A commentary byNaveed Kapadiaon the economic hardships triggered by the pandemic and the need for a consistent, coordinated approach by governments and other stakeholders.
There have been wide reports of mass airline redundancies in recent weeks as the entire aviation industry goes through a severely turbulent time. These difficult times are the lag indicators of wider challenges upstream.
Airlines in Europe were beginning to show some signs of recovery, however fragile, when the virus numbers started to rise again. The steady traffic increase clearly stopped since 7 August and traffic is at ‐51.5% (7‐day rolling average) compared to 2019.
“Our world may not be the same as it was half a century ago, but aviation will continue to play a key role,” Airbus states as part of a new public relations campaign, #KeepTrustInAirTravel.
The European Union Aviation Safety Agency has issued guidelines to National Competent Authorities for enabling and monitoring virtual classroom instruction and distance learning.
When the FAA releases revised guidelines for pilot training for the modified Boeing 737 MAX, insiders expect a motion-based FFS will not be required. CAT Editor-In-Chief, Rick Adams, FRAeS, reports.
The anticipated training requirements for the modified Boeing 737 MAX aircraft will not likely require hardware changes to full-flight simulators or other MAX flight training devices which have already been built. “We’ve just done a large update to all the segments,” CAE’s Nick Leontidis told CAT. “The FAA and everybody else are doing their testing; there’s some required modifications, and we have just finished an update for all our sims. So things seem to be progressing in the right direction. I’m going to assume that things are quite mature at the moment.” Leontidis, Group President, Civil Aviation Training Solutions, for the Montréal-based simulator manufacturer and training services provider, confirmed that the updates are software-only.
“They’re obviously being very, very quiet about the whole thing,” he added. CAE had a representative on the FAA working group evaluating the training changes.
What does Bombardier Aviation think of the proposed standardized curriculum (SC) concept for pilot training on Part 135 aircraft? They provided these comments to CAT.
Bombardier Aviation applauds the FAA for forming a working group that addresses this important topic. Ensuring the highest levels of air safety is consistently a top priority across all of civil aviation – from ANSPs, airports and regulators to operators, service providers and OEMs. While it’s fundamentally important to recognize that “one-size-does-not-fit-all” and that Part 135 flight operations are often varied and quite different depending on their respective mandates/missions, Bombardier is generally in favor of a standardized curriculum for pilot training on Part 135 aircraft.
It’s something we have encouraged for some time, as we believe that this approach will have a positive impact on safety. We feel that this approach can contribute toward elevating standards across the board and will favor a consistent output
The use of operational and training data in pilot training which grew out of the airline industry. Independent and airline-affiliated training houses years ago began using Flight Operational Quality Assurance (FOQA) data for training commercial airline pilots operating under Part 121 Federal Aviation Regulations (FARs).
The implementation of globally harmonized recommendations developed by the ICAO Council Aviation Recovery Taskforce took a step forward through the launch of supporting initiatives for airlines and airports by IATA and ACI, respectively.
Safety advocates’ push for a standardized approach to training pilots for Part 135 operations has gone from being a pipedream to near-reality. Robert W. Moorman explores this development.
The industry-wide proposed “standardized curriculum” (SC) concept for pilots training to fly Part 135 aircraft is gaining steam and could become the norm. Announced through an FAA Advisory Circular (AC 142-1) in May 2020, the SC, if adopted, will address administrative inefficiencies that exist between Part 135 operations and Part 142 training centers and enhance safety.
Safety is a key driver of the SC, which supports The National Transportation Safety Board’s (NTSB) Most Wanted List initiative to increase safety in Part 135 operations. The SC concept is designed to increase safety by improving the consistency of training, testing, and checking delivered to Part 135 operators. Various segments of the aviation community are supporting the idea of the SC and its common-sense based approach to training.
What makes the proposed initiative unusual is that it is voluntary. In addition, the SC would not alter or modify existing regulations regarding Part 135 pilot training or operations. AC 142-1 describes the SC concept as an “acceptable means, but not the only means” for Part 142 training centers to obtain authorization to offer training for Part 135 operators, according to the FAA.
In accordance with the recommendations of the ICAO Council Aviation Recovery Taskforce, together ICAO Global Aviation Training and CAA International, the aviation training arm of the UK Civil Aviation Authority, have launched new training to enable the safe and secure restart of air operations.
A major update to the Northeast Corridor Atlantic Coast Routes (NEC ACR), which was meant to relieve delays, is now experiencing its own delays due to the coronavirus.