that is the major reason it's been an amazing 3 ½ years since the last major airline accident in the United States. Yes, we've improved maintenance and training and added some black boxes to prevent airliners from flying into the ground, and those things have contributed to airline safety. But the major reason that flying the airlines is now statistically safer than walking is that two or more minds are clearly better than one, especially when it comes to safely absorbing and cancelling the mistakes that even the best of professional pilots can make.

John J. Nance, ABC News' aviation analyst, is a veteran 13,000-flight-hour airline captain, a former U.S. Air Force pilot and a lieutenant colonel in the Air Force Reserves. He is also a New York Times best-selling author of 17 books, a licensed attorney, a professional speaker, and a founding board member of the National Patient Safety Foundation. A native Texan, he now lives in Tacoma, Wash.