Hey
GarageYears
A good question. Yes, there was substantial representation by "crew members." The working group was made up of 10 FSTD vendors and manufacturers, 6 airframe manufacturers, 6 FSTD operators, airlines and independent training centers, 12 industry bodies (two of which were the US Air Line Pilot's Association and the International Federation of Airline Pilots' Associations) and regulators. In addition there were individual researchers, helicopter OEMs and others. Overall, this group consisted of approximately 80 regular members from 16 countries. Beyond this there were 306 individuals registered on the RAeS website - to stay abreast of what was being discussed, to offer their own opinions, and exchange ideas, thoughts, concerns, etc., with others, including those on the "official" working group. The only reason that this method was settled upon was that having a working group that consisted of as many as 306 members would have been completely unmanageable. There was a requirement to provide only a log-on name and password to participate, and, therefore, it would be difficult to identify all of these 306 persons as to what specific aspect of the industry they were representing. However, the "odds" are that a substantial number of those persons were cockpit crewmembers.
Additionally, the workings of this IWG has been presented at 2 WATS conferences, 2 FSEMC conferences, the EATS conference once, 2 APATS conferences, 4 meetings of the Royal Aeronautical Society, and 1 SimTech meeting. Also there were special briefings provided to EASA/JAA (twice), the US FAA (twice), the CAAC (China), as well as several Airlines and Training Centers. Also, the workings were covered in several aviation publications.
Of course, we must also recognize that many of the groups that were represented, although not normally be considered "cockpit crew" members on a regular basis, many of these individuals maintain flight operations (line) currency and would be required to do that through the use of one of these FSTD device types.
In all, it is apparent that this effort has been vetted in just about every way possible - and the results are indicative of thoughtful consideration and many, many hours of review, revision, thought-proving conversations - many of which often were of the "slightly elevated temperature" type - but blows were never exchanged - and the results were eventually agreed to by all parties involved. It is a significantly forward looking and profound work by as large an international workforce as likely has ever taken on such work.
