CAT 2/2022

T H E

J O U R N A L

F O R

C I V I L

A V I A T I O N

T R A I N I N G

Volume 33

•

Issue 2/2022

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AIRLINE PILOT CLUB

Matching Quality Candidates, ATOs

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Right Competence, Right Time AAM EVOLUTION

eVTOL Pivot to Training DATA, A/M/V/XR, SHORTAGES

Best of WATS 2022 ISSN 0960-9024 | US $17/£8.50

EDITORIAL COMMENT

ISSUE 2.2022

Can We End The 1500-Hour Charade?

Is there objective, validated justification for the FAA’s 1500 flight hours regulation to become an airline pilot?

For that matter, was there ever justification for the 250-hour rule that preceded it?

The answer, in both cases, is not really.

Hours do not make a competent pilot. Quality training and adherence to safety standards do.

The 1500-hour rule was implemented as a knee-jerk, emotional political pacifier by the US Congress to a single horrific accident by a pilot who reacted inappropriately to the stick shaker and who should have been washed out of the system for previous failed check-rides, plus a co-pilot who was overly fatigued and ill because she couldn’t afford to live near her base and who made a programming error.

The Colgan pilot in command had 3,379 total flight hours, the co-pilot 2,244. They both met the ‘magic’ 1500-hour threshold. And yet they utterly failed in situational awareness and professionalism... flying for an airline that lacked an adequate safety culture.

Why? Because hours do not make a competent pilot. Not when there is very little structure to those hours.

US regional carrier Mesa Airlines recently announced it is purchasing dozens of two-seat, electric-powered Pipistrel Alpha light sport aircraft for its Mesa Pilot Development program. The intent is to fast-track cadets to the 1500-hour minimum by flying the Alphas up to 40 hours per week at $25 per hour. Or $31,250 for the 1250-hour gap between the 250 or so flight hours to earn their CPL and the FAA’s ATPL threshold. Mesa is loaning the funds at zero interest, to be repaid when presumably the cadet enters the carrier’s employed ranks at $100 per hour.

But here’s the kicker: “Members of the pilot development program are members of a flight club and do not have a specific training curriculum which must be followed, but rather are given recommended flight activities that are relevant to serving as a commercial pilot.” (My emphasis.)

Republic Airways had petitioned the Rick Adams, FRAeS FAA to allow its 750-hour “military style” Editor in Chief training program in lieu of the 1500 hours, but the FAA concluded “Republic fails to provide specific data to establish that an equivalent level of safety would be obtained through its program to warrant an exemption from required hours.”

The agency did appear, however, to leave an

“... experience is not measured in flight time alone.”

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CAT MAGAZINE 2.2022

opening: “... the regulations do not prohibit LIFT or Republic from producing a mission-specific training program that could better prepare students to operate within the complex environment of commercial air carrier operations through a program similar to the additional items proposed within this petition.”

In other words, demonstrate and document equivalent safety and then we can talk.

What struck me about the public comments to the Republic petition are (1) that the FAA still allows anonymous posters – people who claim to be pilots or former employees of the airline spouting social media-style opinions; and (2) that the submissions of professional associations blatantly push their vested interests without supporting data (“... built an entirely new paradigm in Flight Training...” uh, no, it’s still tick-the-box in the US) and with scaremongering hyperbole warning of “removal of all checks and balances” and “recipe for disaster.” A competencybased training and assessment program features plenty of checks and balances.

When a marketing consultant marshalled the families of Colgan victims to lobby Congress (the 1500 hours, by the way, was not an NTSB recommendation), it would have been appropriate for the aviation training industry to present scientific studies about the value of flight simulation and other training methodologies to offset a specified portion of flight hours. But the industry did not have such data.

However, The Journal of Aviation Technology and Engineering’s Pilot Source Study, conducted in 2010, 2012, 2015, and 2018 (ie, before and after the 1500-hour rule implementation in 2013) has repeatedly stated: ‘‘... experience is not measured in flight time alone.’’

So is the good safety record since 2013 in the US attributable to the Colgan reaction? Is the good safety record in, say, Singapore owing to 240-hour MPL competency-based training? Or are they both from a bit of good fortune that none of the passenger aircraft incidents in the past decade has resulted in a major fatal accident?

The answer is we don’t really know. Because, though the industry worldwide has been somewhat steadily shifting to CBTA/EBT, it has not yet satisfactorily validated the criteria for identifying and developing a competent pilot. Without documentation, opinions are just that.

Rick Adams, FRAeS Editor in Chief, CAT

e rick.adams@halldale.com

CONTENTS

ISSUE 2.2022

04

07

18

25

Editorial Editor Rick Adams, FRAeS

rick.adams@halldale.com Group Editor Marty Kauchak marty.kauchak@halldale.com US Affairs Chuck Weirauch

chuck.weirauch@halldale.com Industry Reporter Amanda Towner

amanda.towner@halldale.com Production Editor Fiona Greenyer fiona.greenyer@halldale.com

Advertising Business Holly Foster Manager +1 813 994 0191 holly.foster@halldale.com Business Jeremy Humphreys Development +44 (0)1252 532009 Director jeremy.humphreys@halldale.com Sales Melissa Day Administrator melissa.day@halldale.com

Operations Design & David Malley Production david.malley@halldale.com Distribution & Stephen Hatcher Circulation stephen.hatcher@halldale.com

Halldale Media Group Publisher & Andy Smith CEO andy.smith@halldale.com Group Content Chris Lehman Director chris.lehman@halldale.com UK Office Halldale Media Ltd. Sentinel House Harvest Crescent Fleet, Hampshire GU51 2UZ, UK

+44 (0)1252 532000 US Office Halldale Media, Inc. 4300 W Lake Mary Blvd, Suite 1010 #343, Lake Mary, FL 32746 USA

+1 407 322 5605 Website www.halldale.com

02 Can We End The 1500-Hour Charade? Show us the data of what training curricula delivers a competent pilot, CAT Editor Rick Adams, FRAeS challenges.

On the cover: Skyborne Aviation Academy

04 ‘The Right Competence at the Right Time’ – Aircraft OEMs to Present United Recommendations for Flight Training. Rick Adams interviewed the Founder and President of the AMFTA, Jean-Michel Bigarré, and Assistant Secretary Susannah Crabol in Toulouse, France.

07 APC: Matching Quality Candidates with Quality ATOs. The Airline Pilot Club has grown to 8,800 members as they raise the training standards for preselection and ATO quality. Rick Adams outlines their concept.

10 Are We Sleepwalking? A pandemic-driven sea-change has occurred, and

trains 120 cadets a year in Gloucestershire, UK and their new US campus in Vero Beach, Florida.

Image credit: Skyborne Airline Academy.

there is no more room for old process. Captain John Bent urges rapid adaptation to new threats to primary pilot training as vital, but not evident at this time.

14 Training for Aviation’s Next Era. Improving training to improve safety, in addition to improving resilience and sustainability in a period of increasing momentum and growth, while managing technology, regulatory and demographic change. The 20th EATS takes place from 8-9 November 2022 in Berlin, Germany.

18 The eVTOL Pivot to Training. The commercial eVTOL community’s focus is www.halldale.com

quickly shifting to training the initial tranche of eVTOL operators. Halldale Group Editor Marty Kauchak reviews developments in this nascent training community.

Also produced by The Halldale Group:

20 UPRT Today: A Primer. Randall Brooks, VP Training and Business Development, APS, was interviewed by CAT’s Robert W. Moorman.

23 EASA Developing IATA-Style Data for Helicopter EBT. “We will eventually All rights reserved. No part of this publication may be reproduced, stored in a retrieval system, transmitted in any form or by any means, electronic, mechanical, photocopying, recording or otherwise – especially translating into other languages – without prior written permission of the publisher. All rights also reserved for restitution in lectures, broadcasts, televisions, magnetic tape and methods of similar means. Each copy produced by a commercial enterprise serves a commercial purpose and is thus subject to remuneration.

CAT Magazine (ISSN No: 0960-9024, UPS No: 022067) is published 2 times per annum (April & October) by Halldale Group.

allow EBT baseline for helicopters, but it will take five years,” says EASA’s Francisco Arenas Alvariño. Mario Pierobon describes the process to get there.

25 Cabin Fever – Start-up Airlines Try New Flight Attendant Training Techniques. Start-ups can rely on tried-and-true curricula or go rogue. Here’s what Rona Gindin discovered at some new airlines.

27 Best of WATS 2022. Over 900 industry professionals attended the World Aviation Training Summit (WATS) in Orlando, Florida in May. Marty Kauchak, Chuck Weirauch and Ken Storey summarize some of the highlights.

CAT MAGAZINE 2.2022

03

PILOT TRAINING

‘The Right Competence at the Right Time’ Aircraft OEMs to Present United Recommendations for Flight Training

The Heads of Training at the world’s four largest manufacturers of commercial passenger aircraft have created an alliance to address common concerns about pilot training. CAT Editor-in-Chief Rick Adams recently interviewed the Founder and President of the AMFTA, Jean-Michel Bigarré, and Assistant Secretary Susannah Crabol in Toulouse, France.

W

hen you hear the names Airbus, Boeing, COMAC and Embraer, you immediately think of the rivalries, the fierce competition, sometimes fought in world courts, for sales, market share, dominance, profits.

You don’t necessarily think of collaboration and common objectives.

Until you put it in the context of safety.

“Everyone’s main goal is safety; there’s no debate about it,” said Susannah Crabol, who is also Flight Crew Training Strategic Portfolio Manager for Airbus Services. “I think the fact that we are talking with Heads of Training, and also being pilots, where we understand the huge impact training has on flight safety, there’s a different understanding.”

“Training shouldn’t be a place where we compete,” said Jean-Michel Bigarré.

The current Directors of the Aircraft Manufacturers Flight Training Association (AMFTA) are Bigarré, previously Head of Worldwide Training for Airbus Training Services; Mark Albert, Director, Business and Program Management, Commercial Training Solutions, Boeing Global Services (Treasurer); Capt. Jin Yibin, Chief Engineer of Aircraft Operation Safety, Commercial Aircraft Corporation of China (COMAC); Capt. Fabiano Cypel, Embraer Flight Crew Training Manager; Capt. Stéphan Labrucherie, Airbus Head of Flight Training Worldwide (Chairman); and Crabol.

The idea for an OEM alliance focused on flight training was born out of a desire to effect safety-related changes more quickly.

“We realized that between the time we detect something and the solution, the timeframe was quite long. And it was also not harmonised between the various regulators,” explained Bigarré.

So a fundamental tenet of AMFTA is to act quickly. “We need to keep the agility of this community,” Bigarré told CAT. “That is why the Board does not have a lot of people. Only the Head of Training of each manufacturer.”

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But at the same time, the Board can draw on the global resources of hundreds of thousands of employees. “This is the beauty of our community,” Bigarré emphasised. “The Heads of Training do their homework with all their team, which is a lot of people on the back.

When they are on the table, they have the capacity to represent and decide.”

The ultimate objective of the association is to make united, consensus recommendations for improvements to pilot training to aviation regulatory agencies worldwide, or to industry working groups which may include regulators.

Standing Wingtip to Wingtip A critical element is that the OEMs will be making their recommendations in concert. One would expect their peerreviewed opinions to carry considerable merit.

“It’s not influencing,” Bigarré cautions. “Our goal is really the opposite.

We want all the existing working groups (ICAO, EASA, etc.) to do their work, but at least they have a clear message on what aircraft manufacturers believe.

“When you are in a working group, you have many people. You have the regulators, you have the simulator industry… you have a lot of people. It’s difficult to focus only on the pedagogy of flight

Above The OEM flight training collaboration idea has been germinating since before the pandemic.

Image credit: Airbus, Boeing, COMAC and Embraer.

training by putting aircraft manufacturer pedagogical specialists around the table.

When you participate in a working group, you have to do compromise.

“We have an agile group with a huge workforce in the back, which is each OEM workforce being able to be aligned before going to a working group. In terms of pedagogy, competence, this is the position we believe is good. It facilitates the actual decision-making in the group.”

Bigarré explained the AMFTA deliberative process. “It’s a very strict process. Each member can propose themes.

People detect things. We see something which is present. First, do we agree as manufacturers is this a concern, a need?

We agree all together, what are the priority ones. And then we create a working group with teams of each aircraft manufacturer involved in order to get the power of the aircraft manufacturers globally.”

The AMFTA working group findings are presented to the Board and voted on.

Thus far, all decisions have been unanimous.

“We have only one orientation, which is what will help the aviation community to have the pilot competent at the right time at the right place,” Bigarré stated.

“The goal is to support all aviation, to support all industry.”

Resolving Inconsistencies The OEMs have found, not surprisingly, that when talking with NAAs, “we were not having the same language, despite having the same goal,” the 30-year aviation veteran noted. “When we speak together, French, Chinese, American, we see that the same word doesn’t mean the same thing all the time. We don’t have the same perception.”

Bigarré told CAT, “Everybody is speaking about competence, but more are so much more on the compliance side. Competence is more complex to set up. So the difficulty is how can we guide to really achieve what is good for the pilot? We have a lot of working groups on it today.”

“Some people,” he explained, “think that if you grade a pilot according to the ICAO competence definition, then you are competent. But being competent is far beyond the grading; it is being able

to adapt decisions, to move out from the task. And to be able to do this flexibility, you need to spend time to train the instructor.

You cannot switch from classical training to an EBT concept in six months or a year.

“We shouldn’t look at the volume of hours of a pilot. What we should look at is the pilot competent to achieve what we are asking of him? A lot of people are tempted by thinking, oh, this was a good year. But this doesn’t work because very often it has been done within a country with consistency. But sometimes its consistency has lost its efficiency due to patches because there’s an accident or something. So we put a patch on this programme and at the end the programme becomes very heavy and it’s more compliance than efficiency.

“If we want to change this, we have to propose regulation, alternate means of compliance. We are going to decrease hours, but this is how we are going to mitigate those hours, and this is the way we can move forward. If you want to address only one piece of change, then you create a new risk. The goal is to address the whole system by a consistent approach which requires the time, expertise, and exposition to the existing world in order to make a proposition which is consistent.

“MPL is a very good concept, but some people push too much on reducing the flight hours, forgetting a lot of competencies that have to be trained like decision-making, situational awareness.

CBTA is something wonderful. It’s a very positive turn in pilot training, but it has to be properly managed with one concern: do we get the right competence at the right time?”

Bigarré used a cooking analogy to illustrate. “If my mother cooks, she has a recipe. If I cook, I have the same recipe. We apply exactly the same ingredients. What she did is very good. What I did is alright. Why? Because there is so much know-how, skills, and some which are not easy to write. When I speak about aviation there is too much passion, people feel attacked. So I speak about cooking, and it’s okay.”

Above Clockwise from top left: Captain Jean-Michel Bigarré, Captain Stéphan Labrucherie, Susannah Crabol, Captain Jin Yibin Captain Fabiano Cypel, and Mark Albert.

Image credit: AMFTA.

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PILOT TRAINING It was tagging along from the age of six to his mother’s job at an aerodrome in Muret, France that kindled Bigarré’s interest in aviation, “jumping in an aircraft with people doing club flights.”

“We know there is a different level of training in the world according to many situations – it can be the regulation, the mindset, the culture. Whenever an aircraft is flying, regardless of the location, they need the same pilot competence.

So if your ab initio cadet is coming out of college, (he or she) can fly Boeing or Airbus or COMAC or Embraer, a number of aircraft, because the competences are the same.”

Another area under AMFTA discussion is prerequisites. “We can see that according to different NAAs in the world, prerequisites are not homogenous, not the same everywhere,” said Bigarré. “As manufacturers, we are able to say we consider being qualified in a twin-engine or having a multi-crew competence before starting a type rating is necessary, and we will align on this.”

As the group takes on more critical issues or themes with pilot training, it may de facto be laying the foundation for a significant evolution from the present system. “Yes,” Bigarré responded. “We believe there is a need for something which is agile, lighter.”

Building Trust The OEM flight training collaboration idea has been germinating since before the pandemic, and was officially incorporated two years ago. “Covid obviously slowed things down,” said Crabol, “particularly video conference with entities in completely different time zones. But as soon as we started to come out of that we started putting the strategy in place.”

“It took me a long time to first contact Boeing, to go through, let’s say, obstacles that can be between two competitors, coming together, then contacting COMAC and Embraer with different cultures, different approaches,” Bigarré recalled.

Yet, rather than skepticism, the com-

petitors “were quite happy the initiative was taken because they had the same consciousness that it would be great if we are able to harmonise on things, and they have been helpful in the process.”

However, “It took awhile just to create the trust between everyone for having a transparent dialogue with one unique goal, which is safety.”

What is more complex, Crabol added, is to make the cooperation connections functional within big companies – “administration, legal, and all the things around. But the people were all convinced very quickly and supportive of this approach.”

“Everyone is being nice, motivated, and being totally neutral,” Bigarré said.

“Very aviation safety-minded.”

AMFTA recommendations, which are expected to begin flowing in the new year, will be made available on www.amfta.org as well as to regulators. “There’s nothing for us to hide,” noted Crabol. “It’s there in the public interest.” cat

A Board with Deep Aviation Training Experience • Capt. Jean-Michel Bigarré, AMFTA Founder & President.

Jean-Michel draws upon 30 years’ experience in aviation and flight training. Previously, Jean-Michel was Head of Flight Training Worldwide and VP Training and Flight Ops for major jet and turboprop aircraft manufacturers and has held executive positions including CEO and Member of Executive Board for different aircraft and simulator companies. Jean-Michel began his career working for a major European airline before joining the French Aviation Authorities to manage ab initio and advanced training. Throughout his career, Jean-Michel has flown for many different airlines and is current on the A320, 330, 350 and 380.

• Captain Stéphan Labrucherie, AMFTA Director & Chairman, Airbus Head of Flight Training Worldwide.

Stéphan started his career flying on different turboprop operations. He flew for French charter operators on the B737 and A330 before joining two national carriers in the United Arab Emirates and China flying the A320 and A330. Stéphan joined Airbus in 2011 as TRI on the A320/ A330 and became Head of TRIs and Head of Airbus Europe Training Centre prior to his current position.

• Susannah Crabol, AMFTA Secretary.

Susannah co-created AMFTA in collaboration with Jean-Michel.

Susannah has over 20 years’ experience in the aeronautical industry, in flight training, as well as the maintenance and engineering world.

She has held various positions in Airbus Services such as Head of Europe & Americas (Contracts & Warranty), Marketing, and Strategic Portfolio Management.

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• Mark Albert, Director, Business and Program Management, Commercial Training Solutions, Boeing Global Services, AMFTA Board Director & Treasurer.

Mark is responsible for the 777X training program and development and implementation of Boeing’s CBTA program. Mark is also the President and Chief Operating Officer of Boeing US Training and Flight Services. Mark has led the implementation of training programs including the 737NG, 787 and 737MAX. • Jin Yibin, Chief Engineer of Aircraft Operation Safety, Commercial Aircraft Corporation of China.

Mr. Jin is PIC of ARJ21, B737, B747, A320, A330. Before joining COMAC, he worked in Air China as Deputy Manager, Manager of Flight Fleet, Deputy General Manager of General Flight Fleet, General Manager of Flight Technical Management Department and General Manager of Zhejiang Branch.

• Capt. Fabiano Cypel, Embraer Flight Crew Training Manager, AMFTA Board Director.

After 10 years flying B737 and EMB145, Fabiano worked as a TRI as well. Since 2006, Fabiano has travelled around the globe as an OEM instructor pilot supporting many customers that introduced Embraer E145, E1 and E2 jets into their networks. With this broad view in respect to ICAO, FAA and EASA different training requirements and more than 5000 hours of instruction time, Fabiano has been appointed team leader for pilots and cabin crew training at Embraer.

PILOT CAREERS

APC: Matching Quality Candidates with Quality ATOs

Amidst the current chaos of the global airline scene, are young people still interested in becoming airline pilots? The Airline Pilot Club has grown from 800 to 8,800 members in less than a year, as they raise the training standards for pre-selection and ATO quality. CAT Editor Rick Adams outlines their concept.

I

n the regulatory world, all flight schools fall into one of two categories – they are either an Approved Training Organisation (ATO) via the European Union Aviation Safety Agency (EASA), US Federal Aviation Administration (FAA), or some other aviation authority; or they are not approved. There is no distinction made, by the regulators, between the various ATOs on the authorized lists.

Frankly, many regulatory agencies are stretched thin, and lack the resources and expertise to delve beyond a basic pass/fail determination.

In the real world, there is a great deal of difference between ATOs – from the very good to the marginally adequate.

In the airline world, one of the premier ways for determining the quality of a carrier’s operations is the IOSA program – the IATA Operational Safety Audit. The IOSA Registry is a global benchmark with more than 400 airlines voluntarily submitting to an evaluation system designed to assess their operational management and control systems.

The all-accident rate for airlines on the Registry the past five years (2017-2021) was nearly three times better than non-IOSA airlines.

Now there is an IOSA-like audit process available for ATOs to help determine whether they meet a higher standard than the NAA baseline. Known as the Airline Pilot Club, led by former Ryanair Head of Training Andy O’Shea and Petter Hornfeldt, a 20-year pilot and TRI/TRE with Ryanair, APC calls itself “a community of aspiring pilots, newly qualified pilots, flying schools and airlines”.

APC is designed to help guide young people who aspire to become airline pilots (and their parents who fund their training) to first determine – through an aptitude assessment – whether the candidate has the proverbial right stuff to become a competent pilot, and then help direct successful assessees to a higher-quality flight school to improve their chances of getting an airline job.

O’Shea, who for 18 years was on the receiving end of flight school graduates wanting Ryanair jobs, has long lamented that the pass rate is “around 60 percent”. This means four of every 10 who receive a new pilot’s licence are not up to airline standards.

“Not everyone has the attributes to develop airline pilot competencies”, O’Shea observes.

The APC aptitude assessment advises the candidate whether he should pursue flight training or not waste his/her money.

The second major benefit of APC membership is to steer

Above Aero Locarno plans to expand to a second airport, which will enable them to train an additional 60 integrated ATPL students annually.

Image credit: Aero Locarno.

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PILOT CAREERS the individual aspirant toward a qualityaudited flight school that will get them started building their skills and competencies toward a pilot career.

A More Thorough Audit ATOs who want to become APC Partners undergo a documented quality assurance process of their operation: management system, instructor training and standards, and theoretical and practical training perspectives. APC uses a group of specialist subject experts, compared with NAAs who may have only one examiner for everything.

“It’s a whole group of SMEs for the greater good. It’s a really good idea”, said Lee Woodward, CEO at Skyborne Aviation Academy, which trains 120 cadets a year in Gloucestershire, UK and their new US campus in Vero Beach, Florida.

“They have experts in each area of the training organisation. They looked at everything we do”, Capt. Michele Marano told CAT. Marano is Safety and Compliance Manager for Aviomar Flight Academy in Rome, Italy. “It is more intense than what the CAAs do. APC gets into many aspects beyond mere compliance”.

The APC ATO evaluation issues a report with recommendations, which the ATO agrees to address within a certain timeframe. The evaluation is reviewed after one year and will be repeated every two years thereafter using a risk-based re-validation process, much like the recently upgraded IOSA. “We don’t just throw the report at the ATO; we work with them”, O’Shea explained.

“It is a useful experience because of the advice,” said Petros Tsaktanis, Managing Director at Global Aviation, a flight school celebrating 25 years, located west of Athens, Greece. “There were things we didn’t know that the airlines are looking for”.

“We need to do this to step forward”, said Stefano Buratti, owner at Aero Locarno in the southern section of Switzerland.

There are currently nine ATO Partners which have been through the APC evaluation process: • Aero Locarno (Locarno, Switzerland) • ASG (Dublin, Ireland) 08

C AT M A G A Z I N E 2 . 2 0 2 2

• • • • • • •

Atlantic Flight Training Academy (Cork, Ireland) Aviomar Flight Academy (Rome, Italy) Bartolini Air (Lodz, Poland) CAE (Montréal, Canada) Global Aviation (Athens, Greece) Global Flight Training Solutions (Immokalee, Florida, US) Skyborne Airline Academy (Gloucestershire, UK)

O’Shea told us, “We have three more ATOs in the review process with another three close to agreeing to enter the process”.

He said APC can currently evaluate about 12 candidate ATOs per year.

“We’re trying to recognize ATOs that go the extra mile. They are embracing the message of quality, a higher level. They have an appetite for improvement”, he added. “They are demonstrably and repetitively very good”.

Building a New Pilot Ecosystem O’Shea worked with more than a dozen ATOs during his two decades at Ryanair. “Not all flying schools are the same. A lot of them out there are not really making the effort”.

The win-win-win-win of the APC audit is that: 1. Students and parents can have confidence in the APC Partner flying schools that the chances of beginning an airline pilot career will be on the high end, perhaps in the 90-plus percent range; 2. Partner ATOs will have a powerful marketing advantage over non-APC schools, in effect a “Good Housekeeping” or “Underwriters Laboratory” style seal of approval; 3. Funding sources are more likely to provide favourable loan terms to students, based on the improved success rate of the Partner schools (i.e., banks will be more assured of getting the loan repaid); 4. Airlines that endorse the APC evaluation process will develop

Above Skyborne Airline Academy’s Lee Woodward gives APC a ‘thumbs up’ – “It gives a would-be pilot somewhere to go for flight training organisations that are vetted”.

Image credit: Skyborne Airline Academy.

Opposite Aviomar’s Capt.

Michele Marano says, “Assessments help us to know before a student starts training if he has a chance to pass the course”.

Image credit: Aviomar.

a stronger relationship with the ATOs providing them with employable candidates – “prepared to fulfil their potential and be really good employees”, O’Shea noted.

APC has a broad range of non-ATO partners as well, ranging from financial services firm Aon to assessment company Symbiotics to Green Africa, Pilot

Peer Support, Munster Technological University, the Royal Aeronautical Society, and many others.

Earlier this year, Boeing chose APC for its Aerospace Xelerated programme, enabling access to industry-leading strategists and technical experts to “support APC in becoming the global ‘go to’ career development, pilot training, and employee on-boarding location for aspirant pilots, ATOs and airlines”, APC announced in a press release.

A lot of the early momentum for enrolling ATOs is the involvement of O’Shea, who was also the first chairman of the Airline Training Policy Group (ATPG), an independent cadre of subject experts who help to advise EASA, unofficially, on near-term issues and long-term strategies for flight training.

“We know the guy. We have absolute trust in him”, declared Global’s Tsaktanis.

“It’s excellent”, said Skyborne’s Woodward. “It’s what you would expect of Andy O’Shea. He’s a champion of really top flight schools that go above and beyond”. cat

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AB INITIO TRAINING

Are We Sleepwalking?

A pandemic-driven sea-change has occurred, and there is no more room for old process. Commercial aviation is threatened by high rates of grounded pilot attrition and a huge loss of average experience on flight decks; pilot shortages due to this, plus reduced interest in piloting careers; and new generational learning and career expectations.

The primary pilot training industry has been depleted by two years of poor or non-existent student enrolment levels.

Captain John Bent urges rapid adaptation to these new threats as vital, but not evident at this time.

A

s the airline industry exits the Covid pandemic, is commercial aviation unwittingly sleepwalking into an escalating series of safety threats related to pilot supply and training?

The political consequences of the Covid pandemic have inflicted the most serious damage on the airline industry in its history. Many airlines are in short-term survival mode. Process improvements are hardly affordable at this time.

I and many others have been convinced for some time that primary pilot training has needed a root-and-branch overhaul, a need now brought into sharp focus by the effects of the pandemic. Demands for training improvements are hardly new, proposed by training subject matter experts for many years.

The Future for Professional Pilots Prior to the inevitable arrival of fully automated airliners and possible space-based transport systems, there will remain a substantial period of time during which professional pilots will still be needed on airliner flight decks – together with more relevant training standards. Without the standards, safety margins will be at risk. Of course, no one wants more accidents in this historically ultra-safe industry, and the big question is how will improvements be funded and executed?

The basic professional pilot training framework has remained largely unchanged since 1947, while technology has advanced exponentially, and at least four generations of pilots have each required new training methods to adapt to new learning styles.

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Continuously adding band-aid, boxtick prescriptive training modules (tick = module done) to the old framework may satisfy a legal need for records but will not address the fundamentals of long-term competency acquisition. Powerful new training technologies now exist to holistically enhance the legacy framework which is no longer fit for purpose.

Despite the overall statistical safety of air transport, some examples of accidents where training had been executed to the requirements of existing State Regulations: AF 447 (June 2009); JT 904 (April 2013); AAR 214 (Dec 2013); QZ 8501 (Dec 2014); TN 235 (Feb 2015). 414 people died in these accidents, which are by no means a comprehensive list of all that occurred in recent years.

Misguided training delivery in any training phase can become a contributing cause in an accident. One such example was the AA587 accident (A300B4) in 2001 where the recovered flight data recorder showed the loss of control after the fin departed the airframe causing the loss of 265 lives. [The

Above The basic professional pilot training framework has remained largely unchanged since 1947.

Image credit: Pixabay.

NTSB report explained that the overuse of the rudder mechanism caused the plane's vertical stabilizer (tail fin) and both engines to detach from the plane, and that another possible contributing factor was a simulator routine intended to train pilots for recovery from upsets could instill the sense (from the simulator performance] that the real airplane would be unresponsive, and that swift and vigorous rudder action would be needed to arrest any incipient upset.

During years before this accident, I attended training symposiums in which this process was proposed by the airline concerned.

From my own experience, newly qualified cadets in Lockheed Tristar L1011 airline base training have shown an over-enthusiastic use of rudder in normal flight as an embedded but inappropriate skill for an airliner, most likely derived from primary training.

What is Needed Instead of tinkering around the edges with add-on modules, a rebuild is required of both selection and primary (ab initio) training processes. Selection because many current selection systems, especially when under the high demands of growth, allow candidates to slip into the system without optimal qualities required for this career, possibly inserting latent pathogens into the system as unintended consequences. Many approved

civil candidates would not get through the more stringent military selection processes. Primary training because the framework needs a total refresh, and not by additional modules ad hoc. We know that ‘first learnt lessons are longest lasting’, and if primary pilot training does not set and embed the right skills, reversion to first learnt can occur later in piloting careers.

Even in the early 1980s, Lufthansa Flight Training SMEs presented a training upgrade proposal to the International Civil Aviation Organisation (ICAO) to move away from 1947 prescriptive boxticking methodology in training to competency-based processes.

But this concept was not accepted

by ICAO until 25 years later in 2006 when the ICAO Air Navigation Council (ANC) published the updated Training Document 9868; mandating an entirely new airline-dedicated licence; the MultiCrew Pilot Licence (MPL). This licence requires competency-based training, embedded Threat and Error Management (TEM); reduced emphasis on lessrelevant light aircraft skill acquisition; increased emphasis on teamwork simulation in crew settings; and realistic simulation of the Air Traffic Control (ATC) environment (SATCE) - now available and mature.

But by February 2020, 16 years after publication, only around 60 of the total of 193 ICAO Contracting States had for-

mally adopted MPL into their regulation; only 53 MPL programmes were running amongst a total of over 2,000 professional pilot training schools around the world; and only 3,661 graduate MPL pilots were flying in a global population of around 250,000 commercial fixed-wing pilots in service. This is a poor indictment on the capabilities of the global regulatory system to genuinely meet the needs of industry in any useful timescale.

Consequence of Doing Nothing The industry’s exceptional safety record can itself create complacency amongst decision makers.

‘More of the same’ legacy processes using band-aid fixes added to the training framework cannot deliver the deep, enduring competencies needed. A pilot on the line may encounter at any time the need to promptly apply learnt competencies for specific events such as potential upsets and Loss of Control (LOC). ‘Onetime’ training modules do not encourage long-term retention of Knowledge Skills and Attitudes (KSAs). During the pandemic, the significant loss of piloting experience cannot be safely countered with legacy selection and training standards without heightened risk.

Assuming the accuracy of projections of a return to 2019 airline activity by 2023 or 24, there is still time to act to improve primary training during the downtime. Training programmes should

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AB INITIO TRAINING demand competencies to be learnt and re-learnt as continuous reinforcement throughout training programmes, both initial and recurrent.

While many expert pilot training panels around the aviation world have for many years delivered proposals into the regulatory system, many have not been adopted. Those that are, have sometimes arrived too late to stop further fatalities (CFIT and LOC), and execution at the primary training level has been sporadic around the world. In the cases of CFIT and LOC, the former was eventually mitigated with Enhanced Ground Proximity Warning System (EGPWS) technology, but revised procedures and emphasis in training could have been mandated immediately.

The process for establishing new Standards at the top ICAO level (see diagram) takes an average of two years from the Preliminary Review by the ANC to the applicable date. This review is already a period after the proposal. In explanation, “although this process may seem lengthy at first glance, it provides for repeated consultation and extensive participation of States and international organisations in producing a consensus based on logic and experience”. But in cases such as CFIT and LOC, lives may have been lost while new regulations were being debated in the 2+-year process.

Supported by the mantra “change is the mother of all risks”, a prudent conservative approach to regulatory change in this safety critical industry is required and well understood. But this mantra gets in the way of process speed, encouraging regulators to cling to existing practice.

The traditional legacy-driven process does not cut it in this rapidly changing industry, especially in the area of training key personnel. Mechanisms for rapid response have to be enhanced.

Today, numerous new technologies and analytics exist to enable

Table 1: ICAO Process Timeline.

process time to be reduced to months rather than years.

Underlying any acceleration of process, the inexorable obstinacy ‘virus’ clings ruthlessly to the culture of comfortable past practice and should perhaps be eliminated and replaced by the ‘why not’ approach. To shield from unintended consequences, prudent checks and balances are still required, but must be more promptly and effectively applied.

If it is not the law, cash-strapped airlines will not generally fund training updates. Because airlines generally adhere to regulation as the justification for funding training budgets, the

Project 'X' The airline industry has been more severely damaged by the pandemic than any event since WW2, and most surviving airlines have few resources to spare. But there remains a widespread belief amongst experienced training SMEs that a route-and-branch review of professional pilot ab initio training is needed, relevant to current and future operational demands. Captain John Bent describes the opportunity and the imperative.

“The current regulatory framework is inadequate to contain a falling experience base. Influencing that dynamic is the clear goal conflict presented by cash-strapped airlines and the need for training investment.

Many reputable airlines are not addressing these influencing factors to an adequate level and thus we are drifting. So I ask the question: “At what point do the regulators step in and say your investment is not enough, and you must stop operating?” The success of 12

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an airline going forward will be determined by the quality of the conversations it has on these investment issues and its ability to maintain adequate adaptive capacity amongst its pilots.” - a respected airline training manager.

The Birth of Project X Project X germinated during the pandemic, combining knowledge accumulated over multiple aviation piloting careers to deliver more relevant primary pilot training in support of airlines post pandemic.

The publication of the article, ‘Opportunity in Crisis: The Flight Academy of the Future’, in The Journal of Civil Aviation Training (CAT), in early 2020 triggered investor interest from Canada and the ‘New Horizon Flight Academy’ initiative was born. Seven months of work with subject matter experts produced a new syllabus and the interest of

16 potential investors.

But by early 2021, as the pandemic deepened and investor appetite for aviation diminished, the project was shelved as no investor subscriptions could be closed.

Some of the work already undertaken morphed into Project X: a placeholder for ongoing work involving three SMEs from New Horizon.

Airline Recovery Projections In May 2022, during a surge of air travel demand (especially in the US), IATA now projects a full recovery of passenger rates to 2019 levels by 2023, one year earlier than previously projected. But such projections assume the availability of pilots and training to meet the demand. In the US we are already seeing a high percentage of unmanned airliners grounded and curtailed airline services due to the diminished reser-

regulatory system has to execute change more appropriately.

I believe that only ICAO, at the top of the airline regulatory system, can provide the impetus for the investment needed.

‘Short-termism’ thinking and lack of recognition of the threat must be overcome without delay.

After 9/11, a major aviation crisis with far less impact on the airline industry than the Covid pandemic, no one questioned the cost of implementing security initiatives. The cost of protecting future safety through improved training will be small by comparison. 'Where there's a will, there's the means'.

Suggested Ingredients for Improvement: • Process: A total revision of pilot primary training for airlines, using the MPL as the foundation with competency-based training in crew settings at the core.

• Measurement: Continuous measurement of key elements of the process to enable genuine feedback into continuous programme improvement.

• Delivery: Via improved selection and training of instructors.

• Training Modules: Replaced by continuously embedded exposure of the subject matter to trainees, except for the initial introductory module.

• Training Technologies – Simulation: FSTDs tailored to training task, as with the MPL, but utilising the increased technical capabilities of FSTDs. • Training Technologies – Virtual Reality: Artificial intelligence, including A/M/V/XR, carefully embedded into the new framework to excite learning, and reduce time and cost.

But most pandemic-surviving airlines are severely financially impaired and, again, airline CFOs use regulatory requirements to establish budgetary bottom lines, leaving no excess resources to upgrade processes. Other funding sources may be necessary.

voir of pilots and training resources available.

What happens in US aviation often repeats elsewhere.

Add to this the high probability of a pandemic spending-driven recession in the next few years and the 2023 recovery projection could be rather hopeful. It remains probable that downtime still remains to initiate projects such as Project X to help fill the training quality and capacity gaps post-pandemic. But prompt action is certainly needed to meet the challenge, as the mixture of shrinking experience levels and training resources is not a good one for future safety.

The Missing Piece: Funding Project X proposes the combination of a special breed of motivated instructors and available new training technologies applied to competency-based multi-crew training to deliver more competent pilots in less time

New Training Efficiencies are Ready In 2022, business plans for new-generation primary training programmes are offering higher impact competency-based training processes. New training technologies are suggesting significant reductions in programme time (and cost) in the order of 20-30%.

Later, green electric training aircraft will augment the process, offering large reductions in direct operating costs.

The urban mobility industry now in birth will require dedicated training for the estimated 60,000 UAM pilots who will be flying in coming years.

All of these factors will change the paradigm for investors who should see more investment opportunity in the pilot training industry if the necessary changes are made.

To prove new programs, beta programs are essential under Acceptable Means of Compliance (AMC), closely monitored by a combined team of industry experts and regulators. Throughout the programme, student performance from the training management system will be compared with the control data from a legacy program.

The opportunity has arrived to work in parallel with regulators, to rethink the paradigms of training regulatory change, crafting a comprehensive new framework for professional pilot primary training, relevant to the modern aviation age – to provide for the safest possible operations during what could be the last phase of fully manned air-transport systems.

As most airlines have no available resources right now, aggressive ICAO action with States to sustain safety margins… significantly improved profitability of primary training programmes using new training technologies (20%+ Return on Investment)… plus the inevitable training demand surge ahead… should combine to interest astute investment from other parts of the aviation industry. cat

and cost while also protecting future safety margins wherever these new programs are used.

Investor commitment to launch three new-generation ATOs (Approved Training Organisations) is all that is needed to establish and demonstrate these improvements to State Regulators and encourage ICAO to drive broad change in the ab initio training industry.

An estimated US$10 million investment commitment (the value of one widebody airliner jet engine) should enable the launch in series of three new-gen professional pilot (ab initio) training units in optimal locations.

This is a relatively small investment in relation to the potential longer-term safety dividend.

And as a shorter-smarter programme, more rewarding returns should come to investors in this space on the order of 20% IRR or more. As there were over 2,000 ATOs

around the world delivering professional pilot ab initio training pre-pandemic; the scale of this opportunity is large.

The X Team Project X is led by experienced professional pilots with a combined 100 years in aviation, 50,000 flight hours in two air forces and 10 airlines – all with simulation, training, examining, and airline management experience. All are aware that the pandemic has grounded many highly experienced trainers whose services could strengthen Project X once investment is secured.

So subject to investment, the Project X team is committed to use their experience to help regulators mandate more relevant training to deliver more competent pilots in less time and cost, helping the industry to emerge safely from the pandemic amidst a plethora of threats.

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13

EATS PREVIEW

Training for Aviation’s Next Era

Improving training to improve safety, in addition to improving resilience and sustainability in a period of increasing momentum and growth, while managing technology, regulatory and demographic change? The 20th European Airline Training Symposium (EATS) takes place from 8-9 November 2022 in Berlin, Germany.

M

eeting this multi-faceted challenge will require an increasingly connected community, able to offer a coordinated response from all sectors of the training industry, airlines, OEMs, EASA, ATPG and those charged at the national regulators with ensuring delivery.

The training and simulation community, airlines, not for profit organisations and regulators have always been critical to the safe operation of the world airline system. The ultimate safety tool is, after all, well-trained people.

This is more true today as we continue our recovery from the pandemic, and it is increasingly important that the community meets to exchange ideas, validate processes and check new thinking and technology.

In a competitive industry, it is our training teams that help raise the safety bar for all, and after an unprecedented shutdown we face multiple challenges in enabling the return of our industry to full operations.

EATS typically attracts 900 attendees from more than 50 countries – all focused on best training practices. EATS 2022 is Europe’s largest aviation training event, designed by and for aviation professionals.

Pilot and Cabin Crew Conferences The two EATS conference streams – Pilot Training and Cabin Crew Training – will feature presentations and moderated discussions led by industry experts which will focus on promoting safety and sharing best practice.

The Pilot Conference will kick off with opening remarks from Captain Yann Renier, Head of Training & Licensing, Diamond Sponsor

14

Gold Sponsor

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Silver Sponsor

IATA, and Captain André Berger, Head of Flight Operations and Training, TUI Airline.

Captain Jean-Michel Bigarré, Founder & President, Aircraft Manufacturer Flight Training Association (AMFTA), and Captain Karl O’Neill, Chief Instructor ATO, Aer Lingus & Secretary, Aircrew Training Policy Group, will deliver an update from the OEM and airline perspectives.

An EASA Panel will then provide its annual review of recent rulemaking and initiatives.

Two full sessions, the afternoon of 8th November and the morning of 9th November, will address the challenges of aviation training, led by representatives from Airbus, Boeing, IATA, CAE, and easyJet. Speakers from VistaJet, Inflow Performance, Resilient Pilot and the Centre for Aviation Psychology will explore a new era for pilot mental health.

Session 7 will focus on aviation recruitment and training for the next generation, featuring presentations from L3Harris, Egnatia Aviation, and Buckinghamshire New University.

The popular joint training technology Bronze Sponsors

Above An EASA Panel featuring new Agency leaders will provide a review of recent rulemaking and initiatives at this year's EATS. Image credit: David Malley/ Halldale Group.

Heads of Training Sponsor

session will close the conference, and will include the latest developments in virtual reality, game engines for flight simulation, and training for the emerging eVTOL market.

The Cabin Crew Conference will kick off, following the joint sessions with the pilot conference, with presentations from Alexandra James, Osprey Flight Solutions, and Carlin Clarke, Breeze Airways.

As typical, the cabin stream will feature a variety of panels and interactive group sessions. Topics will range from evidence-based training to inflight security challenges and disruptive passengers to emergency evacuation research, as well as personal improvement techniques for long-term memory and resilience.

Speakers come from a wide swath of the global industry, including Brussels Airlines, Nova Airlines, Lufthansa Aviation Training, Air Canada, Finnair, and Vueling, as well as Coventry University, Atrainability, and Trevajan Consulting.

Sold-Out Exhibition The EATS exhibition space is a sell-out with the leading suppliers in the training industry demonstrating their latest products and services. With over 80 exhibiting companies there will never be a better opportunity to do three months' business in only two days.

NEW! ATOs at EATS Recognising the important role that Flight Academy ATOs have in providing future pilots in sufficient numbers and of a quality suitable to move on to commercial multi-engine jet operations, Halldale Group is introducing a special ATO programme for EATS 2022.

The programme is designed for key staff from ATOs by providing relevant content in the pilot conference, a dedicated ATO breakout session running alongside the main conference and a discounted delegate rate, providing full access to EATS 2022.

The ATO-specific breakout session will take place on 8th of November with:

• Thomas Leoff, Chair, International Association of Aviation Personnel Schools (IAAPS), • Audrey Jeffroy, Sales Director, ALSIM, • Captain Colin Rydon, CEO, Pilot Flight Academy.

Special Announcement: Big Data Industry Working Group Report The Big Data in Aviation Training working group will release its peer-reviewed analysis at EATS 2022.

The Big Data working group is led by Halldale Group and the Aircrew Training Policy Group (ATPG) and includes an international team of training and data experts. The group was initiated in August 2021 following a Head of Training (HoT) roundtable in collaboration with the European Union Aviation Safety Agency (EASA).

“Before commencing any sort of analysis,” the draft Big Data report states, “it is vital to ensure that the analytics process and defined metrics are aligned with the business objectives and key performance indicators.”

In a Halldale survey of airline heads of training, more than 30% indicated they need help making sense of big data in relation to implementation of evidencebased training (EBT).

“Getting insights and a different perspective from the team members has been instrumental, allowing our team to embrace the opportunity to provide

ATO Programme Sponsors

Conference by

Above Over 80 exhibitors will demonstrate their latest offerings on the trade show floor.

Image credit: David Malley/Halldale Group.

meaningful guidance to the industry,” said Dr. Patrizia Knabl-Schmitz, Flight Training Human Factors Specialist at Emirates, a member of the Big Data in Aviation Training team.

The Big Data in Aviation Training team is led by product owner Allyson Kukel of Halldale Group and scrum master Andy Mitchell, Chair of ATPGEurope.

The working group is using an agile framework to develop a Minimum Viable Product (MVP), an approach which enables early-adopter users to validate a product idea early in the development cycle. Feedback is then used to improve the product in future iterations.

The Heads of Training meetings the past two years have identified five “HoT” topics facing the airline training community: Skills/Competencies Decay, A/M/V/XR Technologies, EBT/CBTA, UPRT, and Big Data. Led by Capt. Jacques Drappier, former Vice President of Flight Operations and Training Services for Airbus, and Chair of EATS and APATS, Halldale conducted intensive workshops with leading subject experts on each of the five topics. The workshops were followed by public webinars to present the findings. cat Organised by

Supported by

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15

A DVER TIS EM E NT F E AT U R E

SIMNEST AVIATION

T

he key to shaping the market is not just to understand what is presently happening in the aviation training market but, importantly, to recognise and predict the future trends.

At Simnest Aviation, based in Budapest, Hungary, this simulator manufacturer and its training organisation - Simnest Pilot Academy - keeps its finger on the pulse of the training world. Miklós Kacsó, CEO of Simnest Aviation, has tracked the present trends and preferences for training devices and is clear that at the end of the training route – the airlines – there is the need to have the smoothest transition from recently qualified pilots to become effective operational crews who are cockpit-ready.

In large part this means that the final task for most ATOs is to complete a course based on the EASA requirements of MCC, best delivered through the APS MCC training. Miklós emphasises that this provides seamless training to lead pilots into the full Type Rating training.

With such an end in mind it is increasingly evident that, whilst adequate training can be presented using a generic FNPT II, the airlines much prefer that the APS MCC is carried out on a specific type. When recruiting many of them give preference 16

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Above Simnest simulators have type-specific cockpit layouts with a comprehensive instructor station.

Left Miklós Kacsó, CEO of Simnest Aviation.

to those graduates who followed this type-specific path. Naturally the use of a device tightly modelled on the aircraft retains the same validity for training as a non-type specific generic device has, so that does not impact on the generic training package when required. With these considerations in mind Simnest is continuing to furnish its main product – the A320 FNPT II APS MCC – for both type and generic training. For even greater authenticity this FNPT II features original aircraft parts including sidestick, seats and is subject to a process of continual improvement.

The challenge is to convince ATOs of the undoubted additional training value of

these characteristics, but the harsh reality of the current world situation is that, whilst airlines are recruiting very strongly, ATOs are cautious in making investments in new equipment until they have more confidence in continuing demand, and under present regulations there is no additional training credit for the use of type-specific FNPT IIs. What is needed is a clear indication from airlines that such training as seen as a significant benefit, and that by means of current and comprehensive feedback.

One such example of an airline's experience is from György Tóth.

György Tóth, former Head of Training at Wizzair and Wizzair ATO: "Even after cadets have successfully finished their MCC training they have a lot to learn, a lot to practise during their type rating. In case they have been trained on a general device their knowledge is also general so they have to learn a lot

For more information, please visit: www.simnest.com

to fall into line with the characteristics of the aircraft they are going to fly. This is why conducting MCC on a type specific device is an enormous benefit for the cadet and the airline as well. The cadets will pass their type rating with confidence, with solid knowledge and skills perfectly ready for their next step which should be a goal to the airline as well, besides the advantage cost-wise."

The use of a type-specific device increases the range of options available to the ATOs and the airlines, as these devices are perfect tools for airline screening, assessment training and even for recruitment courses. Simnest is very happy to see this, and to encourage these initiatives, which were designed into the simulators from the start and which enable the industry to adopt additional capabilities. This creates more opportunity for ATOs and airlines to work together in a cost-effective way. Consequently they can be confident that they can recruit well-trained cadets from these ATOs. A generic device would simply not be able to do this. A great example for this cooperation is Skywings Flight Training in Belgium.

Cliff Cop, CEO of Skywings Flight Training, pilot and trainer for A330: "Besides providing high-level APS MCC training for the cadets they can benefit from on the long run, a type-specific device can be a huge asset to the ATO as well, opening up new possibilities. We are successfully working together with airlines who are conducting airline screenings and recruitment courses on our simulator which wouldn’t be possible on a generic device. This cooperation also enables airlines to freshly recruit well-trained pilots from our flight school."

As a manufacturer Simnest Aviation can not only provide the hardware but, through the benefit of having their own ATO, the Simnest Pilot Academy, with its current and experienced instructors, they can provide a full range of support documents, ranging from Safety Manuals, Ops Manuals and Training Manuals, all of which conform to EASA requirements.

Instructor training packages support the devices and in fact so comprehensive are

Above The system runs on Simnest's own FMGS, developed precisely for training purposes.

Left Industrial grade knobs and switches for the more realistic feeling to enhance the quality of the training.

– a successful and happy graduate, one from the many. these manuals that customers most often request them as a package in addition to the device.

This philosophy has also been picked up by future and current student pilots.

Increasingly the ab initio route selected by new entries is the integrated pattern, and this often comes with the desire to aim for employment at a particular airline, and that, naturally, leads to an early identification of the likely eventual aircraft type. Optimising the training to achieve that goal means that access to as much type-specific familiarisation en-route is the preferred route, and has the consequence of making those ATOs which have such devices more attractive as training providers.

Miklós is delighted to see the results which their comprehensive training package and device has achieved. In sharing that success with ATOs and airlines he believes that it is an opportunity for them to rethink what training devices provide the training effectiveness and best value and to become one of the Simnest family.

A final judgement on the Simnest solution comes from an important source

Cristian P.: "I feel so fortunate to have been placed in your training center during my JOC/ MCC combined courses. This was the best part of my entire flight training and I'm extremely glad that I could have the chance to do my very last part of the training here.

The simulator is based on the A320, an amazing machine. You will get used to flying with the fly-by-wire system, be familiar with the A320 cockpit philosophy, and many more. Apart from the real feelings and motions, you will experience the same flight deck environment as in a real jetliner.

All the flight instructors are very friendly, highly experienced (currently being Senior First Officers, Captains) and extremely patient with you for every question you might have. You will constantly get feedback after the sessions from them, a fact that highly improves your performance throughout the training. If you want to join an airline company, just attend this course here!!!!"

Further information about Simnest Aviation can be accessed via this link: www.simnest.com C AT M A G A Z I N E 2 . 2 0 2 2

17

EVTOL EVOLUTION

The eVTOL Pivot to Training

The commercial eVTOL sector’s foundation is quickly solidifying. While OEMs are testing and evaluating initial aircraft, other stakeholders are establishing vertiports and other infrastructure. Amongst this activity, the community’s focus is quickly shifting to training the initial tranche of eVTOL operators. Group Editor Marty Kauchak reviews recent and projected near-term developments in this nascent training community.

A

s OEMs announce public financing agreements and advance the testing and evaluation of their initial airframes, there is a frenetic pace of activities in other corners of the eVTOL enterprise. While advanced air mobility infrastructure plans unfold and eVTOL airframe suppliers raise the performance bar on the rigor and safety of their propulsion and other subsystems, the makers and suppliers of eVTOLs are turning their attention to training the first generation of operators. This article highlights representative training developments in this sector in the past several months and previews some near-term anticipated developments.

Programs Ascending A spoiler alert of sorts. Don’t expect to see eVTOL training organizations on the scale of enterprises supporting commercial fixed and rotary aircraft aircrews – yet.

One key insight on the early but quickly evolving eVTOL training enterprise was provided by Sam Swanson, Senior Manager, Public Relations at Archer, an OEM which is eyeing its entry into both the commercial and military eVTOL markets. Most significant, the Archer executive confirmed that establishing a pilot training program remains an early work in progress at this OEM. “Establishing a reliable pipeline of cer18

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tified pilots is critical to the long-term sustainability of commercial operations.

We are currently developing a pilot training program that is in compliance with FAA regulations and that will adequately develop the next generation of eVTOL pilots. We look forward to sharing more on this program in the coming months.”

Swanson was asked whether the simulation and training industry needs “clean sheet” designs to support Archer and other OEM providers and their customers. The public affairs expert responded, “Archer is confident in our ability to meet the training and evaluation needs of our operators by utilizing existing system technologies. We work closely with our S&T suppliers to identify and acquire the equipment needed to maintain the safety and reliability of our operations.”

That Archer is working with a number of unspecified S&T industry members to help establish its enterprise is also noteworthy. Swanson emphasized that Archer engages regularly with its S&T suppliers to ensure that any and all equipment being purchased supports its overall goal of safe and reliable operations. “We will continue to work closely with our suppliers to equip our operators with the tools they need to effectively test and evaluate the performance of our eVTOL aircraft.”

Above While industry aircraft remain in their test and development phases, industry pilot training programs are beginning. Shown above, the first successful hover test flight of Archer's Maker.

Image credit: Archer.

Partnerships Forming Beyond Archer’s collaboration with yetunnamed S&T companies, other partnerships are forming – providing the S&T industry with nothing less than major emergent opportunities to deliver content and services to eVTOL OEMs and their rapidly expanding list of customers.

In one case, CAE announced it had partnered with Joby Aviation, a company developing all-electric aircraft for commercial passenger service, to develop and qualify flight simulation training devices that will be used to train the future pilots of Joby’s revolutionary aircraft. CAE, the company noted, “will work with Joby to develop pilot training devices specifically for the company’s electric vertical takeoff and landing (eVTOL) aircraft.”

CAT reached out to the partners to gain an update on their progress. Katie Pribyl, Joby Aviation Public Relations, responded, “In March, we were pleased to announce our partnership with CAE to develop and qualify flight simulation devices that will be used to train the

cadre of future pilots that will fly Joby's aircraft. That work is progressing well.”

Also in March, it was announced NetJets and FlightSafety International signed a Memorandum of Understanding with Lilium, makers of an all-electric vertical take-off and landing jet, for a proposed strategic partnership. The announcement noted in part, “Lilium would also partner with FlightSafety International Inc. to provide products and services, such as courseware, industry leading immersive and mixed-reality training devices and crew training to support Lilium Jet operations. FlightSafety’s proprietary training software will deliver flexible and agile learning solutions needed to support the advance air mobility market.” The partnership was unable to provide an update on their activities.

Glimpses of Content Development Beyond early partnerships, S&T suppliers are introducing an interesting mix of content to this emerging sector.

In one instance, this July, CAE announced the launch of the CAE 700MXR flight simulator. The corporate press release noted, “Initially targeted to the eVTOL market, the CAE 700MXR will revolutionize flight training for complex urban settings with a compact minimotion platform and 360° field-of-view visuals that deliver high-fidelity, physicsbased simulation tailored to single-pilot operations,” and continued, “CAE’s nextgeneration immersive synthetic out-thewindow environment combined with a mixed-reality head-mounted display and real cockpit controls and instrumentation will enable pilots to take advantage of enhanced 3D perception and AI-based digital capabilities to fully engage in realistic, low-level flying scenarios.”

Elsewhere in the S&T industry, Immersive Display Solutions Inc. is brandishing similar credentials to other early content and service providers – in its case, IDSI is a leading provider of visual displays for rotary-wing aircraft of all sizes and shapes. George Forbes, CEO at the company, explained that IDSI is an OEM supplier to the largest names in the simulation industry. “Several years ago IDSI identified the eVTOL market as

Above CAE's new 700MXR Flight Simulator is “initially targeted to the eVTOL market."

Image credit: CAE.

an emerging opportunity within our current customer base as well as with new customers. Starting well before the Air Force [AFWERX] Agility Prime program came into being, we were engaged with a leading eVTOL developer and we have been fortunate to provide solutions to the companies who have emerged as leaders in the market. To date IDSI has delivered systems to two Agility-funded companies including mobile trailer-based systems and fixed installation for softwareintegration labs and demonstrations centers.”

The executive provided one vital datum point on the eVTOL sector’s early demand signals for visual display content. While IDSI has a range of solutions available to its eVTOL customers, “Our customers have found our transportable solutions have been popular for marketing applications. Some customers require a small form factor, so we use our compact VisionStation3 display. Other customers focus on larger size while still being able to collapse down for ease of transport, so we deploy reverse pressure screen technology. Lastly, for the fixed installation customers we offer our hardshell domes.”

IDSI further believes the eVTOL market is bifurcated between traditional US DoD requirements for simulation training and displays used for marketing. Forbes first explained the marketing, for example, tends to be more price conscious and thus the customers are willing to

compromise on display contrast and resolution. He continued, “The screens we deploy are similar to the high-end but the projectors are more ‘value oriented.’

Similarly, the image generators used tend to be commercial game engine-centric and thus more price competitive than the simulation and training solutions.”

IDSI is understandably excited about the growth that it sees within the DoD and commercial eVTOL markets, as “eVTOLs will require tens of thousands of new pilots and we believe that a portion of those will be trained using traditional simulators such as we provide.”

While the company acknowledges that XR headset (both AR and VR) will play a role in training, “we don’t see these replacing direct-view simulators completely. IDSI is working on internal projects to merge the game engine technologies with our direct-view large-format display products. Regarding fixed-wing, many of the same dynamics apply. We see game engine technology continuing to make inroads and this is expanding the market for our visual systems.”

IDSI’s near-term product roadmap includes its commitment to making traditional direct-view simulators easier to operate and easier to maintain. The company’s CEO concluded, “To that end we have developed an application that is dedicated to shielding the user from the complex system-level nuances that have made simulator visual display challenging in the past. Moreover, our application greatly simplifies the content management. Our goal is to make the simulator as easy to use as giant immersive TV and our application is the TV tuner.”

The Cusp of Sector Expansion The eVTOL training enterprise is in its formative stages, with partnerships emerging among OEMs, their customers and S&T companies. Plans are underway to transition operator training from the test-and-evaluation phase, as new airframes are certified, to sustained commercial operation. To meet this training pivot, S&T companies, many familiar to the legacy commercial aviation industry, are offering current and newly designed training systems and devices to support the eVTOL training enterprise. cat C AT M A G A Z I N E 2 . 2 0 2 2

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TRAINING ENVELOPE

UPRT Today: A Primer Randall Brooks, Vice President of Training and Business Development, APS, was interviewed by CAT’s Robert W. Moorman. Brooks has over 25 years of flight operations and training experience as a pilot, instructor and manager and is a past president of the UPRT Association.

CAT: Tell us about your involvement in Upset Prevention and Recovery Training (UPRT) and how this kind of training came about.

Randall Brooks (RB): In the late 1990s, there were several accidents that were determined to be survivable had the pilot been equipped with additional training.

At the time, the Airplane Upset Recovery Training Aid was created. Boeing and Airbus led the effort, in association with 40 different entitles, including international airlines, NASA, FAA and other regulatory and academic institutions.

It was very thorough, some say too thorough, at 400 pages. The document was not distributed widely. So many pilots didn’t know it existed.

At the time, loss of control in flight (LOC-I) was not the leading cause of accidents. Controlled Flight into Terrain (CFIT) was. As the Ground Proximity Warning Systems, and later, the Advanced Ground Proximity Warning Systems were rolled out, the CFIT accident rate was cut nearly in half.

Loss of control became the leading cause of fatalities. It’s been as high as 48% of all aircraft fatalities.

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In 2009, there were two accidents that brought loss of control accidents to everyone’s attention: Colgan Air Flight 3407, a deHavilland Dash-8-400, crashed near Buffalo, New York, and Air France Flight 447, an Airbus A330 from Rio de Janeiro, Brazil to Paris crashed into the south Atlantic Ocean.

Around that time, the Royal Aeronautical Society held a conference in London about expanding envelopes in flight simulation to address loss of control accidents. We noticed that these accidents were increasing in proportion to the total number of fatalities. That conference took place two days after Flight 447 crashed. But we didn’t know until 2011 that loss of control was the cause of that accident. The reason was that investigators had to fish the cockpit voice recorder (CVR) from the bottom of the Atlantic Ocean.

The Society created a standing committee to look into the cause of the crash of Flight 447. [Editor’s note: This also led to the International Committee for Aviation Training in Extended Envelopes – ICATEE – chaired by Dr. Sunjoo Advani. Brooks was co-chair of the ICATEE training working group.]

That movement was timely because in the US, there was similar interest into the cause of the Colgan Air 3407 crash.

In 2010, the FAA needed refunding from the federal government. Congress, in exchange for that funding, wanted several safety-related subjects addressed through rulemaking committees. One item was called the Stick Pusher Adverse Weather Aviation Rulemaking Committee (SPA-ARC). Congress learned from testimony that they had a serious loss of control in flight problem.

Consequently, FAA reconstituted the ARC as the Loss of Control, Avoidance and Recovery Training (LOCART-ARC).

Above APS operates two SIAI-Marchetti S211 jet trainers for an upset prevention recovery role.

Image credit: APS.

LOCART-ARC obtained the assistance of ICAO, which had been following the increase of loss of control accidents.

ICAO lent their Montréal facilities to the ARC, if the committee would allow international authorities and others to contribute. That ARC began convening in 2014.

We continued to see loss of control as the leading cause of fatalities. APS CEO Paul BJ Ransbury and I provided the ARC additional testimony.

One ARC recommendation called for pilots to receive UPRT training in the actual aircraft prior to commercial licensing.

The ARC realized that there are limitations to simulating an upset. So ICAO, in 2015, based on recommendations from LOCART-ARC, ICATEE and other industry inputs, created Document 111, the Manual on Aeroplane Upset Prevention and Recovery Training. The manual presented a new way of training pilots and instructors, elements of aerodynamics, and what should be done in the airplane and simulator.

The FAA did not respond to the rec-

ommendations of their own rulemaking committee. EASA responded to ICAO’s recommendation to incorporate UPRT training before a type rating or prior to the issuance of an ATP license.

CAT: The current status on UPRT? RB: ICAO knew it was impossible to train 160,000 pilots worldwide on aircraft. The better way to start training UPRT for commercial pilots was at the licensing level.

With regard to the FAA, the UPRT requirement was put in place in March 2020 to train all airline pilots in Part 121 operations. That’s been done. The FAA did not act on the recommendation for on-aircraft training for pilots prior to commercial licensing in a manner similar to what EASA has mandated.

The FAA requirement pertains to major and regional airline pilots only.

Commercial pilots flying for Part 135 or Part 91 operations are not required to go through UPRT. And yet, the FAA for years has wanted to create one level of safety.

They wanted to bring Part 135 up to the Part 121 standards.

CAT: Some industry observers say the Colgan Air Dash 8 was on approach and too low to recover from an upset. What do you think?

RB: The Colgan Air crash would have been 100% recoverable by a flight crew that had received comprehensive UPRT. UPRT-trained pilots would have likely prevented that accident from happening in the first place.

There is a philosophical debate among pilots that says we don’t need to teach pilots how to recover from an upset. We want to teach them how to prevent an upset from ever happening.

The mere process of providing UPRT requires the pilot to see the development of an upset and to learn how to recover.

When you do that dozens of times, your mental model of the aircraft’s flight path changes. Prior to training, you assume that the airplane is like a railroad car. It’s on rails and most of the time it is. When pilots take UPRT, they see what the flight path would be in an upset. Pilots develop enhanced pattern recognition. Which allows them to see

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TRAINING ENVELOPE the development of an impending upset at an earlier stage.

CAT: Has your UPRT program evolved over time?

RB: It has. UPRT came from militarystyle aerobatic training. But that doesn’t transfer to transport category aircraft.

So, it’s been an evolution in creating an applicable program. We have gotten more sophisticated over time. Our program contains a few important elements: the academic training provides foundational knowledge on how aerodynamics works in an upset; on-aircraft training also includes human factors and fills in the aerodynamic blanks.

There too is a benefit to using simulation for some training. Example: upsets that occur close to the ground, such as in a wake vortex encounter. We have no business doing that kind of training in an actual aircraft. But in a simulator, we can show pilots how to adequately recover.

Recently, APS ventured into the use of virtual reality. We can now take transferable skills into VR, such as crew resource management. We can have pilots practice in a cockpit-like environment that resembles the aircraft they fly at work. It is this integrated methodology that we’ve developed over the last 10-15 years.

CAT: Is UPRT different in a turboprop and jet aircraft?

RB: It is 85-90% common training. The physics and aerodynamics are basically the same, whether I am teaching King Air or 737 pilots. There is a slight difference in the acceleration characteristics.

The jet will accelerate in a nose-down situation faster than a turboprop. And the actual upset onset parameters also might be slightly different. In our simulators here, we have the resources to simulate seven different classes of aircraft.

CAT: Do you provide supersonic training for commercial airline pilots?

RB: We do not. We operate two SIAIMarchetti S211 jet trainers for an upset prevention recovery role. We’re aligned with a company that has contracts with the US Air Force which gives us access to a supersonic platform if necessary.

CAT: How would supersonic training today differ from training Concorde pilots?

RB: It would track the progression of flight training in general at the time.

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Randall Brooks, Vice President of Training and Business Development, APS. Image credit: APS.

The Concorde came on line at the point where simulation was taking over the ability to qualify pilots without flying the actual aircraft. British Airways and Air France did provide their pilots some flight experience in fast jets with the Royal Air Force. There are some aerodynamic differences to be considered in supersonic flight. If those differences can’t be adequately replicated in a simulator, then that might require the need for an airborne asset. One could argue that decades of development in flight simulation likely make it easier to provide the necessary degree of fidelity for flight simulation.

CAT: Do you contract with airlines, individuals, corporate flight departments?

RB: We deal with every sector of aviation, from government, military and flight schools to owner-operators, airlines and corporate aircraft flight departments.

For airlines, we generally assume the train-the-trainer role. We do that for Delta Air Lines and United Airlines and, most recently, Fiji Airways. In most cases, we train their subject matter experts in how to distribute the training down to instructors and line pilots. The instructor course takes a couple of weeks for onaircraft training.

We also train 100% of US Army fixedwing pilots at the CAE Dothan Training Center in Alabama. We’re a subcontractor to CAE in UPRT. Military pilots receive UPRT training with us at the unit level, typically in a Beechcraft RC-12 Special Electronic Mission aircraft (King Air) or Short Brothers C-23 Sherpa (330, 360).

One of the bigger components of our on-aircraft training is the corporate business sector, either Part 135 or Part 91. We’ve done UPRT training on the Gulfstream, Global Express, Challengers, King Airs and other business aircraft.

We also provide simulator-only training for some customers. But we’re up front about the limitations of that training.

CAT: What is your pathway to the business aircraft community regarding UPRT? RB: There has been an industry outreach that we’ve done through NBAA. In early years, there was a walk-up pattern (of students.) We also outreach to business aviation through various organizations, such as Pacific Northwest Business Aircraft, Iowa Business Aircraft, North Texas Business aircraft and other associations.

But the growth of UPRT training today is more part of a modern flight department with a safety management system which examines threats to their operation and finds ways to mitigate those threats. Loss of control accidents is the leading cause of accidents and fatalities in every sector of aviation that NTSB tracks.

CAT: Insurance companies have in a way become de facto safety advocates.

They insist that airlines and business aircraft operators implement UPRT before they will insure the operation. What are your thoughts about this development?

RB: Yes, that’s happening. The USAIG Performance Vector program (part of the United States Aircraft Insurance Group) is partnering with APS to help pay a portion of the UPRT. APS recently partnered with Starr Aviation, one of the larger insurers worldwide. We’re still looking at ways to work with them.

CAT: Closing thoughts?

RB: There is an under-appreciation by regulatory authorities and the traveling public that licensed pilots may not have the necessary skills to handle an upset emergency. It is a stark threat that exists today. In a couple of days of instruction, which includes four training flights and a simulator session, that threat can be fixed. It is a modest investment over the course of a pilot’s career to inoculate them against what is the leading cause of fatalities in every sector of aviation worldwide for over a decade. cat

REGULATORY INITIATIVES

EASA Developing IATA-Style Data for Helicopter EBT

“We will eventually allow EBT baseline for helicopters, but it will take five years,” says EASA’s Francisco Arenas Alvariño. Mario Pierobon describes the process to get there.

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n the aviation community there is near-unanimous consensus that competency-based training and assessment (CBTA) represents the ‘gold standard’ for training in several professional aviation domains. In line with this consensus, the introduction of evidence-based training (EBT) and the implementation of best practices across the European aviation community has been in the making for several years.

While in the fixed-wing part of the air transport business, EBT has been introduced by several international airlines, it is an established form of crew training, and it has a very comprehensive regulatory framework, in the helicopter community there is still progress to be made. Nevertheless, the trend is set for EBT to be consistently embraced by helicopter operators as the reference standard for crew training.

Concept Paper Outlines Helicopter EBT In May 2022, further steps were taken by the European Union Aviation Safety Agency (EASA) towards the implementation of EBT for helicopter operations. EASA published a ‘Helicopter EBT Concept Paper’ as part of its rulemaking task (RMT 0599) that builds the case for extending the regulatory framework into helicopter operations by setting out the baseline for a helicopter training programme and the different options available.

In the concept paper, EASA points out that existing international standards and regulations for helicopter pilot training were originally derived in response to accidents involving early-generation jet aircraft. “Whilst some elements of helicopter operations are included, they have in essence been ‘built– on’ additions to the core programme, usually in the form of manoeuvre-based practices. Standards have remained virtually

unchanged since inception,” says EASA. “During the same period, progressive changes in aircraft design, including the developments in automation, system integration, reliability and significant changes in the operating environment have demonstrably improved operational safety, but also revealed new operational challenges.”

The assertion that the perpetuation of historical airline flight training regimes leads to less-than-optimal output is supported by the helicopter community, as is the implementation of change in both the regulation and development of recurrent airline pilot assessment and training, affirms EASA in the concept paper.

“Whilst helicopters were outside the scope of the original EBT development plan and are not referenced in ICAO Doc 9995 or the IATA EBT Implementation Manual, the offshore helicopter community, operating multi-pilot, multi-engine, instrument flight rules (IFR) aircraft, increasingly equipped with cockpits equivalent to ‘Generation 3’ aeroplanes (as described in ICAO Doc 9995) has expressed a need to have access to EBT,” says EASA.

Above Data shows that the type of operation plays a greater role in helicopters.

Image credit: John O'Nolan/ Unsplash.

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REGULATORY INITIATIVES

Baseline for Data Comparison In the roadmap defined in the concept paper, EASA anticipates the development of an EBT data report for helicopters. “Compilation of the Helicopter EBT Data Report will follow the methodology used by IATA in the development of the IATA EBT Data Report to ensure consistency in approach to the data analysis, which will allow commonalities and differences between aeroplane and helicopter operations to be identified,” says EASA. “This approach will allow future data comparison with the baseline data established today. Results to be published within an EBT Data Report for Helicopters will be drawn from multiple sources, some of which are readily available to the public. Some come from information, access to which is restricted to industry specialists, while other results will be inferred from confidential, deidentified data.”

To date, EASA has achieved a significant amount of work in the EBT Data Report for Helicopters. “We have some preliminary results; however, they will be shared only when we publish the complete work on the EBT Helicopters Data report,” says Francisco Arenas Alvariño, EASA’s EBT project manager. “As a preliminary statement, we can say that data shows that the type of operation plays a greater role in helicopters. Although aircraft generation continues to be important, it is less relevant than the type of operation. It should be noted that in aeroplanes the aircraft generation has a greater role.”

1st Step: Mixed Implementation It is important to point out that the process described in the concept paper by which the case made for EBT for airline operators can be described, developed, and evidenced to support EBT for helicopter operators has not concluded yet.

Therefore, currently, there is no detailed regulatory guidance available from EASA on EBT implementation for helicopter operators.

Nevertheless, flight crew training regulations in EASA AIR OPS (ORO. FC.231 and ORO.FC.232) in a way already anticipate helicopter EBT implementa24

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tion. “When we developed the EBT rules for aeroplanes, we decided to make the implementing rules performance-based and ready for helicopters and aeroplanes.

Thus, ORO.FC.231 & 232 are ready for helicopters, and we are only missing the acceptable means of compliance (AMC) and guidance materials (GM). The AMCs and GMs are only ready so far for aeroplanes, not for helicopters,” says Arenas Alvariño.

EASA amended GM1 ORO.FC.230 (a) (b)(f) in ED decision 2020/002/R to allow helicopter EBT mixed implementation.

“Mixed implementation is the first step to an EBT baseline. We are following the same approach we did for aeroplanes (mixed implementation in Dec 2015 and EBT baseline in 2020). We will eventually allow EBT baseline for helicopters, but it will take five years,” says Arenas Alvariño.

Draft Manual Now Available In August 2022, EASA published a draft EBT Manual on the EASA community website. The objective of the draft EBT Manual is to support the design and conduct of EBT programmes by complying with EASA regulations.

There are three sections in the manual: • Section I contains the need-to-know safety promotion material, • Section II contains the nice-to-know safety promotion material, • Section III contains the EBT checklist for baseline EBT. “The draft EBT Manual is designed as support and guidance for the implementation of EBT mixed (ED decision 2015/027/R) and for EBT baseline (follow-

Above EASA's Francisco Arenas Alvariño speaking at EATS 2021 in Berlin.

Image credit: David Malley/Halldale Group.

ing the adoption of Commission Implementing Regulation (EU) 2020/2036 and the ED decision 2020),” says EASA. “The content of the manual will be expanded in future editions to become a living document that helps in the development and implementation of EBT across the European Aviation Community.”

EASA has also developed a checklist for the implementation of EBT mixed. “It is a generic checklist both for Aeroplanes and Helicopters. However, due to the relevance of aeroplanes, some elements of the checklist are aeroplane centric,” says Arenas Alvariño.

The current AMCs and GMs to ORO. FC.231 and ORO.FC.232 can be used to some extent as references to support helicopter mixed EBT implementation.

“We use the word aeroplanes in many AMCs and GMs related to ORO.FC.231 and ORO.FC.232; therefore, it should be clear that, currently, ORO.FC.231 and ORO.FC.232, due to the lack of specific AMCs GMs, should not be used by helicopter operators. However, the AMCs and GMs to ORO.FC.231 and ORO.FC.232 are suitable reference materials to implement EBT, but it is better to use the EBT manual, the EBT checklist and to contact EASA if a helicopter operator decides to implement EBT mixed. We have already reached two operators in the process of implementing EBT mixed,” concludes Arenas Alvariño. cat

CABIN CREW TRAINING

Cabin Fever — Start-up Airlines Try New Flight Attendant Training Techniques Start-ups can rely on tried-and-true curricula or go rogue. Here’s what Rona Gindin discovered at some new airlines.

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hile legacy airlines go about their business, newcomers are popping up around the world. As many as 130 airlines debuted in 2021-22 or were preparing to launch soon, according to aviation consulting firm IBA. For cabin crew trainers, that means opportunity: It’s the ideal time to try a fresh approach to training. And so we wondered, how does an airline start from scratch? Do the folks creating new cabin crew training programs adapt what they used in past airline jobs? Contract out training to full-time training centers, which teach to the airline’s specifications? Or try something new?

Facts are facts, and safety is safety, so the core of what cabin crew members learn barely changes. Some airlines choose to reinvent the wheel, however, in terms of how they get crucial messages across to trainees. They might insist on: in-person classroom training; online, possibly interactive and/or virtual reality components; an emphasis on technical skills; or a bent toward the soft stuff – flight attendants’ feelings and learning styles.

To find out, CAT reached out to a few dozen start-up airlines.

The staffs tend to be so small and busy that few had time to share their plans or programs. We did learn what to watch for, though.

Training Schools Do the Teaching Flight training schools are an easy option for airlines that don’t have the capacity to start and run a soup-to-nuts cabin crew training program themselves. Generally, the schools have a standard curriculum, and adapt it to meet the specifics required by each airline. That might involve altering instruction to match the type of aircraft flown, and could weave in a specific airline’s service priorities and procedures. In some cases, the training schools have not only curricula but also training equipment. That means the incoming flight attendant crews can practice how to handle airplane doors, guide passengers to slides and put out fires. “We

do not do any in-house trainings,” one Middle Eastern airline told us, suggesting it outsources these duties to specialists.

On-the-Jobbers Young airlines tend to put experienced cabin crew members in charge of cabin crew training. “Our trainers are current flight attendants who are removed from flying status to facilitate the classroom instruction,” says Courtney Goff, spokesperson for Avelo Air, a low-cost carrier out of Houston, Texas. “In addition, members of the Avelo leadership team conduct virtual Microsoft Teams meetings with each class.” That engagement with the company’s leaders energizes trainees, she says.

Greater Bay Airlines pulls trainers from various backgrounds, focusing on their attitude, says Michelle Cheng, General Manager of Inflight Services for the Hong Kong start-up. “Training specialists and instructors are all seasoned,” she says.

“Apart from technical knowledge, they have the passion to become an instructor.

We see that they’ve been promoted in the past, and it’s clear that they’re devoted to their jobs.”

Above Greater Bay Airlines inaugural passenger flight took place on 23 July 2022.

Image credit: Greater Bay Airlines.

Scratch-Made Is an Option At Bonza, a startup low-cost airline in Australia, the training team started from C AT M A G A Z I N E 2 . 2 0 2 2

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CABIN CREW TRAINING scratch in developing the cabin crew training program. The team is a mix of professionals with inflight customer experience, crew training chops and checking leads. They consulted with in-house ground instructors at Boeing and CAE, then together created the course content development and facilitation. Due to the convenient timing, they were able to implement the new flight rules about how cabin and flight crew are trained in Part 121 of the Civil Aviation Safety Regulations (CASR). “It has been really important that we work alongside the regulator to ensure Bonza’s training programs are compliant,” says Bonza CEO Tim Jordan.

Starter Packs Differ Incoming cabin crew begin their training before leaving home. That can be small, light and introductory, or detailed and intense.

At Avelo Air, for instance, incoming cabin crew receive a simple welcome package. “The training packet tells them what to expect, details, location and suggestions on what to bring with them,” Goff said. All instruction is received during class, she says, and revolves around a small tablet, which is loaded with the entire Inflight Manual.

At GBA, by contrast, training begins long before in-person instruction. “The younger generation appreciates the selflearning approach, so we send a prelearning pack for trainees to start with before Day 1 of classroom training,” says Cheng, noting that most GBA cabin crew trainees are young but have flying experience. Great thought went into the intro packet. It has a mix of video and sophisticated tech elements that are designed to send the message that “human factors” are vital in both flight attendant education and customer service. “We have one chance to engage them, to make a good impression,” she explains.

In-Person Priorities Once cabin crew arrive for in-person training, more differences are obvious.

At Avelo Air, cabin crew are taught via a combo of classroom instruction, PowerPoint presentations and hands-on drills, says Goff. More than 200 flight attendants have gone through the program thus far, and they are under watchful eyes. “Our 26

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Above "... we want training to be an interactive experience, not boring.” - Michelle Cheng, General Manager of Inflight Services, GBA. Image credit: Greater Bay Airlines.

trainees come from a wide background of experience, education and work history,” Goff says. “They do not become crew members with Avelo until they successfully complete training. During training, they are observed in their ability to work as a team, demonstrating Avelo values and, of course, successfully passing all drills and exams – written and oral.”

Avelo flight attendants do their training in Miami, Florida, classrooms equipped with tablets and also use training equipment nearby. The airline farms out CPR instruction to a specialized vendor. All the rest is done at a Boeing facility and the Pan Am Academy – emergency equipment, ditching, door drills and firefighting. All training will be moved to a new center in Orlando, Florida, in 2023.

Greater Bay Airlines is big on engagement once everyone is physically together. Early on, trainees are given assignments to come up with ideas for how to build a “safety culture” during training. “We involve them, we treat them as family,” Cheng says. “We want to know their feelings, and we want training to be an interactive experience, not boring.” Those who propose the best ideas receive a small gift. These personal touches, Cheng insists, have a huge impact on keeping cabin crew content and they build loyalty.

“Artificial intelligence is not true. It’s a robot,” she says, referring to some other airlines’ training programs. “We treasure small-group, one-on-one interactions.”

Soliciting ideas and feedback emphasize GBA’s focus on communication. “If something goes wrong inflight, that’s about human error,” she says. “The policy, knowledge and skill set are not at fault on their own; it’s usually due to execution, about why people make mistakes.” GBA therefore takes efforts to understand why people err, and finds that classroom discussion is key. “Trainees share their previous experiences. They might even cry.

It helps people to touch the heart, to hear each other’s stories, to have one-on-one contact and deep conversation. That’s why we prefer classroom education over online training.”

At Bonza, in-house experts are key, yet external experts address trainee classes too. The goal: “best-in-class” trainers.

Warding Off Discontent Especially since the global pandemic began, cabin crew members have felt unheard and unnoticed, with burnout rates high. “Flight attendants have given their all over the course of this pandemic and there is no break,” says Nastassja Lewis, founder of th|AIR|apy, a support site for cabin crew. “This added pressure has shown up as extreme burn out, exhaustion, bouts of depression, anxiety attacks, suicide, substance abuse, lack of motivation, loneliness, and financial hardships beyond comprehension and not much is being done about it.”

Throughout the industry, including at WATS conference sessions, flight crew trainers talk about ways to recognize flight attendants’ challenges and ease their burdens.

Some new airlines are taking targeted measures to avoid that mess.

They can’t stop flight delays or cancel overnight itineraries, but they can treat recruits with respect. At GBA, that takes the form of empowering cabin crew to treat themselves well when possible, and to enjoy interaction with passengers.

“We are excited not to be a traditional airline,” Cheng says. “We emphasize to cabin crew that they should have fun.

They’re free to make small talk with passengers during slow times, just like chatting in a café. And if you’re tired during flight, don’t over-do. Sit down and have a rest.” It works, she says. “The trainees are really excited!” cat

EVENT REPORT

Best of WATS 2022

More than 900 industry professionals attended the 24th World Aviation Training Summit (WATS) in Orlando, Florida in May. Marty Kauchak, Chuck Weirauch and Ken Storey summarize a few of the highlights.

Emerging Tech, Pilot Shortage, 1500-Hour Rule Dominate Opening Discussion MARTY KAUCHAK At the opening WATS 2022 conference session, four diverse training community leaders opened the spigot on relevant topics that will have major implications for the pilot training enterprise well beyond this decade.

Emerging learning technologies were evident on the expanses of the WATS exposition floor and a common, topical thread throughout the roundtable. The panel members said these enablers will populate future pilot learning programs – yet noted these products’ baseline technologies will need to mature for wider implementation.

Jeff Winter, Vice President at JetBlue University, revealed his organization continues to run proof of concepts with VR and other technologies. The executive conveyed his team’s early lessons learned, first offering a limiting use factor is whether the application solves an existing requirement or training gap, or is addressing a problem that doesn’t exist. “And then there is the broader ROI (return on investment) issue.”

Bryan Quigley, Chairman of the Board of the United Aviate Academy and Senior Vice President for Flight Operations at United Airlines, pointed out that recent learning technologies allow the pilot to focus on certain areas that do not, and should not, require an actual aircraft or flight training device. “You also need to look at the 19th Air Force’s [AETC] expanding use of VR; there are lots of great uses.”

Chris Broom, Vice President for Commercial Training Solutions at Boeing Global Sources, noted, “Once you figure out what you’re going to put in VR, there is a future for these devices. Look at military training and maintenance training, too.”

The issue of a pilot supply shortage emerged. Again. The panel members addressed several issues they observed are contributing to the supply-demand mismatch in the US. Brad Lambert, Vice President for Flight Operations at Frontier Airlines, called for a democratization, or knocking down the financial barriers to entering the airline profession. JetBlue’s Winter noted JetBlue’s Gateways programs continue to open the door for both crew members and external applicants to pursue a path to a pilot or maintenance technician position at JetBlue: “Financing remains a huge issue – and the day is coming – when we need to better address this issue.”

An adjacent, contentious topic in the US commercial airline industry remains the FAA 1500-hour rule. CAT Editor Rick Adams asked the panelists if the rule is “set in stone”? With this regulation, the US appears to be “going it alone,” with air carriers in other nations moving toward competency-based learning and other strategies to certify and qualify air crew members. The panel’s consensus was that the US commercial aviation industry and its many stakeholders need to collectively take action to modify this rule.

Above Session Moderator Capt. Paul Preidecker (far left) with panelists (l-r): Jeffrey Winter, JetBlue University; Bryan Quigley, United Airlines; Brad Lambert, Frontier Airlines and Chris Broom, Boeing Global Services.

Image credit: David Malley/ Halldale Group.

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EVENT REPORT JetBlue’s Winter initially pointed to European and Japanese carriers as examples of airlines being able to safely operate using competency-based and alternate strategies when compared to the US model. Yet, as the 1500-hour rule was advanced through US Congressional mandate, Winter offered that it will require “bold people, taking bold steps” to change the rule and mandating fewer hours to enter the flight deck – with a required alignment and consensus of the industry, academia and other stakeholders.

Quigley placed the issue in a whole-of-nation, economic context, noting it will require a national political consensus for change. “This will take a political will with economic input, for example, how many more small US communities can lose air service because of a pilot shortage.”

Leveraging Data Analytics

WATS MTX: The Technician Shortage CHUCK WEIRAUCH

MARTY KAUCHAK

WATS 2022 continued the civil aviation training community’s awareness of the emergence of big data as an increasingly effective enabler of learning efficiencies and safety.

Christine Bohl, Market Director, Commercial Training Solutions at Boeing Global Services, moderator for the Special Industry Panel - Leveraging Data Analytics to Enhance Flight Safety and Promote Training, laid the foundation: calling attention to the reality that data “is here, there – the digital thread is saturated with very large amounts of it.”

She encouraged the training community to “filter, aggregate, and pick out the next use cases of big data to improve human performance, and training.”

But there was a huge caveat she added – while many stakeholders look in many right places for data, “we have to work together.”

Chris Broom said after stakeholders gain data, they will need to aggregate it, and there is the imperative to follow privacy and other laws governing data usage. “Training is not a place for competition. Among other things, we need to have open-source data sharing and no competition as we aggregate and complete other activities.”

David Cox, US Academy Director at L3Harris Commercial Aviation, presented from the ATO perspective, that – during the journey of aspiring pilots to gain 1500 hours – “data has not been overly available.” He added, during a solo flight, a cadet who successfully returns will typically say, “Everything went OK.” “Data can be out of context and is not useful – so it has to be persistent and analyzed properly to be useful,” Capt. Stéphan Labrucherie, Head of Flight Training Worldwide at Airbus, told WATS attendees. He said data is coherent if it is “the right data and is associated with the right phase of training.”

At the conclusion of the session, Boeing’s Bohl issued a Diamond Sponsor

‘Call for Industry Action’ to “establish a global cross-stakeholder industry task force” which would address: • Common Taxonomy • Stakeholder Roles • Global Aggregation • Data Filtering • Progress Toward Elevation and Harmonization • Standards and Regulation • Enhanced Training Standards and Capability • Active Participation not Passive Observation Rick Adams, FRAeS, WATS Chair, challenged Bohl and the panelists to return to next year’s conference with a status report on the proposed Big Data Task Force.

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While the Maintenance Training tracks of previous WATS conferences have focused more on the technology involved in repairing and maintaining aircraft, this year’s focus was on non-technical aspects of these processes.

The most critical of the WATS themes was how to help meet and resolve the growing shortage of maintenance technicians while improving their education, performance and effectiveness.

This year’s track also reflected a high level of diversity, with the 15 presenters representing a wide cross-section of the industry, from airlines and MROs to maintenance schools and organizations.

For the first time at WATS, a segment of the agenda served as an invitation from the show’s exhibitors to attend briefings, which included CAE, FlightSafety International, Delta TechOps Training and Modest Tree.

Hans Mayer, President of the European Aviation Maintenance Training Committee, focused on Competency-based Maintenance Training and Assessment, pointing out that a human factors focus is essential in maintenance training curricula. He also cited the need to move from prescriptive to predictive maintenance.

Christian Delmas, Head of Airbus Worldwide Maintenance Training, spoke of the challenge of developing and maintaining a workforce of competent mechanics, starting with training for basic competence. He advocated a cradle-to-retirement approach to the development of an effective training maintenance program for technicians.

George Perrin, Senior Manager Tech Ops Training, Spirit Airlines, discussed aircraft maintenance hiring challenges and the talent pool. Perrin said that he starts recruiting efforts in the eighth grade, and expressed concerns that the maintenance technician talent pool is drying up.

Angeline Ram, Safety and Organizational Development Consultant, spoke of how the improvement of soft skills in Bronze Sponsors TOUCH & GO SOLUTIONS

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the workplace (such as communication, teamwork, problemsolving and decision-making) can improve performance in the workplace culture.

Crystal Maguire, Executive Director of the Aviation Technician Education Council, described how ATEC and a coalition of aviation entities worked to change the new FAA Part 147 rule that dictates the curriculum requirements for maintenance technician training; this revision will go into effect 31 July 2023.

Michelle Arredondo, Maintenance Instructor, Ascent Aviation Services, asked the audience whether instructors know how to improve teaching skills, and stressed that they should use all learning methods possible to make this improvement.

Dr. William Cox, CEO M&E, along with Christian Delmas, presented their views on how to get the most out of maintenance training in these uncertain times. Delmas stressed that maintenance organizations must make an investment in training. He described a methodology known as SMART ROI to convince management to further invest in training.

Justin Madden, Executive Director of Government Affairs for the Aircraft Mechanics Fraternal Association, told the audience that 97+% of aircraft mechanics are male. This fact shows that the industry needs collaboration between industry, academia, labor and government to raise awareness and change how we treat women in aviation and help meet the maintenance technician shortage.

Tammera Holmes, Founder and CEO of AeroStar Avion Institute, said that the aviation community must break down barriers

to the next generation by realizing that they have different goals and attitudes to attract them to careers in aviation. We need to open the doors to those who have the desire and aptitude to join this career, and provide all parts of the pathway they need.

A/M/V/XR Everywhere at WATS 2022

KEN STOREY

After two years of mostly virtual meetings, virtual training capabilities were all around the WATS live exhibit floor.

The return to normalcy at WATS is a welcome sign for Thor Paulli Andersen. In late 2019, Andersen co-founded a new virtual reality pilot training studio, VRpilot, in Lystrup, Denmark. Reflecting back on everything that has occurred since launching the company, Andersen remained optimistic: “The pandemic has really opened the eyes of the industries to alternative solutions, and really changed the mindset of everyone when it comes to remote work.”

The crash course in virtual connectivity of the past two years is now opening new doors to improved learning options while also staying relevant with the demands of a shifting workforce.

VR headsets, flight simulators, and work-from-home options have dramatically reshaped aviation training programs. With specialized hardware, each of these tools often sat disconnected from one another, but a new wave of interoperability between technology platforms is allowing a level of collaboration that was unattainable until very recently.

Even as the world moves to more digital connectivity, a fusion

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EVENT REPORT of technologies is needed to ensure users can easily navigate between their various smart devices. “We realize that VR is a great technology, AR is a great technology, and then computer applications, in general, have been a great technology. However, we needed a way to bring all of those together because each one has unique features that help a student learn,” explains Dolores Garcia Lowe, a Senior Systems Architect at Cole Engineering Services, Inc. (CESI). “The AR technology allows you not only to work on something and be able to reach back [through the learning materials], if you encounter something unfamiliar you have the ability to reach out to someone more experienced than you or someone else who knows what you're working on and help you.”

The rise in digital tools also opens up new opportunities for data tracking. After becoming a leader in data analytics for the entertainment industry. Gamma Blast Studios Chief Opportunity and Happiness Officer, Liz Denning, noted, “What's interesting is that a lot of the movie studios have been doing this sort of content gathering for years. We then applied that to aviation.” Denning continued, “We think that is what's missing in terms of aviation. Companies can direct their training into specific areas. You can say this group of pros doesn't understand something; we can go in and focus on that area specifically. It's very targeted, pinpointed.”

With nearly real-time processing and feedback, another first-time exhibitor to WATS founded in the months prior to the pandemic showcased how technology can allow for training in ways unattainable not that long ago. “PlaneEnglish [West Lafayette, Indiana] is a relatively new company. We’ve been around for about three years. This is our first time at an event of this size. We have developed an aviation radio simulator dedicated to training pilots how to communicate with air traffic control,” explains PlaneEnglish President and Co-founder Muharrem Mane.

“We provide them enough visual information and scenario description to enable them to press the mic, talk to air traffic control, make their request, or request their clearance. We score that and provide immediate feedback on how 30

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Above Virtual training capabilities were a prevalent feature on the WATS trade show floor.

Image credit: David Malley/Halldale Group.

This mix of proven physical training alongside digital training tools is one that Thor Paulli Andersen acknowledges is here to stay. “We believe that you can move a lot of the training objectives into cost-effective devices like VR. While also maintaining more flexibility with your training.” Like many at WATS, Andersen believes these alternative solutions can help address issues facing the industry as it moves ahead. “We're experiencing a big ramp up in the hiring of new pilots, and we have a huge need for training.

That's what we're here to support with these new efficient training tools.” cat

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they did. It's a simulator with a built-in training curriculum and dashboard learning management system,” said Mane.

The shift isn’t just on the software side: Epic Games, the studio behind the revolutionary Unreal Engine 3D environment creation tool, showed how the rapid evolution occurring on the software side is mirrored on the hardware side. The Antoinette Project is Epic’s move to bring more open access to the flight simulator and aviation training industries. With the release of Unreal Engine 5, Epic believes they have a real-time 3D creation tool able to meet the intense demands of the aviation training industry. Using their signature open access, Epic launched the Antoinette Project as a way to bridge the gulf between the gaming industries they’re more known for and traditional aviation training. The Antoinette Project is a set of tools for flight simulator developers to use in their development.

Manchester, UK-based EDM has a history in physical training. That heritage was seen with one of their latest offerings, a physical fire training kit that’s a mockup of commercial aircraft. “It's a containerized real fire trainer using LPG-fed fires.

It can do overhead bin, under seat, galley, and lavatory fires; all controlled from a central instructor-operated station and a tablet,” explains James Bird, Head of Civil Aviation Sales at EDM. But alongside the physical training tools sat a slew of VR training offerings. “We can do aircraft door trainer, fire and smoke trainer.”

18-20 April 2023 WATS 2023 – World Aviation Training Summit Rosen Shingle Creek Resort, Orlando, Florida, USA www.wats-event.com 29- 30 August 2023 APATS 2023 – Asia Pacific Airline Training Symposium Marina Bay Sands, Singapore www.apats-event.com 8-9 November 2023 EATS 2023 – European Airline Training Symposium Estoril Congress Center, Cascais Lisbon, Portugal www.eats-event.com

INDEX OF ADS Artemis Aerospace 9 www.artemisaerospace.com CAA International 11 www.caainternational.com/training CAE OBC www.cae.com CISEFA 21 www.cisefa.com 16-17 Simnest Aviation www.simnest.com CAT Full Flight Simulator Census 29 www.halldale.com/census WATS 2023 IBC www.wats-event.com Advertising contacts: Holly Foster holly.foster@halldale.com +1 813 994 0191 Jeremy Humphreys jeremy.humphreys@halldale.com +44 1252 532009

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