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Hi The discussion about instructing/training is going in all sorts of interesting directions. This has got me thinking about the work being done to create a safety management system. But first, a couple of questions...
For me, however, the debate appears to be missing a, possibly the, critical element: we do not overtly train people to be part of a safety system that allows them to think in a structured way about their safety awareness and judgement, hence building and extending it. Our system most assuredly tries to train pilots to be safe, but it does not do so in any particularly integrated fashion. Rather, we stress particular topics (lookout, speed control in the circuit, spin recovery etc.), but do not show students how these relate to a framework that will also include things they learn later in their training - or by themselves. Likewise, when we train instructors, safety is a major concern, but there is no integration of 'safety' into a conceptual system that allows instructors to readily assess students' progress in building their own safety framework and cultivate in students the correctly reflective, self critical way of thinking about their own flying (both as it happens and on the ground). Similarly, instructors do not have a conceptual system that allows them to critically reflect on their own training style/methods. At my club (DDSC), we have had a number of out landing accidents and incidents over the last 2 years or so that involve experienced pilots. This is causing us to reflect on how we are training as clearly there must be a systems failure somewhere here that has resulted in this trend. It is out of my reflection on this debate that I have come to the realisation that whilst we talk about our 'training system' (be it good, bad or satisfactory), there is no underlying yet overt framework that allows instructors, coaches and pilots to analyse what they are doing from an overall safety perspective. Now, please do not think that I am suggesting that we do not train our pilots to fly safely - we try our hardest to do that and mostly succeed. However, the way we train does not overtly provide a cognitive framework for pilots to think about their flying that actively encourages the making of connections between all of their slowly growing knowledge and experience and the principles they learned as students. It is my feeling that this lack is a direct contributor to the accident trend visible in my club - and probably also many other accidents involving experienced pilots. It is my hope that the work currently being done on a safety management system for the GFA might provide some insights into this and allow us to start building our training system around a conceptual framework that is clearly communicated in our training and we pilots have this as an active part of every second of our flying activities (which includes thinking about it on the ground). Mike Cleaver has already mentioned this in terms of Human Factors and I have been discussing this with Jenny Thompson (who is leading the GFA working group on the safety management system). One example of the gaps in our training system is that right through our training system from ab initio to instructor and coach training, there is no mention of incident reporting. We will hopefully soon have the draft of the combined instructing/coaching syllabus and proposed Glider Pilot Certificate. As we work this draft towards a new set of training documents, there is an opportunity to pick up the latest advances in this area - such as Threat and Error Management as mentioned by Mike Cleaver and the work being done by Jenny Thompson's group. We don't revise our training system very often - so the opportunity we have now is very important and one we had better grasp fully. It's really clear from the debate here that there are a great number of people who are interested in this and can contribute to the final outcome - so when the aforementioned drafts appear, please get involved through your club panels and regional association. -- Robert Hart [EMAIL PROTECTED] +61 (0)438 385 533 http://www.hart.wattle.id.au |
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