INTRA-CREW COMMUNICATION OF B-52 AND KC-135 STUDENT AND COMBAT CREWS DURING SELECTED MISSION SEGMENTS

An experiment was carried out to compare within-crew communications in B-52 and KC-135 aircraft during peacetime training flights as functions of crew experience and selected mission segments. Crew transmission and message rates were obtained from tape recordings of crew communications on the aircraft interphone system during takeoffs and bomb runs in the bomber and takeoffs and air refuelings in the tanker. In each case, samples were obtained from student crew solo missions and from the combat crew training missions. On the basis of earlier work, it was hypothesized that as a result of their lower level of coordination, the less experienced student crews would have a higher rate of communication than the more experienced combat crews. In two of the comparisons, this hypothesis was confirmed while in two others it was not. Because none of the differences were statistically significant, the results were discussed in terms of the trends which were indicated and several unavoidable compromises in experimental control.