With the imminent entry into service of the Airbus A350, another modern aviation development comes to fruition – not just the A350 hardware or software, but the “liveware”.
Airbus used the development and delivery of the A350 as a chance to go back to the drawing board with the way it delivers type rating training. In this specific case, that means how it trains qualified pilots and engineers to be A350 pilots and engineers.
Customer and regulator reaction to the results is promising. Airbus is getting comments like “I’m happy to say you got it right”.
It is about time training was reviewed. Today’s aircraft, functionally speaking, are banks of advanced, multifunctional computers in a tubular projectile. Those trained to control it are already pilots, so all they need to gain is a robust understanding of the specific aircraft and its computerised systems – but also a reminder that it still has a conventional airframe, and that digital computers do not trump analogue aerodynamics.
Airbus has achieved this aim by recognising that the way people learn to understand computers is by experimenting intelligently with them. Airbus calls it learning by discovery, and the revolutionary structure of its A350 type rating course takes full advantage of this, aided by newly developed training tools based on the same philosophy. ■
Source: Flight International
