WATS 2026: The Real Drivers of Training Effectiveness

Day one of WATS 2026 will set the tone for the week ahead, with a strong emphasis on training quality, instructor alignment and the evolving demands placed on aviation professionals. From keynote insights to technical deep dives, five themes sessions stood out:

1. Training should evolve with technology
The event opened with a keynote from Chris Rocheleau, Deputy Administrator at the Federal Aviation Administration, who said that aviation training must evolve in step with technological and operational change, while maintaining safety as its core principle. While new technologies offer significant benefits, he underscored that progress must be guided by evidence, with proficiency-based outcomes, continuous monitoring, and international cooperation ensuring that safety consistency, and effectiveness remain central to future training systems.

Rocheleau highlighted WAT’s value as a key forum for uniting the aviation training community to collaboratively enhance standards across multiple disciplines. “WATS really does offer us a great opportunity to bring together multiple pieces of the industry itself to talk through how we improve aviation training,” he said.

This was followed a high-level panel moderated by Paul Preidecker, featuring leaders from Envoy Air, United Airlines, JetBlue ALPA Training Committee, LIFT Academy and the National Flight Training Alliance. The discussion highlighted a major opportunity to modernise pilot training by updating long-standing regulations and better recognising the value of advanced technologies already in use. Speakers emphasised that today’s students expect high-tech, immersive learning environments, while stronger partnerships between training providers, airlines, and regulators are needed to share data, address skill gaps, and improve outcomes, particularly around decision-making and other “soft skills.” Greater industry collaboration and feedback loops were seen as essential to strengthening pilot readiness and safety, alongside a more flexible, data-driven regulatory approach that can keep pace with change.

2. Global collaboration remains critical to progress
Captain Jean-Michel Bigarré, Executive Director of AMFTA, the Aircraft Manufacturer Flight Training Association, spoke about the role of industry collaboration in shaping the future of training. AMFTA was established to bring aircraft manufacturers together to support airlines and training organisations by harmonising best practices and ensuring that competition does not compromise safety. Reflecting on his presentation, he called for a rethink of increasingly complex regulations, arguing they are becoming “more and more difficult to implement” and need to be made more practical and accessible for day-to-day operations.

3. Standardisation is key to safer operations
In the pilot stream, five easyJet captains, including Director of Training & Standards Daniele Grassini and Training Manager Cameron Ruckley demonstrated how a clearly defined training strategy supports consistent outcomes. Their session explored instructor and evaluator competencies, the role of concordance, and how performance data can be used to strengthen standardisation, ultimately promoting safer and more efficient line operations.

"You need to have a clear vision and strategy to work towards, and that drives a lot of innovation within a department,” said Ruckley. “You've got to be willing to continuously challenge yourselves, not settle for the status quo, and that allows you to adapt, innovate, and improve the systems for instructors and pilots.”

4. Bridging the gap from training to airline readiness
The ab initio stream looked at the disconnect between training organisations and airline expectations. Nick Munns, a Pilot Training Specialist with Boeing Global Services, presented a competency-based approach designed to better prepare pilots from day one, incorporating scenario-based learning, structured assessments and enhanced instructor development. The session offered practical solutions to improve standardisation and better align training outputs with operational needs.

5. Instructor capability and training culture under the spotlight
Multiple sessions addressed the importance of instructor quality and organisational culture. Boeing’s Instructor Concordance Assurance Programme (ICAP), presented by Captain Graham McNally, showed the importance of instructor standardization to ensure consistency and accuracy of assessment of pilots’ performance. He described how structured evaluation methods such as shared video scenarios and benchmark grading help ensure instructors assess performance consistently.

In the cabin crew stream, learning and change strategist Debbie Curl-Nagy explored how to transform subject matter experts into effective instructors through competency-based frameworks. "For cabin crew training leaders, the challenge isn’t access to expertise,” she said. “It’s ensuring that expertise is delivered in a way that builds competence, confidence, and consistency. This session explores how we can better support those SMEs, so operational expertise translates into consistent, effective learning experiences that directly support safety and service delivery."