Sharing the Burden of Flight Deck Automation Training

Abstract

Flight deck automation has generated new training requirements, most of which have been absorbed by in-house airline training, in particular, aircraft transition training. This leaves little room for learning about how human roles have shifted in automated cockpits or how the distinction between technical and nontechnical skills has become blurred when managing the flight path of an automated aircraft. This article explores how overall pilot training quality, efficiency, and effectiveness would benefit from pulling automation training forward into the pilot training curriculum, reducing the burden carried mainly by transition training today. This article examines various stages of pilot training (including ab initio, multicrew cooperation, and crew resource management training) and lays out the opportunities and obstacles they contain for the integration of flight deck automation. In conclusion, airlines themselves can play a constructive role by specifying what kinds of automation learning requirements earlier pilot training stages should cover, and by sharing their automation philosophies and actively taking part in the design of the preairline training. Such participation from an airline can help achieve appropriate knowledge and attitudes toward automation among its future pilots.