Flight International 26 June-2 July 2012 has an article by David Learmount on pilot training. He quotes extensively from speakers at the Flightglobal Safety in Aviation -Asia conference held in Singapore in May.
One speaker - Bill Voss, head of the Flight Safety Foundation, states pilot training is "dangerously outdated"...warning that rules and practices that favour quantity - like the accumulation of flight hours - over quality in terms of measurable piloting performance, would not have a beneficial effect on airline safety standards.
Captain Dieter Harms owns the title of "father of the MPL". He defined "pilot core competencies" as a group of related behaviours, based upon job requirements, which describe how to operate modern multi-crew transport airplane safely, effectively and efficiently. They (pilot core competencies) describe what proficient performance in all phases of flight operations looks like. They include the name of the competency, a description, and a list of behavioural indicators."
I won't bore you further since my eyes have already glazed over at this bumpf because frankly I have no bloody idea what these eminent(?) speakers are on about.
Captain John Bent, Asia Manager of the Professional Aviation Board of Certification (PABC) talks about "how modern line pilots should be kept up to speed with their job". The article says Bent is a fan of cutting-edge thinking among training planners, and practioners at the Royal Aeronautical Society, IATA, ICAO and airlines like Emirates, Cathay Pacific, Virgin Australia, Qatar Airways and Air Transat who are recent converts to evidence-based training.
Will some kind soul with lots of patience please tell me what is this "Evidence-based training?" How does it differ from normal flying training that I and thousands of my ex-Service pilot and civilian trained compatriots have experienced in the past sixty years. And flew safely, too.
