Rebuilding on New Foundations

Group Editor Marty Kauchak provides some highlights from Day 1 of WATS 2021.

Evolving Spatial Disorientation Training Solution

Spatial disorientation (SD) continues to be the cause of crashes and associated mishaps in the civilian airline and military communities. Soar Technology (Soar Tech) is addressing SD in a pilot training simulation for the US Navy through WingMAN.

The technology effort is funded and advancing by a Small Business Innovation Research (SBIR). Hank Phillips, PhD, Director of Learning Technologies, at SoarTech, told delegates Wingman is one training solution to address SD. Heretofore, the community has trained fixed-wing and rotary aircrews to recognize and prevent SD mishaps through a number of solutions, including Level D full flight simulators, inflight training, MSDD (Multi-station Spatial Disorientation Device), Bárány Chair, lecture-based classes, specialized motion simulators and storytelling.

The retired Navy officer told the session’s delegates Wingman takes the best part of storytelling to help mitigate SD effects before they happen. Enabled by Unity gamed-based technology WingMAN is created to build an SD scenario or recreate a mishap.

“This is a training tool,” Phillips said and continued, “that you will be able to use with no special training.”

Phillips called attention to the role his colleague Amanda Bond, Lead Scientist at SoarTech, has had in advancing WingMAN.

In the end of session Q&A period, Rick Adams, CAT editor and 2021 WATS conference chair, asked Phillips how WingMAN relates to UPRT. The industry executive replied the evolving program is a preventative tool, to help the pilot recognize the conditions for this hazardous situation to occur.

A Strategic Imperative

Listening to the four panel members of the last session of the day, it became clear the US commercial airline industry is broadening its focus to quickly and efficiently reconstitute its pilot workforce and diversify the community to truly reflect evolving US demographics.

First Officer Paul Ryder, National Resource Coordinator, Air Line Pilots Association, Int’l. (ALPA) and pilot for United Airlines, set the tone for the late afternoon session when he looked at the pilot ecosystem and noted there is an “incredible opportunity to influence the next generation, to provide them with our story and our experiences.”

Ryder initially used ALPA data to note the mismatch between the US population and the US commercial pilot community, which by his tally, is 7% female and 2% men and women of color – clearly not representative of the broader US population. The ALPA executive then noted the US pilot population will continue to be sourced from the military and increasingly universities and general aviation air training organizations, with the lofty goal of gaining 10,000-20,000 new accessions from these ATOs through the next 10 years. Also on ALPA’s policy horizon is continuing to remove barriers to becoming pilots, in particular the number one impediment to pursing this career field, funding and financing training costs, which typically are between $60,000-$90,000 per year.

Captain Brian Quigley of United Airlines, called attention to the role the US Government played to help stabilize the commercial airline sector during the pandemic, with 2020 CARES Act. Quigley, also a retired US Navy aviator, further pointed out that this infusion of government support set the pandemic apart from the other dark epochs in the last several decades including 9-11 and the Great Recession of 2008.

First Officer Todd Lisak, the ALPA National Director of Training, Training Council Chairman and JetBlue Airways Training Committee Chairman, was one of several panel members who addressed the training readiness challenges of returning to the cockpit following pandemic-driven furloughs of several months or longer. The training subject matter expert called attention to the increased use of simulators for “warm ups” in addition to required regular training.

Aviate is United's pilot career development program offering aspiring and established pilots the most direct path to a United flight deck. While the panel members previously noted other accession sources for future pilots, this airline is committed to gaining pilots through this path, and according to Quigley, envisions one-half of its graduate pilots to be women and people of color. Indeed, the veteran United pilot noted the effort to diversify the airline’s demographic profile of its pilot cadre is a strategic issue.

And in an effort to educate and inform the next generation of Americans about career opportunities to be pilots, the session participants noted on-going efforts to reach out to students in grade schools, high schools as well as colleges and universities.