FAA, U.S. Airlines to Develop Voluntary Pilot-Training Upgrades: Study Cites Undue Reliance by Flight Crews on Automation

The Wall Street Journal

By  Andy Pasztor and Allison Prang

Updated Nov. 21, 2013 9:55 p.m. ET

Federal air-safety officials, two weeks after mandating major upgrades to commercial-pilot training, said they will work with U.S. airlines to develop a host of additional voluntary improvements.

The Federal Aviation Administration's move on Thursday underscores a growing industry-government consensus that pilot training must change further to cope with evolving risks, particularly flight crews' increasing reliance on cockpit automation.

But unlike yearslong efforts to draw up rules often opposed by many in industry, and frequently difficult to justify on strict cost-benefit grounds, FAA leaders spelled out a new strategy: they intend to join airline-safety experts to craft more-flexible, voluntary changes in training and cockpit procedures to plug safety loopholes.

It is the latest step in FAA-industry collaboration, and FAA Chief Michael Huerta told reporters the effort continues the shift from corrective actions after accidents to a system of measures to improve safety before crashes occur. "We still know that there is more that we can [do], and more that we should do to move to the next level of training," he said.

In conjunction with a safety summit between the FAA and dozens of industry officials held in Washington, the agency released a long-awaited report highlighting the dangers of undue reliance by flight crews on automation. Prepared over seven years by an international group of experts, the study documents erosion of manual flying skills, poor decision making in emergencies and a reluctance to turn off automation when pilots aren't properly trained in its use.

Such lapses pose the biggest threat to commercial-aviation safety around the globe, and the latest findings and voluntary training initiatives are intended to reverse that trend. David Woods, an Ohio State University professor who helped write the report, said "past successes in training have reached a plateau" and "the consistent theme is that the role of pilots is changing."

To deal with today's hazards, Mr. Woods said, "training programs need to be refreshed and refocused" to take advantage of new research and technology.

"Every professional pilot in America is paying attention to this report," industry consultant Mike Boyd told Fox News.

The FAA and industry leaders didn't provide specifics about likely training shifts. But they pledged to set long-term priorities using a new organizational structure, which the agency said will "work on an ongoing basis for an undetermined time period."

Earlier this month the FAA issued a rewrite of its commercial-pilot training requirements, calling it the biggest change in such rules in two decades. The revisions, among other things, set more stringent proficiency requirements to handle stalls and other in-flight emergencies; they also includes provisions to ensure aviators properly monitor flight paths and cockpit instruments.

But the process stretched over many years, and the final regulations didn't incorporate some important recommendations and findings related to cockpit automation from various industry-labor study groups over that period.

Thursday's announcement indicates some frustration with traditional regulatory efforts on the part of the FAA. Even by the standards of making mandatory rules, a process that is "intended to be slow and deliberative," the recent training rule took "unfortunately long" to complete, Peggy Gilligan, the agency's top safety official, told the industry gathering.

Airlines and the government both recognize "safety processes need to be able to move more quickly," she said, "and that's really what we're here to ask you to help us do." Ms. Gilligan said the goal was to develop training enhancements that all sides "can agree to implement in a timely and cost-effective way."

The automation report calls for changes based on analyses of past accidents and incidents. The committee of experts recommended training adjustments to ensure pilots can intervene decisively and confidently when automated systems malfunction or when these systems disconnect in emergencies that require manual flying.

David McKenney, an airline captain who served as one of the panel's three co-chairmen, on Thursday said "all of the current training emphasis is how to interface with the automated systems." Instead, he said, the focus should be on "making sure pilots stay mentally engaged and are prepared to take over" when necessary.

Whenever automated flight controls are engaged, according to Mr. McKenney, pilots should be trained to make sure they understand "what the systems are telling them" and that automation is only one of the tools they can use to stay on course and speed.

The FAA, which embraced the automation report's conclusions, already has issued guidance to start phasing in a number of its recommendations, including calls for standardized and more pilot-friendly design of flight decks.

"Everybody is identifying the problems, yet we're not spending money on the right things," according to Rory Kay, an airline captain who served as co-chair of an FAA-sponsored committee that previously urged steps to boost manual flying skills.

The industry is eager to save money by reducing the duration of recurrent training, Mr. Kay said, while "cockpit technology is evolving rapidly" and pilots generally need more comprehensive simulator sessions "to experience both normal and abnormal" automation events.

Source:  http://online.wsj.com