There needs to be some more research done on how to improve the manual and emergency related flying skills of most airline pilots. Although most of the training required can be done on a flight simulator, some of it should be done with a real aircraft. It should include some of the training that is missing from a commercial pilots syllabus, like full stall and spin recovery on instruments and it should be done in an aircraft that stalls and spins in a classical way, so that the recovery actions need to be correct.
There also needs to be more training done to practice emergency situations like total power loss (Out of fuel) and multiple failures that can occur after a collision (Or missile hit), such as serious aerodynamic control issues combined with an engine fire etc.
I did do some interesting research concerning pilot fatigue on a simulator that was under development for a US Army aircraft that produced some very interesting results. I set the sim up so that the landing was a seriously overweight one (Unable to dump fuel after a max weight take off) which was a real difficult situation, as it tended to result in either a tail strike, heavy landing or finishing up in the K Mart supermarket car park that the geeks had placed at the end of a rather short runway.
The big thing I discovered was that during the 10 sessions (3 or 4 hours of circuits), the worst landing was the first one of the day in all but one. So if you want to improve the landings in difficult conditions, just install a flight simulator in every big terminal (It need not be a full motion one), that will allow the flight crew to do a quick approach and landing in a nasty crosswind with some wind shear or other extra, just to help them kick start their handling skills for the day.
I also discovered that fatigue was not such an issue if you know what to do about it before starting the final approach. I just used the cold head method I've mentioned to many pilots over the years. All you need is a small cool box, ice and a face towel. Just ring the towel out after it is immersed in the freezing water, then wipe your face and stick it on your head (Works far better if you have a well extended forehead) for a few minutes.
The result is that you will be instantly wide awake for around 30 mins, BUT don't let anyone take a pic of you with the face towel on your head, as the ops manager might designate you as a potential lunatic!
Last edited by skyship007; 21st Apr 2015 at 19:38.