KQ should heed Douala report note on pairing

Concerns over the young age and apparent inexperience of the first officer on KQ Flight 507 has always been part of the discussion of the 2007 crash in Douala, Cameroon. But if the report released on Wednesday is anything to go on, we must add to that his pairing with a pilot who allegedly had "performance deficiencies" going back five years before the crash. The interaction between the two seems to have played as important a role as their training and experience.

The report says the pilot and his first officer both made critical errors.

The former did not follow procedure and was flying blind. When he noticed this, the latter gave him incorrect instructions, and only realised his mistake too late to stop the crash. This is not news that Kenya Airways will like to hear: Chief Executive Titus Naikuni has differed with some conclusions on the training of pilots. It is, however, news they need to, as it will no doubt reinforce their resolve to keep working on safety programmes launched following the Douala crash and the earlier one in Abidjan.

Any lessons from the accidents are almost certainly already incorporated in the airline’s day-to-day operations.

The publication of this report, therefore, is most useful in highlighting the importance of interpersonal relationships in the airline’s cockpits. Talk of a shy young man being "admonished" by his much older boss or perhaps not speaking up sooner is instructive for managers considering similar pairings. It is not enough to train great pilots: The airline must also bring together great teams.