WATS 2021 Live - The Full Report

A CAT team report with Andy Smith, Marty Kauchak, Dr. Bill Johnson and Amanda Towner.

“You folks crushed it. Mic drop. Walk-off home run. Boom!” That was Scott Nutter’s reaction to the aviation training industry’s first live event in more than a year: WATS 2021 in June in Orlando, Florida.

Nutter is Principal of Atlanta-based Touch and Go Solutions. He was one of the speakers on the WATS Pilot Stream program, as well as a subject expert panelist in the final interactive roundtable addressing the hottest training issues of the day. Scott also led a pre-WATS meeting of AQP airline leaders.

“Andy Smith, Rick Adams, and the Halldale team did a phenomenal job getting the industry out of their home offices and training centers to meet in person. Everyone I spoke to commented on the positive energy that's unique to in-person events,” he posted on LinkedIn.

“The conference has always been an important event for airlines and training providers. Everyone leaves WATS better for the experience. That said, this year was different. The crowd was smaller. The Expo was smaller. The event was half a day shorter. Yet, every person I spoke with acted like they'd had a shot of adrenalin. People were practically giddy to meet in person and tried to have fifteen months' worth of face-to-face conversations in two days. This conference jumpstarted the industry's return to normal.”

Andy Smith, CEO of Halldale Group and Publisher of Civil Aviation Training (CAT) magazine, organizers of WATS, commented, “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? 40 to 50% of the approximately 500 attendees were new to WATS; our cabin crew contingent was closer to 70 to 80% new. “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,” Smith said.

Fleet changes and the retirement/loss of many senior personnel is generating massive training demand. “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,” Smith noted.

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. Cadet programs are now at all significant airlines.

“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.”

Pilot Training Stream – Day One

At the keynote session, Andy Smith welcomed delegates and recalled that Halldale and CAT have been working for more than 30 years with the airline simulation and training community. “We thought we had seen it all with terrorism, wars, SARS, 9-11, various accidents and incidents such as planes gone missing or being shot down,” he reflected – then pointed out the Covid-19 pandemic “is different.” Yet, beyond the huge economic downturn with which the sector is still grappling, the pandemic has hastened the adoption of technology across the community.

Smith called attention to other converging forces and issues which the civil aviation sector needs to manage, including workforce mental health, the surge in unruly passengers, “green concerns,” and the imperative to strive for workforce diversity.

The S&T community will need to continue to work toward a radical construct for ground schools; wisely integrate VR/AR/XR into curricula; manage the exchange of Big Data between operations and training; and continue to embrace tailored, personalized learning.

While “big operators” will adopt the above trends and changes, Smith asserted the community needs to also include resource-challenged and smaller operators around the globe in this sector’s transformation.

Marc Parent, CAE President and CEO, announced the company is pursuing the use of AI, and other technologies – indeed, a digital ecosystem – to enable pilots, cabin crew and maintainers to persistently operate safely and efficiently. Parent provided an upbeat forecast on the industry’s post-pandemic renaissance, noting 260,000 new pilots will be needed over the next decade and 100,000s of technicians needed to continue the industry’s growth and sustainment.

Parent concluded the sector is at “an inflection point” with a clean sheet for training needed as eVTOL (electric vertical takeoff and landing) aircraft and other innovations are introduced across the industry.

Spatial disorientation (SD) continues to be the cause of crashes and associated mishaps in the civilian airline and military communities. Hank Phillips, PhD, Director of Learning Technologies at SoarTech, told WATS delegates their WingMAN project for the US Navy is one training solution to address SD. 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. Dr. Phillips said the evolving program is a preventative tool to help the pilot recognize the conditions for this hazardous situation to occur.

Matt Vance, PhD, a professional pilot faculty member at Oklahoma State University, had delegates thinking out of the box when he offered some forward-leaning perspectives during his “Undeniable Emerging Trends in Commercial Aviation” presentation. He pointed out three macro-level trends in commercial aviation: automation maturation; basic airmanship erosion in three underpinning competencies – aviate, navigate and communicate; and the imperative of developing soft skills. Dr. Vance also noted the merging importance of soft skills, crew resource management and decision making, and others, in the aviation enterprise. “These are the harder skills” he offered and noted the community needs to concurrently do a better job at recognizing and eliminating or reducing tell-tale signs of “hazardous skills” (macho image, resignation, anti-authority, invulnerability and impulsivity) among flight crews.

In the Day One concluding panel discussion, First Officer Paul Ryder, National Resource Coordinator, Air Line Pilots Association, International (ALPA) and pilot for United Airlines, noted there is an “incredible opportunity to influence the next generation, to provide them with our story and our experiences.” Ryder used ALPA data to note the mismatch between the US population and the US commercial pilot community: only 7% female and 2% men and women of color – clearly not representative of the broader US population. ALPA’s policy horizon includes continuing to remove barriers to becoming pilots, in particular 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 the 2020 CARES Act.

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. He called attention to the increased use of simulators for “warm ups” in addition to required regular training.

Day Two

Conor McKenna, CEO of Vocavio Technologies of Bristol, UK and Dublin, Ireland, built the case for software analyses to gain non-verbal cues from speech communication, such as tone of voice, in aviation training. Vocavio is using best-of breed enabling hardware and software technologies (Unity, Oculus, and others) to complement its speech engine, to measure and extract data from the crews’ pitch, energy tempo and other voice attributes – in a VR setting.

The Professional Aviation Board of Certification (PABC) is tackling two huge problems in the pilot accession process: the 50% of new hire pilots who, by the association’s data, are not well prepared for their programs, and the 10% drop rate of new hire pilots from their accession programs. Captain (ret.) Peter Wolfe, Executive Director, pointed out to the significant lost revenue and investment costs from these outcomes. PABC has a work in progress to help focus and analyze the gaps in new and aspiring pilots’ knowledge, following their completion of ground school training and its requisite simulator- and aircraft-based instruction.

Nicholas Wilson, PhD, Associate Professor of Aviation at the University of North Dakota, told WATS attendees that self-efficacy is the best predictor of examination scores. The challenge is how to improve self-efficacy in an aviation enterprise’s new recruits and new hires. Actionable items include a manager mentoring and coaching new personnel through feedback and encouragement.

Suzanne Kearns, PhD, Associate Professor of Aviation at University of Waterloo, and Simon Witts, Aviation 360 and ENGAP UK, updated delegates on ENGAP (Engaging the Next Generation of Aviation Professionals) activities. There is a shortage of the right people with the right skillsets in aviation, and the community must remain ahead of the technology bow wave. Dr. Kearns reported the Waterloo Institute is collaborating with ICAO to award certificates in aviation courses to transitioning individuals and upskilling professionals. Witts cited the 2021 start-up of the International Air & Space Training Institute (IASTI) network sites in Newark and London.

Lori Brown, Professor in the College of Aviation at Western Michigan University, presented overarching lessons learned for moving to collaborative virtual platforms, which can be accessed by VR headsets (Oculus Quest 2 in this case), iPhones and personal computers. Five of the platforms examined include Spatial (her favorite, which is free), Microsoft Mesh, Engage, Virbela and Frames. The collaborative nature of the virtual platform refined by Brown, in this case, has the potential to prompt further interaction among sector learning audiences – flight attendants, maintainers and others – and tailor the lessons to myriad participant combinations.

Seeing Machines, an Australian-based company, is working with Alaska Airlines on advanced gaze tracking technology to understand how pilots scan and monitor instruments during complex maneuvering and instrument procedures. Alaska’s Pacific Northwest routes include some of the most challenging weather and terrain in commercial aviation. Pasha Saleh, Director of Flight Operations Strategy at Alaska, and Rama Myers, Vice President of Aviation at Seeing Machines, pointed out the human factors limitations in effective monitoring are numerous: interruptions and distractions; high workload and stress; and others. Few tools exist to allow instructors to assess and train monitoring skills.

The final subject expert group, chaired by Paul Preidecker and including Evey Cormican, Randy Hamilton, Philip Adrian, Scott Nutter and Scott Glaser, PhD, looked at a number of issues, agreeing that civil aviation’s emergence from the pandemic is uneven – with the US market recovering at a steady, persistent pace ahead of Europe, parts of Asia and other regions. They noted the imperative for training enterprises (airlines, S&T industry, regulators and others) in all regions to help all carriers resume operations safely and with minimal operational disruptions.

Cormican, Co-Founder and CEO of VTR, and a pilot, noted her recent return to flying after a two-year absence, and reflected her training to resume duties was “excellent.” Yet, she cautioned there is no “one size fit all” checklist to allow flight deck crews to migrate from months of pandemic-induced inactivity to normal duties and operations.

Hamilton, Advisory Council, PABC, commented “the horse has left the barn,” and the industry is embarking on “cheap, fast training” to put aircraft back in the sky. Captain Preidecker, recently retired from Air Wisconsin, asked the panel to consider “rusty instructors” in training enterprises. Hamilton voiced concern about this situation, noting “you lose it, you also decay. It takes time to get instructor skills back.”

The open forum shifted back to the “brain drain” of senior personnel across the enterprise during the pandemic, and quickly embraced the topic of recruiting the next generation of community pilots. Dr. Glaser, Senior Vice President of Operations, Flight Research, noted the efforts of organizations to gain the interest of youth in aviation careers, including the Free Young Eagles as well as traditional STEM initiatives.

Cormican urged that awareness of aviation careers should begin during childhood – as early as five years old. She told delegates that in her teens she was given a school assignment to write an article on what job she could not do. “I was mistaken to believe only men, and in particular those with military backgrounds, could fly,” she recalled; after further contact with airline experts, she was hooked on a flying career.

The discussion of barriers went beyond recruitment to careers; e.g, many females, as well as some men, not wanting to make three-to-four day “trips.” Cormican suggested that “bases” are obsolete, given the lifestyles of today’s youth. Captain Adrian, CEO of Multi Pilot Simulations, asked panel members to consider “flying” versus an aviation “career.” He observed there are many Gen Zers who do not want to leave home, and want to become an “influencer” or take other evolving and emerging career paths. “What should we do to make a career in aviation better for the next 40 years?”, he asked; his short list for improving careers in aviation include addressing seniority lists, “which are killing innovation.”

Scott Nutter, Principal, Touch & Go Solutions, who helped shepherd the Advanced Qualification Program to this year’s 30th anniversary, reminded delegates there is AQP and EBT, and urged, “Stop with the letters!”, adding there is an 85% overlap between AQP and EBT.

Nutter also linked technology back to the earlier discussion about instructors: “A good instructor or program leader should be able to operate all devices in the enterprise.”

Maintenance Training Stream

Many of the sessions were “standing-room only,” likely a combination of numerous positive factors. The maintenance stream had applied sessions with experienced speakers who had extensive experience in training. Acronyms like ISD, RCA, TA, AR, VR, LMS and more were “spoken here.”   Like all WATS delegates, the maintenance training personnel were delighted to be back to in-person communication. The experience was a clear reminder that, when feasible, person-to-person interaction is ideal.

Speakers were from these maintenance industry segments: FAR 147 Schools, Airline and MRO Training Departments, Training Equipment and Software Providers, Government, Industry Organizations, and more. Speaker titles included: President, Executive Vice President, Vice President, Managing Director, Executive Director. Director, Chief Operating Officer, and Founder.

Operating and recovering from the pandemic seemed to touch every presentation. Most focused on the positive application of distance learning. Speakers made it clear that the pandemic experience forced a positive advance in variety of useful training delivery methods and technologies.

Attracting, recruiting, and training new aviation maintenance personnel was a prevalent theme. The term “STEM” was used extensively. Bob Ireland, Managing Director of Engineering and Maintenance, Airlines for America (A4A) suggested that STEM needs another letter to represent “Maintenance.”  The presence of Crystal Maguire, Executive Director of the Aviation Technician’s Council (ATEC), and Ryan Goertzen, VP of Aviation Workforce development at AAR and President of Choose Aerospace, ensured that delegates received the most current information on FAA maintenance training regulations and on workforce development programs. Davidson Nzekwe-Daniel, founder of a non-profit workforce development initiative, related examples of their activities to create aviation interest, starting at the elementary school level.

Members of the A4A working group were present to discuss revising their training guidance materials. The panel included Steven Platt, Director of Technical Operations Training for Hawaiian Airlines; Goertzen, Ireland, and Dr. Bill Johnson (formerly FAA). The primary reason to revise portions of ATA Spec 104 is to identify generic training that does not have to be repeated as workers move from one company to another.

One excellent speaker was Keith McGann, Regional Sales Manager from FlightSafety International (who has been attending WATS for 20 years); he made it clear that flight and maintenance training products have capitalized on the best of current digital training technology.

Another was Jenna Tuck, Executive VP for Global Business Development, Modest Tree, on how to consider design and integration of technologies into training programs.

Cabin Crew Training Stream

Dan Duren, Learning Consultant, Southwest Airlines, led Open Mic Tuesday in which cabin crew industry spoke out on the biggest challenges their organizations have been facing as a result of Covid-19. Organizations have had to implement new technologies, new systems to communicate, new learning management systems, as well as keep everyone up to date on those changes as they occur. One airline confessed that while they have had various system changes through 2020, they plan three more this year.

The majority of SkyWest’s training has switched to virtual, and they believe that this practice will continue post-pandemic. (The airline said their success rate has increased due to virtual training.) Other airlines keep to a 50% virtual training set up and 50% live and in-person.

Delegates from Kenya explained they have only a few schools for cabin crew training, and classes are full. Current travel restrictions limit their ability to fly elsewhere to receive training.

All airlines are now making up for last year’s shortage of graduating flight attendants. Frontier graduated 64 flight attendants but now needs 800 graduates for 2021. SkyWest graduated over 100 flight attendants in 2020 but still needs 1,500 this year.

Organizations have also begun to implement incentives – money, sick time, a prize, etc. – to get cabin crew to vaccinate. At Delta Air Lines, it is now a requirement for all new hires across all departments, not just for cabin crew.

Cabin crew morale is down as the theme seems to be: “It’s all about the pilots now.” In addition to worries about job safety and security, crews have experienced more deaths during flights than ever before and are dealing with more hostile passengers.

Organizations have lost half of their staff during the pandemic due to early retirements, budget cuts, restructuring departments, or a refusal to come back for fear of the virus. Returning crews at first felt normal upon stepping back to work but are now mentally exhausted from everything that has happened.

There have been a few good things that have emerged from the pandemic. Cabin crew are creating deeper bonds with one another and are so much closer for having gone through this experience together. As one airline put it, “They are looking out for each other.”

With crew changes and department restructuring, the group expressed that their organizations have more of a thoughtful way of working together and are more humble and collaborative in their problem solving.

Karen Moore, Principal Occupational Psychologist, Symbiotics, and Duren addressed crew mental fitness issues. The Covid effects on cabin crew seem similar to others in the industry – pilots, airline traffic controllers, security, etc. But when comparing self-reported mental health to others, cabin crew was the worst-impacted group. Cabin crew felt that their airlines cared the least about their well-being, and had more suicidal thoughts than any other group, reporting it “nearly every day” and “more than half the days.”

Key reasons for stress include survival, love and belonging, freedom, autonomy, power and achievement, and fun and enjoyment.

Attendees shared how their organizations helped deal with stress. Some companies hosted gatherings to check in with employees, some gave access to stress-relieving apps and peer-to-peer programs. Others urged the need for keeping structure and a routine.

One delegate raised a sad truth: cabin crews are strong individuals in general, so normally they weren’t checked in on. Now, with all of the new stress of operating in a changed world, they feel they have not been supported. In the study, cabin crew reported more than any other group that their organization did not prioritize their mental health.

Another raised the issue that if someone does not recognize there is a problem, they will not self-report it.

To relieve stress, Moore suggested focusing on what is in our control, rather than our concerns. For example, creating strategies and planning rather than letting the stressor control our emotions and make us feel paralyzed.

The top tips for mental wellbeing include: avoiding negativity, physically exercising, eating and drinking well, using a support network, evaluating a coping strategy, lowering expectations, and practicing Niksen – meditation and mindfulness practices.

Next page ... Tops at WATS? VR Pre-Training

Tops at WATS? VR Pre-Training

CAT roving reporter Rona Gindin roamed the WATS 2021 exhibition hall to sample what was on offer.

Two unrelated trends were clear at WATS 2021 Live: vendors were thrilled at the chance to sell face-to-face, and a new crop of innovators are offering virtual reality systems that allow trainees to tinker inside nontangible yet realistic flight decks, or other airplane sections, via increasingly capable headsets.

First, the in-person experience. Hand sanitizer was readily available and the question, “Have you been vaccinated?” was answered with a quick “Oh, yes” regularly. Handshakes and hugs were noticeably absent. Other than that, this WATS looked like any other run by the Halldale Group since the conference’s introduction in 1998.

“I’d much rather do this,” said David Jones, President of Orlando-based Quantified Design Solutions, referring to the live event around him. “And that’s from a company specializing in virtual reality and virtual training,” he laughed. Communication via electronic means, he emphasizes, “is not the same as being able to talk to someone one-on-one, and letting them try out our products.”

“Face-to-face is always better for us,” agreed Director of Business Development Erol Aydin of Quantum3D, which has offices in California and Florida. “We have more interaction that way, and we’ve seen more interest than what we expected.”

“I’m just so excited,” added Laura Birdwell of Takeoff Trim, who flew in with her team from their Houston, Texas base. “Being here has instilled in me the possibility of a really bright future. When I see all the people and talk to them, I know that we can move forward.”

As new pilots and other aviation workers enter the field, industry executives are exploring ways to train these new professionals effectively yet less expensively. To meet this need, WATS was rich with vendors offering new VR products that are meant to replace or supplement classrooms and computer screens. Most involve realistic 3D images of flight decks or other areas of an airplane as seen through the types of headset created for recreational virtual reality games. Most currently offer images of the Boeing 737, for example, since that’s where they see the greatest need, and are eager to expand their portfolio to feature other aircraft as well.

“Simulator-ready pilots have gone through their own companies’ flows and procedures and have been in the flight deck prior to coming to the training center,” explains Evey Cormican, who co-founded Visionary Training Resources with Rick Parker. The company is based in Woodlands, Texas, with subsidiaries in Dubai, the UAE and the United Kingdom. Trainees learn the flight deck’s systems operations and procedures using the VTR system, possibly from home. The goal is to become proficient in each procedure, then practice each as often as they’d like, acquiring muscle memory and proficiency, before traveling to train in an actual simulator. “We are looking to build better, stronger, faster pilots,” says Cormican, who bills her company’s product as “for pilots, by pilots.” “If pilots set up the flight deck in a VR headset, they can show up to the simulator and be ready to fly.”

Here is some of what we saw on the show floor:

Flight Deck to Go, Visionary Training Resources — This product offers mobile VR pilot training presented via a cordless headset — no sensors, no connection to a powerful gaming computer. All trainees for an airline would have self-paced identical training, in their homes, before arriving for on-site training. vtrvr.com

Takeoff Trim — Takeoff Trim “brings in some of the higher technologies that this generation expects,” said Brent Birdwell, President of Takeoff Trim, who in the past worked with pilot courseware training products for another company. The result is a VR system in which trainees wearing headsets see a virtual flight deck; they can familiarize themselves with it and do training exercises. To accommodate all budgets and generations, Takeoff Trim is also available for use on tablets and computers via web browsers. “At this beginning level of training,” Birdwell explained, “they become immersed in the flight deck and familiar with procedures before starting FTD training, which is priceless.” takeofftrim.com

Quantified Design Solutions — This Orlando company develops virtual reality training programs to teach cabin crew and maintenance procedures. The newest product is a virtual maintenance trainer for B777 and A321 aircraft. Quantified is moving VR programs to Apple and Android tablets as well as lighter-weight VR headsets so they’re lower cost and easily deployable for distributed training. quantifieddesign.com

Reaction Simulation — Pilot Jeff Goin introduced a reaction-based iPad simulator trainer meant to replace slideshows and videos with a tablet and a 3D headset. His images guide pilots through emergency situations such as evacuations, rejected takeoffs and go-arounds, then lets them test themselves without instruction. reactionsimulation.com

Unfortunately, because of Covid-related travel restrictions (Canada and Europe in particular), several companies who planned to exhibit were not permitted to send personnel. Frank Hugger of MINT Software Systems and Alexander Schaefer of Sim International were the only two from outside the US who were granted a National Interest Exception (NIE) and were able to travel to WATS. We commend their travel navigation perseverance.

Avion Group, Bolverk XR, ECA Group, Entrol, and SOGECLAIR had all signed up to exhibit but their staff were not allowed into the US.

WATS 2021 LIVE Sponsors & Exhibitors