Reflections on Our Industry ‘Restarting’: WATS Live 2021

We are now a few days after the live event, and it is clearer now quite how much has changed as a result of Covid, and the extent of technology change that we are facing in the airline training community and for airline operations.

What was surprising?

This is a reflection of what we knew, that airlines had released many high-paid staff, and many with just a short time to retirement decided not to enjoy the Covid work experience.

The CAT team expected significant change in our databases and attendance but more on the order of 25%.

Unfortunately, very few of our colleagues from outside the US were able to attend WATS Live – so we are preparing a Virtual Showcase & Networking event which is open to all WATS 2021 attendees and globally to airlines and regulators free of charge (only US$49 for industry). This will take place beginning 7 July, and the platform will be available for the entire week to give everyone time to connect and discuss needs and experiences. To register, click here.

We are working with WATS exhibitor and sponsor Modest Tree, who will provide their Distantly platform for this and future events. It has an easy networking tool, and we recommend that you invite colleagues to register and set an appointment with you (as you would at a normal meeting). Not only is the platform secure, once you have completed your onetime profile, you will be able to access all of our future events easily.

We hope this may offer the global community an opportunity to meet and catch up personally and professionally after such a long ‘isolation’. There is much to share and discuss and now is the time.

We were all aware of significant fleet changes as older, more-expensive-to-operate aircraft were retired, and ongoing purchases of newer types slowed through 2020 (but did not stop). It was only a partial surprise to find that full-flight simulators are in demand and that any white tails built in the last year were flying off the shelves, so to speak.

Those fleet changes and the retirement/loss of many senior personnel will generate massive training demand in themselves.

Suppliers of FTDs have also continued to move ahead consistently and those able to offer 24/7, location- and time-independent training options have predictably done well.

Training centres, too, are coming back strong with heavy usage of all devices through the final third of the year; indeed, year-to-date we have heard of low to nil activity on Day One becoming very heavy by Day 30 as airlines recognise that they need more training capacity. Training Centres were a feature of WATS 2021 – Paramount Aviation Services in Miami announcing their new operation; Avenger Flight Group launching 11 new training centres in 7 years, and more doubtless to come; FlightSafety International expanding their training offer; and other well-known names coming back to the industry with new solutions.

Overall, the WATS trade show floor was significantly busier than anyone had expected, and it was a great shame that several overseas exhibitors had to withdraw from the show at the last minute while politicians continue to faff around with Covid, even excluding vaccinated people from travelling. What excuse do they have at this point?

Please go visit those companies who wanted to exhibit: Avion Group, Bolverk XR, ECA Group, Entrol, and SOGECLAIR who could not get their staff into the U.S.

Cadet programs, having been a non-starter three years ago, are now with us at all significant airlines at last. It may be too late for some airlines in terms of re-staffing but the emphasis on recruiting cadets and providing a route to the right-hand seat is now there, as is a focus on the next recruits we need.

Anna Kjaer Thorsoe at Center Air Pilot Academy Denmark remarked in this video that the airlines are competing against all other professions for quality personnel, and many are better paid and all offer a far more secure career with less life disruption than our industry does, at least in the US.

Also in the US, our current total of 6% women and 2% minorities in the cockpit does not come close to being representative of our society, and as many commented, with modern scheduling tools, it should be possible to offer mothers and fathers the opportunity for far fewer nights away from home and offer to all remote-basing opportunities. That of course is a reflection of wider work patterns across all industries since Covid.

Which brings us to VR, possibly the biggest buzz on the showfloor.  Before we look at professional use of VR for training, including flight training, what about VR in schools? Many schools for all age groups now feature VR labs so we can show young kids what it is like to fly an aircraft and land in exotic cities across the globe, or show them the flight simulator. If we want to inspire young people to ‘think airlines‘ as a career, what better tool could there be?

Our final subject expert group, chaired by Paul Preidecker and including Evey Cormican, Randy Hamilton, Philip Adrian, Scott Nutter and Scott Glaser, looked at a number of issues but current, new and next-gen workforce issues were well covered.

EASA’s authorisation of the first VR device for rotary-wing pilot training in April highlighted the potential and our own webinar did the same.

When time in the FFS is at a premium and costs are high, what about shipping a professional-grade HMD to each of your next batch of trainees? Let them get familiar, let them practice, etc.

What is most surprising in some ways is that training has moved from a necessary cost (minimised by the shortsighted) to an absolutely essential enabler for the world’s airlines. Intuitively, many of us realised this last year, but it is one thing to realise it and another to see and feel it.

It seems highly likely that those carriers who have lost a high percentage of their pilots (and cabin crew and maintainers) and certainly those that have alienated many more, will find it very hard to take advantage of the rebounding flight market. While those who delay their training or do not plan to train and maintain currency for as many as possible may find there are few resources for them when they need them. See our recent skills fade webinar and executive summary.

Finally, remember, we have made the entire archive of CAT, MS&T and SCT content on www.Halldale.com available free through complimentary memberships for airline personnel and serving military. Encourage your colleagues to join so we can expand the important discussions in the weeks and months to come.