Page 24 - AAA NOVEMBER-DECEMBER 2012 Online Magazine

FEATURE PILOT TRAINING

Pilots need to be
proficient in Aviation
English to maintain
safety standards and
minimise the risk of
miscommunication
in normal and non-
normal situations

- Lenny Genna, the president of
L-3 Link Simulation & Training
(pictured right)

industry working groups looking into the without having a chance to verbalise every
language training requirements for pilots decision, every part of the situation,” he
whose first language is not english,” said later. “by observing each others’
he says. These working groups have actions and hearing our transmissions
reported that there are specific training and our words to others, we were able to
requirements that need to be addressed quickly be on the same page, know what
in Asia, especially for situations outside had needed to be done, and begin to do
of normal operating procedures. it.” with the emphasis on quickly and
“in these cases, the standard phrases understand.
used for normal operations would not be As CAAs’s yap points out, the pressing
sufficient to communicate with air traffic need is for the iCAo, international
control and other aircraft,” he explains. organisations and associations,
“pilots need to be [fully] proficient in regulators and the industry to work
Aviation english to maintain safety together to improve training experience
standards and minimise the risk of and consistency across a daunting spread
ABOVE RIGHT: Thales miscommunication in normal and non- of local organisations across the region.
provides customers with normal situations.” particularly in non- “iCAo and iATA have provided useful
flight simulators that normal situations. guidance materials, and we can all build
help train civil aviation
personnel, covering a when us Airlines pilot Captain on these through development and
range of aircraft including Chesley “sully” sullenberger ditched implementation as well as changes that
the Airbus A380, the his A320 in the hudson river in 2009, advance pilot training effectiveness,” he
Boeing B787 and the he and the co-pilot “had to work almost says. Asia will need to do all this if it is
Sukhoi Superjet 100 intuitively in a very close-knit fashion to keep up its staggering growth figures.
And at the same time, it must review
the way pilot training is structured and
PILOT GENERATION STRENGThS WEAkNESSES conducted to ensure relevance to real-life
• Diversified flying background • Little human factors training operations, he adds.
Golden boys • Lots of ‘real world’ • Unable to think ‘outside the box’
experience “of note, recent accidents, many of
• Solid manual flying skills which are CFiT situations, provide painful
Professional • Very tech-savvy • Lack of loyalty reminders that improvements to pilot
pilots • Some ‘real world’ experience • Bitter training should be made, especially in the
Specialised • Multi-tasker • Lack of manual flying skills areas of handling automation and upset
system • Lots of human factors training • Lack of ‘real world’ recovery,” says yap. superior pilots with
managers • Self-confident experience
superior skills, in other words.
24 ASIAN AIRLINES & AIRPORTS NOVEMBER / DECEMBER 2012 WWW.ASIANAIRLINES-AIRPORTS.COM