Simulator Briefing

[Speedwinner]

Guys,

when I do a briefing in the sim, id love to hear and share your experience. We have a big syllabus which we have to teach. But only 1 hour time. How do you guys prepare such briefings, on which topics is the weight.

Any help for me as a newbee? how to make good briefings for new pilots in typrerating?

Thanks!


SW

[Mach E Avelli]

One hour seems like a short time when trying to cover type rating items. But two hours is too long. If you try to give them too much detail, your trainees will be asleep before they get into the sim . Once under pressure in the actual simulator environment they won't retain all that much from the briefing in the early stages, so you will find yourself talking them through the exercises from the back of the cab anyway. Just be aware that you should not introduce new stuff or unexpected stuff for the first time in the simulator unless already discussed at the initial briefing. That applies for all but the most experienced crews, and even then never in a test environment.
Best to start first day with a report time about 1.5 hours before - allowing 1 hour 15 minutes for the talk-fest and 15 minutes for coffee before going into the sim. Thereafter, once the debrief is done (usually half an hour is plenty for a debrief) give your trainees self-study for the next session. As the program advances, make them brief YOU rather than you just talk to them. At the very least, make them tell you what the speeds, configurations and drills are. That concentrates their minds. Your role then can be more about explaining flying technique and cockpit management. This is assuming that your candidates have access to detailed training manuals prior to starting their sim. If not, your training department is deficient.
If you avoid too much petty detail, as you get into it, you will find that one hour is about right for a briefing and 30 minutes for a debrief.
It's difficult to know what to cull when you are trying to impress a CAA Inspector to get your initial approvals, but if the inspector knows his stuff he won't be impressed by too much detail either. He should be looking at whether or not you are getting the message across, and whether the required standard is being achieved before moving on to the next phase of whatever it is being taught.
Enjoy.

[A37575]

As the program advances, make them brief YOU rather than you just talk to them. At the very least, make them tell you what the speeds, configurations and drills are. That concentrates their minds

Excellent instructional technique. We were taught that at CFS in another life