Sir - Authorised Examiner (AE) courses conducted by the UK Civil Aviation Authority are due to end soon, because of the requirement to harmonise with European Joint Aviation Authorities Regulations.
The AE course is to be replaced with a new concept, aimed more at the instructional element of training, but the course will be carried out "in house" by airlines, and will have no element of practical examining techniques.
The CAA's AE course is well thought of in the industry - it is booked up to 12 months ahead and has had the reputation of being the "brand leader" in this field. Its positive aspects are that:
it allows the vitally important trainers to have personal contact with the regulating authority;
it draws on 30 years of experience in training and testing;
it is independent of "in-house" philosophies;
it allows interchange of ideas between, for example, Concorde pilots and PA31 pilots, who may well share the same course;
no penalty environment is allowed where personal and company practices may be exposed and discussed as to relevance and reason;
it clearly defines the trainer as having a responsibility far wider than that of company practices and commercial pressures;
the course exposes the vulnerability to which professional pilots are prone -most pilots on the course are senior and are therefore not used to being called to account;
during the ten-day simulator course, the CAA pilot acting as the candidate conducts deliberate errors which cover known unsafe manoeuvres, often relevant to past accident-analysis.
If the proposed demise of the course is for financial reasons, how do accountants put a price on safety? Alternatively, if it is a political decision, how can the CAA allow this to happen?
It would be interesting to hear the views of others associated with pilot training as to the effectiveness of in-house training.
TONY ANGEL
Haywards Heath, West Sussex, UK
Source: Flight International
