An idea for trainee ATCOs

[Slo Moe]

Good insight from Jagohu.

In order to be useful the "spare time simulators" need some development to be useful for the professional training. It is possible, but there is work to be done. At least the sims are a good way to get a glimpse of the real thing, possibly they show that you are interested in the profession. One small part of the selection processes is the initial motivation of the applicants.

One part of the ATC training is to learn the methodologies, attitudes and habits that support the work in high pressure situations. The work is bound by rules and the ATC:s have to do things by the book. Although the training can not cover all the possible variations and occurrences of the real world, the goal is to give the trainee the tools and knowledge and habits and attitudes and patterns of thought that are helpful in doing the daily work and "solving problems" real time. Under time pressure, while the traffic flows on.

If we think then about the pilot training, it is not long ago that some flag carriers, airlines, were very picky when chooosing their initial trainees. Do not get me wrong. The system that sifts through all the applicants is very thorough. And produces candidates who have the best possibilities to go through the learning intensive training and have the best initial abilities to do the work.

Some of the airlines even refused to choose trainees that had their PPL training done by somebody else than the airlines own training organizations. The logic was that the unwanted habits learned through "unauthorized (airline point of view)" training were hard to unlearn and could lead to some nasty or unwanted situations later on through the career. Was that really the case, is hard to tell.
As I have understood, this kind of thinking has been already dismissed in many companies. Also the facilities offering initial flight training have better abilities to teach correct procedures etc. So the quality level has been raised, so to say.Earlier the airlines had even more "company style and culture" than today, even in the cockpits. It was thought to give more safety in diverse situations. It seems that this has become more and more standardized through the years. For instance quite big an amount of the daily work of pilots is to follow the procedures every time methodically, training even consits of some "rote learning".

Learning is hard enough. Unlearning and learning new "better or more suitable" habits can be even harder. Not always, though.