An independent company with 22 years of expertise in flight data animation for Flight Safety and Pilot Training
“Digital Age Debriefing 2.0”: How to improve the quality of pilot debriefing
#FlightSafety #Digitalization #FlightDebriefing #PilotTraining #ExperienceAccelerator
Flight safety depends on training and experience
— Sully Sullenberger (@Captsully) February 2, 2018
Looking at Captain Sullenberger’s statement: I think that he is definitely right. Now, the question is: How can we acquire better training and experience in a shorter time?
I am convinced that with the right animation tool, we can!
An instructor during my military flight training once told me: “Try to learn from everywhere, because you will never live long enough to make all possible experiences in aviation by yourself.”
It is the responsibility, as training organizations, airlines, and instructors to implement the right tool in order to increase the resilience of pilots!
The solution for better-trained pilots: an experience accelerator
Airlines are now able to share flight data information in a form that is easily understandable to everyone, for debriefing purposes as well as for experience sharing: this is possible thanks to video animations automated by the system called CEFA AMS (Aviation Mobile Services).
1. Firstly for debriefing purposes in normal line operations and in training
Today’s debriefing is based only on the pilot’s memory. We all know that memory might be altered by time or stressful occurrences and the situation can also be misinterpreted by wrong or partial perceptions.
Now studies have shown that debriefing is a key factor for learning. Even in the simulator, it is the largest part of the learning process. It is even more important than the scenario quality or its implementation!
To facilitate debriefing, there is today visual support available a few minutes after landing, like a mirror of pilots’ performances.
It allows to:
- Base the debriefing on factual data;
- Use animations as a basis for a crew centered debriefing;
- Remove uncertainties by analyzing the facts recorded;
- Set gates for future flights based on factual evidence?
I am convinced that in a near future, using an animation tool that recreates flights immediately after landing will be unavoidable, as the quality of the training and the understanding of self-performances can easily be improved.
2. Second, for experience sharing
By having an animation tool using the recorded data from the digital flight recorder, it is very easy for an airline to create a visual database in order to share experiences or to allow the understanding of dynamic situations that could be very hard to describe by text only.
Every flight becomes a training opportunity and an occasion to efficiently learn from own performances.
At reasonable costs, having such a tool enables airlines to :
- publish state-of-the-art approaches as real-time 3D flight preparations or briefing support;
- communicate challenging situations de-identified in order to share know-how and experiences;
- enable instructors to show and explain challenging situations during flight preparation, hence avoiding the traditional “everybody makes the same mistakes here!”
I will be glad to hear your remarks and suggestions and to present you with a hands-on experience on our tablet with this new service. Contact me via LinkedIn or via this form.
I am sure that a lot of good ideas and suggestions will emerge from airline experts and people versed in the aviation training field.
For sure, valuable inputs will be implemented in this fascinating project, as it is in constant evolution in the future.
Our goal is to make the sky safer!
It is now the right time to start this revolution, using the data that is for the time being exclusively in the hands of the FDM (Flight Data Monitoring) departments. Giving back this data to pilots in a digital form that is easy to understand and, in a way, that the young generation is already confident with. This is what I call:
“Digital Age Debriefing 2.0”
Pierre Wannaz
Senior Advisor CEFA Aviation
Captain on A330/A340, TRI/SFE, acceptance pilot, and legal expert in accident investigation
If you wish to discuss or know more about these subjects, contact Pierre via LinkedIn or via this form, or come & meet us:
- on CEFA Aviation stand, booth #9
- at the European Airline Training Symposium (EATS)
- on 29th-30th October 2019
- in Berlin, Germany, organized by Halldale!
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