CAE, APS collaborate on jet upset recovery e-Learning course

CAE and APS Emergency Maneuver Training announced theavailability of an online computer-based training course designed to improvethe ability of business jet pilots to recognize, avoid and, if necessary,recover from loss of control in-flight (LOC-I) flight situations.

The CAE-APS e-Learning course is based on U.S. FederalAviation Administration (FAA) recommendations contained in the Airplane UpsetRecovery Training Aid (AURTA), Revision 2. The Air Line Pilots Association’s(ALPA) Human Factors and Training Group and the ALPA Training Council announcedrecently its support for “enhanced academic requirements … on approach tostall, impending stall, full stall and abnormal flight conditions,” includingutilization of the AURTA “as a validated and appropriate guide for upsetrecovery training.”

“Aircraft upset is not a common occurrence and theoverwhelming majority of flights proceed without incident thanks to modernaircraft technology and training,” said Lou Nemeth, CAE’s chief safety officer.“However, according to recent studies, loss of control in-flight remains aleading cause of accidents and incidents, and it is essential that professionalpilots understand the aerodynamic principles and recommended recoverytechniques that are similar for all large, swept-wing jet airplanes.”

LOC-I is defined as flight that occurs outside of the normalflight envelope with an inability of the pilot to control the aircraft. TheCAE-APS e-Learning course uses real-world example animations, video, graphicdiagrams and other techniques to address topics such as causes of airplaneupsets (including environmentally induced upsets, systems anomaly-inducedupsets and pilot-induced upsets), swept-wing aerodynamics, control surfacefundamentals, high-altitude operations, recovery from airplane upsets, andupset recovery techniques for stall, nose-high, nose-low and high-bank angles.

“With a few dedicated hours of online study, pilots can gainpotentially life-saving academic knowledge crucial to understanding unusualflight attitudes, prevention strategies and fundamental all-altitude recoveryskills,” said Paul BJ Ransbury, president of APS Emergency Maneuver Trainingand a former airline and military fighter pilot. “Pilots who understand theconditions of an upset will be better prepared to make time-critical decisionsto prevent, or immediately recover from, an airplane upset safely.”

In addition to threshold knowledge in upset recoveryprinciples, the CAE-APS e-Learning course can help prepare professional pilotsfor scenario-based training in a full-flight simulator and real aircrafttraining in safe, aerobatic aircraft.