Minting Professionals

Editorial Comment

This edition of CAT Magazine is the EATS Show Issue, with editorial content designed to support the topical training narratives of this premier event, as well as serve the large international S&T community in attendance. Further, having very recently delivered the APATS event in Singapore, we’re still digesting the enormous volume of training data and perspectives from that forum. And it goes without saying that planning for CAT’s flagship WATS event in the spring in Orlando has already begun.

Over the past few years, the issue of global pilotsupply and demand, and the sub-themes of securing the personnel pipeline andmaintaining candidate quality has been central to both the magazine and the CAT events. This issue is no exceptionwith feature articles on Competency-based Training and Assessment (CBTA), aswell as the continuing challenge of developing Professionalism.

We’ve watched the supply and demand pressures drivemany air carriers to take control of their own personnel supply pipeline by implementingprogressive recruitment and training programs, including developingrelationships with collegiate and private training organisations, and even gettingdirectly involved in primary training. This can be observed particularly withsome US regional airlines, but international carriers are also increasinglyfollowing this path. As noted in this issue, Ryanair is one of the latest tomake decisions in this regard, representing the first time in nearly 30 yearsthat the airline has become involved in initial flight training. Selection, competency-basedtraining and assessment, and mentoring are pivotal components of the Ryanairprogram.

The trend for air carriers to be involved in initialflight training is not just driven by concerns over numbers, it is alsounderscored by the apparent lack of professional competencies in some candidates.The view is that professional competencies need to be assessed in primarytraining, as airlines are finding that these qualities often require furtherdevelopment once hired. However, most would agree that appropriate professionalattitudes and competencies should not need a great deal of additional developmentby the airline; they should be present at the time of hiring. As the articlepoints out, capturing professional competency data can and should happen at theATO, and there are tools and analytics available to do just that.

Identifying and developing professionalism seems to bethe defining issue of our time for this industry. It continues to emerge inconversations about the importance of mentoring, and the fact that the industrycannot solely rely on subjective evaluations of a candidate’s level ofprofessionalism and fitness for hire. The CBTA initiative is certainlylaudable, and is making an important contribution, but whenever I hear aboutpilot selection methodologies, identifying and developing professionalism andthe importance of career-long mentoring, I also think of the success of ourfriends in the military services. While much of the military model is notapplicable to civil aviation, ex-military pilots are highly sought after, evenas that pipeline continues to decline.

The military services focus on the best prospects andselects them with extraordinary care through proven tools and analytics thathave been perfected over generations of aviators. Before candidates get near anaircraft they are intensively screened for medical, motivational, psycho-motorand academic skills (and an undergraduate degree is mandatory). Officertraining must then be completed which screens further for professional and criticalleadership acumen, as well as physical and mental resilience.

Military proficiency-based training programs mean thatqualified aviators are “winged” and deemed fully operational with far fewerhours than most of their civil colleagues. And they also typically log fewerannual flight hours. However, except when on deployed operations, and unlikecivil flying, each flying hour is a training hour, and the rigor of thattraining is intense and mission-specific, with much focus on emergencyprocedures, unusual situations and the development of command and leadership attributes.The latter is also enhanced through mentoring and the culture and ethos of themilitary services. Interestingly, in the US a great proportion of active dutyfighter pilots are reservists and also fly for the airlines.

It is apparent that new civil training patterns have mimickedcertain aspects of the military model with regards to selection and assessment,as well as through initiatives to identify professional attitudes andcompetencies early. And while the military training model cannot be readilyapplied to the civil world, there is more they can teach us with regard to identifyingand developing leadership and command attributes. We should both look andlisten.

Safe travels, Chris Lehman, CAT Editor in Chief

Published in CAT issue 5/2018