Bring Back Virtual HITS

By LT Cory “AGNES” Poudrier, USN

At the start of COVID, HSM and HSC Wings Pacific were posed an interesting problem: how do we continue providing essential instrument training to pilots while adhering to social distancing regulations and COVID-19 mitigation controls? Out of this problem, a brilliant solution was born. Virtual HITS (Helicopter Instrument Training School). Provided via Microsoft Teams video meetings, the program simultaneously answered the question and improved upon the standing product. Easy to schedule, easy to attend, and easily modified for changes to policy, it was, pardon the pun, a hit.

So where did it go?

Virtual HITS provided arguably the most adaptive and forward-leaning example of a virtual classroom in the rotary wing community. Sign-ups were virtual, class rosters collected digitally, and CNAF-mandated open and closed book exams administered in a secure manner that met the intent of the training. Aircrew and operations departments saved time and headache by allowing attendees to take part in training from anywhere. NATOPS departments experienced less concern about early scheduling driven by class size restrictions. An all-around win, some might say.

When COVID mitigations started to ease, the Fleet saw the return of “in-person” HITS Classes. It was a bold reminder of why sometimes the old ways are not always the best. Attendance is again limited by class size, and requests are relegated again to the antiquated Outlook HSC-3 Folder, driving rosters to be released there and only there. The book bags in the classroom, full of expired and outdated publications that do not support the current teaching material highlight the shift to digital publications. The instructors focus on paper charts; a stark contrast to the use of web and device-based planning applications that have been authorized for flight planning for years.

Rather than hold on to the older format, HSC-3 and the Fleet at large should embrace a virtual and more flexible option that has already been proven. Virtual HITS provides an incredible venue to teach instrument navigation and flying at the pace of innovation: publication libraries, with baked in digital links to references, and video tutorials for digital interfaces can be added to lectures in the Office 365 family of products with ease. Because the syllabus is tightly maintained, changes to content can take a day or two and reach far more pilots through digital notifications than the slow trickle of learning that occurs through in-person HITS.

Even more revolutionary, HITS could provide a test case and proving ground for automated paperwork for other DoD classes and programs. Having students fill out an online form upon checking in to the lectures can automatically fill a HITS completion roster, and that document can be released after exam results. That concept, once established, would likely build well into the countless other similar repetitive paperwork in all T/M/S programs.

It would be a great shame to ignore this opportunity as a rotary wing community and let a more effective model of instruction disintegrate into history. The constant messaging from Fleet users to reduce administrative burden and ease scheduling requirements was very neatly answered through this innovation; to forgo its long-term use would be to take some very serious steps backward.