APATS Video Preview: Closing the Loop Between Pilot Training and Safety

In this CAT video preview for APATS 2026, Conference Chair Captain Jacques Drappier is joined by Thomas Bessiere, Founder and CEO of HINFACT, to discuss how closer integration between Training Management Systems (TMS), Safety Management Systems (SMS) and Competency-Based Training and Assessment (CBTA) could transform pilot training into a proactive safety tool.

Bessiere's Day Two presentation argues that while training prepares pilots for future challenges, safety departments analyse past events, and the two functions rarely share data effectively.

"Training and safety grew up in two different worlds," he explains. "Two departments, two languages, often two IT systems that don't talk to each other."

The result, he says, is that airlines continue to train against generic risks while valuable operational safety data remains disconnected from training programmes.

His solution is a dynamic two-way flow of information. Safety data, including flight data monitoring and occurrence reports, should feed directly into recurrent training, allowing airlines to respond more quickly to emerging operational risks. At the same time, competency data gathered through CBTA should feed back into the Safety Management System, giving safety teams a richer understanding of behavioural trends before they contribute to incidents.

The conversation also explores the move beyond simple pass-or-fail assessment. Bessiere believes regulatory requirements will remain, but argues that instructors should increasingly capture performance across multiple competencies rather than relying solely on binary outcomes.

"The biggest resistance is not technical," he says. "It's cultural."

Success, he argues, depends on standardising how instructors assess competency so that the resulting data is both consistent and meaningful.

Asked what airlines can do today, Bessiere recommends a simple first step: identify the organisation's five biggest operational risks and ask where they are addressed in the training programme.

"The important thing is to align the taxonomies," he says. "Today these two areas don't talk the same language." 

To explore the full APATS 2026 conference programme, click here. 

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