What’s on Your Recurrent Training Menu?

Pilots tend to be very conscientious regarding compliance with regulations and accepted industry practices. This is even more so for pilots who depend on their aircraft for reliable business and personal transportation. Pilots of light business aircraft (LBA) have especially come to depend on these sophisticated aircraft to meet their ever-increasing travel demands. The LBA fleet includes piston, turboprop, and turbojet aircraft, and these aircraft are frequently operated single-pilot.

One of the accepted industry safety practices is regular recurrent training. The “gold standard” for such training has often been described as annual or semi-annual training in full-motion simulators at training centers approved by regulatory authorities. This kind of training is indeed effective in covering tasks that pilots don’t often get to practice, such as emergencies and instrument procedures in high traffic density locations.

Although there is a strong industry consensus that regular simulator training is highly effective, it may not answer all training needs for many LBA pilots. For example, some pilots may want to spread their training throughout the year, rather than just annually or semi-annually. Other pilots may want to access a variety of training topics that are not part of the standard “cookie cutter” training regimen at many simulator training centers. Additionally, pilots naturally want access to training that speaks to their operating circumstances. For example, pilots operating single-pilot might like specialized training that deals with single-pilot safety issues.

Some of the most important skill sets that pilots need to operate safely include crew resource management (CRM) if they operate as part of a crew, or alternatively, single-pilot resource management (SRM) if they are the sole crew member. The latter situation is most often the case for LBA operators, and SRM training is a crucial element of any LBA pilot training regimen, including recurrent training.

The SRM skill set includes risk management, automation management, task and workload management, and maintaining situational awareness. These subjects are seldom addressed formally or specifically at many training centers. Since these skills are mental rather than physical skills, they can be effectively covered through online self-directed training that can be accessed by pilots anywhere or anytime. Such training also fully complements formal simulator training. Some LBA pilots, especially those operating piston aircraft, may not have access to simulator training and may seek recurrent training form individual flight instructors. Online SRM training is a perfect complement to this situation.

 TrainingPort.net, in cooperation with Crew Resource Management LLC, offers a complete online SRM course for business aviation (available for purchase through our storefront). Robert A. Wright is the president of Wright Aviation Solutions, LLC. He is a member of the leadership team of Crew Resource Management, LLC, which has been providing comprehensive CRM training to corporate flight departments for over four years.