Why Communication Still Breaks Down in 2025

How many times do we see it in our day-to-day lives? Whether its an email to our boss that they took the wrong way, or a text to a family member where our dry sense of humour is misconstrued for being confrontational, we find that communication breaks down quite frequently. As it happens, that second one happens far too often between my mum and I…

Despite technological advancements and decades of Crew Resource Management (CRM) training, communication failures in aviation are still far too common in 2025. We’ve integrated tablet-based briefings, AI-assisted checklists, and data-driven training modules. Yet, accidents and incidents continue to trace their roots to the same old problem: humans not communicating effectively when it matters most.

Why does this persist in a time of such sophistication? The answer lies in understanding the complex human factors that CRM aims to address - and sometimes misses.

The Evolution of CRM

 

Crew Resource Management was born from tragedy. In the 1970s, high-profile aviation accidents revealed that miscommunication - not mechanical failure - was often the culprit. CRM evolved from a basic framework for cockpit etiquette into a comprehensive training philosophy addressing leadership, decision-making, and team coordination.

Modern CRM goes beyond the cockpit. It involves cabin crew, maintenance teams, dispatchers, and air traffic controllers. It’s integrated across multi-crew airline environments, drilled into simulator sessions, and built into recurrent training cycles.

And yet… here we are. Still talking about it.

The Illusion of Training: When Compliance Replaces Understanding

One of the key reasons communication still fails is that CRM, while well-intentioned, is often treated as a checklist item rather than a behavioural standard.

Flight crews may know the correct callouts, protocols, and briefings. But knowledge doesn’t always translate into behaviour under stress. In highly dynamic, high-stakes environments, humans revert to habit, cultural defaults, and ingrained biases.

CRM often assumes that if you’ve been trained on something, you’ll perform it flawlessly. But in reality, performance is influenced by:

• Stress and fatigue

• Power dynamics in the cockpit

• Cultural and language barriers

• Fear of challenging authority

• Ego and overconfidence

• Task saturation

These human limitations don’t disappear just because CRM was covered in ground school.

Modern Pressures, Same Old Problems

In 2025, pilots face a different kind of pressure. There’s greater automation, tighter scheduling, increased monitoring, and the ever-looming presence of data analysis.

Flight data monitoring systems can now detect sub-optimal CRM moments, like missed callouts or failure to verify clearances. But being watched doesn’t always improve communication - it can create fear. When communication feels performative instead of collaborative, its effectiveness suffers.

Additionally, new entrants to the profession may have fewer real-world flight hours and less informal exposure to high-pressure CRM scenarios. Simulator training is excellent, but it cannot fully replicate the nuance of real-world flight deck dynamics, particularly in abnormal situations.

The Human Factor: Communication is More Than Words

CRM training tends to emphasise what to say and when to say it, but not always how to say. Communication is not just about words. It’s about:

• Tone and timing

• Perceived authority

• Non-verbal cues

• Psychological safety

Many CRM failures happen not because something wasn’t said, but because it was said too softly, too late, or with insufficient clarity.

In multicultural, multinational flight crews, these subtle communication mismatches become more pronounced. A suggestion in one culture might be interpreted as a directive in another - or ignored entirely.

To close the gap between CRM training and in-flight behaviour, the aviation industry needs to shift focus from compliance-based training to culturally aware, psychologically informed CRM coaching. Here are a few strategies:

1. Scenario-Based Learning with Emotional Realism

Simulators should not only present technical emergencies but also inject CRM challenges like dominant captains, silent co-pilots or ambiguous situations. Role-play and debrief these moments not just from a procedural lens, but a psychological one.

2. Culture-Specific CRM Awareness

Encourage open dialogue about how cultural backgrounds influence communication styles. Some airlines have begun incorporating Hofstede’s cultural dimensions into CRM discussions to foster better understanding between crews of different nationalities.

3. Reinforcing Assertiveness Through Peer Mentorship

Assertiveness can’t be taught in a classroom alone - it needs mentorship and reinforcement. Pairing newer pilots with CRM-strong mentors helps model the kind of confident, respectful communication CRM aims to foster.

4. Psychological Safety Training for Captains

Leadership in the cockpit directly affects CRM outcomes. Captains must be trained not just to give orders, but to invite dissent, listen actively, and demonstrate vulnerability when appropriate. When co-pilots feel safe to speak up, they do.

Communication is a Skill, not a Checklist

CRM failures in 2025 aren’t due to a lack of knowledge - they’re due to the complexity of human behavior in high-stakes, hierarchical environments. Effective communication remains one of the most powerful safety tools in aviation, but it requires more than standard phraseology and memorised procedures.

It demands awareness, humility, psychological insight, and continual practice. Until we stop treating CRM as a once-a-year training box to tick and start treating it as a living, breathing part of operational culture, communication breakdowns will continue to cost us.

The tools are there. The challenge is using them like humans, not just professionals.