Training – The Solution to LOC
TRAINING – THE SOLUTION TO LOSS OF CONTROL
In recent years, pilots, industry leaders, aviation and flight educators, and training organizations have become much more aware of the severity of the threat of Loss of Control In-flight (LOC-I) and the role of comprehensive Upset Prevention and Recovery Training (UPRT) to mitigate the associated risk.
Commercial Aviation Safety Team (CAST) Statistics
As evidenced by Boeing’s annual Statistical Summary of Commercial Jet Airplane Accidents – Worldwide Operations | 1959 – 2021 integrating CAST data, LOC-I remains the leading resulting fatal outcome in aviation accidents claiming 45.7% of recorded fatalities.
General Aviation (GA) statistics are similar. Of course, fatal GA accidents are a concern to all, not just GA pilots. As a specialized training business, APS is largely focused on professional pilots worldwide, understand that the term ‘professional pilots’ applies to any operator that is serious about their flight operations and considers safety of flight as a top priority requiring ongoing specialized training to assure aviation safety.
This is a profoundly tragic situation that the industry has attempted to address with global initiatives resulting in excellent resources such as International Civil Aviation Organization (ICAO) Doc 10011 – Manual on Aeroplane Upset Prevention and Recovery Training and numerous versions of the Airplane Upset Recovery Training Aids, Revisions 2 and 3. Indeed, it’s a great start.
Guidance – Training Methods
The invaluable guidance issued in recent years on the structure of Upset Prevention and Recovery Training by ICAO, the FAA, CAAand EASA has put the industry on the right track. This very guidance must frame compliant solutions. However, that same high-level guidance fails to address essential features to drive aviation safety solutions that have the highest likelihood of advancing large-scale antidotes to LOC-I.
Without this additional detail, the flight training industry is left to itself to try to teach something that’s intended to be a paradigm shift yet fundamentally limited by the industry’s deficiencies in the required competencies. We should not be surprised by few changes to the severity and rate of occurrences of LOC-I accidents. After all, a solution intended to be a paradigm shift to overcome LOC-I, when being delivered by the very same instructors following similar training methods thatUPRT training integrated with proven-effective and transferrable instructional techniques across training platforms, the use of all-attitude-capable piston and jet airplanes, and advanced flight simulators are necessary to effectively install the necessary KSAs to assure safety.
Drawn together harmoniously over a few days, with a mutually supportive training outcome built in, each component creates an engaging learning environment that equips pilots with resilient skills that can be trusted to protect the crew in a wide diversity of unpredictable and often life-threatening situations.
The integration of these three facets of integrated UPRT creates a comprehensive and holistic program that drives optimal results for professional pilots. Yes, as a GA pilot, integrated UPRT solutions maximally mitigates your risk.
Framing Solutions to Loss of Control In-flight
Assuming the reader has a high-level understanding of both LOC-I and UPRT, this article jumps to the leading edge of aviation industry solutions available today to aggressively combat LOC-I. In the interest of full transparency, there are plenty of topics, challenges, features, and barriers between introductory-level UPRT knowledge and the powerful solution system addressed herein. With thatgap of topics identified, and while highly important, they are outside the scope of this particular article. Let’s now look at what it takes to drive LOC-I solutions for professional pilots.
Training Intensity – Multiple Flights Over Multiple Days
Every pilot understands that human factors are essential for safe, effective, and efficient aviation operations, but how does one develop the human traits necessary for navigation in critical moments of an unexpected airplane upset?
Behavioural studies show that human skills improve when practiced over multiple days with intensity; real-world live experience in real all-attitude airplanes is fundamental to the development of these traits.
Aviation and Flight Educators Agree
Aviation and flight educators largely agree; deepening knowledge and practical skill proficiencies around human factor responses in crisis will allow pilots to quickly respond and safely recover from a wide diversity of upset conditions, increasing their chances for a successful mission.
This type of training further enables these vital skills to remain readily available in a crisis should pilots find themselves in an unexpected airplane upset situation months or even years after training. These laws of intensity and exercise, central to pilot knowledge and skill development, focus on overcoming the startle factor and developing immediate accurate control responses.
This article was originally published by APS and is reproduced with the permission of the CEO Paul Ransbury
