Doug Stewart Chair -

Society of Aviation and Flight Educators

Robert Wright Chair -

SAFE Symposium Committee

Pilot Training Reform –The Key to General Aviation Safety

and Industry Growth

Society of Aviation and Flight Educators

Pilot Training Reform SymposiumAtlanta, GeorgiaMay 4-5, 2011

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Welcome!

• Your opportunity to shape the future pilot training system

• Major changes in the pilot training philosophy are few and far between

• Pilot training a key driver for –• Safety• Student pilot starts and retention

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Our Opportunity

• We can determine how pilot training reform can change the outcomes

• We should take stock of where we stand today on the major issues of safety and growth

• First, the bad news -

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General Aviation Health Indicators(Thirty year trends 1979-2009)

• Student pilot starts– Down 60 percent

• Private pilot certificates issued (original)– Down 75 percent

• General aviation hours flown– Down 42 percent

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Long Term Causes

• Economic– Aviation product price increases exceed inflation

• Demographic– An older America

• Political – General aviation under the spotlight

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Long Term Causes

• Societal trends and preferences– New priorities for discretionary income

• Alternatives to general aviation travel– Airlines– Technology (i.e. “non-travel”)

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Long Term Causes

• Safety!– Airlines historically safer than general aviation– Airline safety improving as general aviation record

stagnates– Current general aviation safety record a deterrent

to the “latent” market

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Latent Market

• Those who have thought of learning to fly but never began the process, or those who have not thought about it but are in the right economic and demographic group

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General Aviation Safety Trends-Historical improvements stopped• 1939-1969 (30 years)– Fatal accident rate down 76 per cent

• 1969-1999 (30 years)– Fatal accident rate down 55 per cent

• 1999-2009 (10 years)– Fatal accident rate up 15 percent!

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The Level of Safety Achievable may not depend on FAA Regulations

• Major determinants of safety results include-– Equipment flown (including avionics)– Type of training received– Procedures used

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Most Important Safety Determinants

• Safety culture presence• Risk management approach employed

• Hazards identified• Risk assessed• Mitigation implemented

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The Proof

Airlines Corporate General Aviation

AllGeneral Aviation

Operating rule Part 121 Part 91 Part 912007 Fatal

accident rate per 100,000

hours

.005240 times

safer than GA

.034(Went to .000

in 2008!)

1.20

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Reduction in Fatal Accident Rates1997-2009

• Airlines– Achieved 80% reduction by combined FAA/industry

program (CAST) with no new regulations (technology, training, procedures, etc.)

• Corporate– Achieved 43% reduction through comparable means

(better record than airlines in some years)• General Aviation– Achieved only a 2% reduction despite major

regulatory change in 1997

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Comparative Safety Efforts(Continued)

• Airlines took control of their safety issues, using non-regulatory means

(Commercial Aviation Safety Team - CAST)• Corporate aviation used a similar approach• General aviation community less successful at

collectively managing safety outcomes

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The Safety Story Behind the Statistics

• Root causes of most general aviation fatal accidents lies beneath the official NTSB cause

• Example: “Loss of control” accident– Did pilot lose control because of inability to fly

partial panel?OR

– Did pilot lose control because of continued flight into instrument conditions with known equipment failure?

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Fatal Accident Root Causes

• Many of these accidents might actually be risk management accidents

• Risk management failures –– Pilot failed to identify risk– Pilot failed to assess risk, and/or– Pilot failed to mitigate risk

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Back to the Factors Inhibiting Industry Growth

• The pilot training system has a huge influence in attracting and retaining participants

• For example,– Economics: Why aren’t we using less costly

training tools, including simulation and the web?

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Growth Inhibitors (continued)

• Demographic: Why isn’t pilot training attractive to women, minorities, and people in their prime earning years (age 40-60)?

• Political: Why can’t general aviation conclusively demonstrate its value to communities?

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Growth Inhibitors (continued)

– Societal trends and preferences: Why can’t the training system adapt to customer’s time and other preferences, rather than the other way around?

– Alternatives to general aviation travel: Why can’t the training system show customers how to actually use general aviation airplanes rather than to solely emphasize the “coolness” factor?

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Some Thoughts to Consider, as the Symposium Begins

• Pilot training system fundamentally unchanged in seventy years– Civilian Pilot Training Program (1939-1941)

• Training system may be a cause of – reduced general aviation growth – stagnant fatal accident rates

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What we hope to accomplish

• Stimulate a dialog on the importance of pilot training reform

• Surface recommendations for reform from the best and brightest in the pilot training community

• Catalyze industry and FAA action to begin the reform process

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What you will hear today

• Two panels on factors driving training reform– Safety issues– Growth issues

• Four panels on training reform components– Doctrine– Standards – Curricula– Instructors

• Luncheon speaker – Mel Cintron, FAA

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What we need from you tomorrow morning

• Participate in breakout groups and provide your best thinking on training reform solutions

• Think “outside the box”• Create realistic, practical recommendations

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Tomorrow Afternoon

• Listen to luncheon speaker Will Dirks from Cessna

• Listen to Breakout Group Report-outs• Listen to Industry Leadership Panel

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Tomorrow Afternoon

• Listen to FAA Administrator Randy Babbit deliver the Symposium key note address, “Meeting the Training Challenges of the Second Century of Flight”

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IMPROVING IMPROVING GENERAL AVIATION SAFETYGENERAL AVIATION SAFETY

AND AND FOSTERING INDUSTRY GROWTH FOSTERING INDUSTRY GROWTH