Pilot Recurrent TrainingUsing E-Learning

C.I.P.D. Seminar4th November 2010

Aer Lingus Pilot Numbers

BASE No Of Aircraft No. Of Pilots No Of Cabin Crew

Dublin 35 358 882

Cork 4 30 109

Shannon 0 0 90

Belfast 3 26 66

London Gatwick 3 26 89

Washington Dulles 1 16 61

Total: 46 456 1297

Standards

Highest Operational Standard Of Safety Achieved Through;

– Setting best practice Standard Operating Procedures

– Training

– Checking

– Regulatory Compliance

TYPES OF PILOT GROUND-BASED TRAINING

1. INITIAL PILOT TRAINING

2. RECURRENT (Annual) REFRESHER TRAINING

3. ONE-OFF TRAINING

New Requirements / Procedures

Aircraft Manufacturer Directives

Security

PILOT RECURRENT TRAINING – PREVIOUSLY…

Classroom based – Multi-media, developed in-house

– Powerpoint

– Video / Audio

– Discussion

– Exam (Required by Regulatory Authorities)

16 Crew and 2 instructors per class

Approximately 28 classes per year, all JAN – APRIL

– 2 Per week

– Approximately 500 Crew-days lost

Crews from outstations;

– Position by air

– Overnight in hotel

– Overnight allowance

– 2 days unproductive

ISSUES WITH OLD SYSTEM

Cost

– Classrooms

– Equipment

– Days unproductive

– Outstation Crews

Logistics

– Instructors

– Outstation Crews

– Standardised Delivery

– Paperwork

– Exam Tracking

– Attendance Tracking

Crews

– Mobile

– 24 hour operation

NEW SYSTEM: E-GROUNDSCHOOL

Web Based

Presentations developed and produced In-House by Aer Lingus Instructors

– Quality Control

– Quick Deployment

Moodle Open Source Software

– Non-Proprietary

Support provided by Enovation (backups, training, tech support etc)

In-house Administrator

– Self-sufficient

Requirements addressed;

– Learning achieved

– Activity Monitoring

– Completion Reports

– Back-up and archiving requirements

– Discussion forums

Creating a Presentation

Powerpoint

Add Narration

Moodle / E-Learning

Simple presentation inception to go-live: 2-3 days

Full Recurrent Training Course (26 presentations): 3 months

E-Groundschool Demonstration

Crew Resource Management

Initial Structure

E-Learning

Administrator

Pilot Recurrent

Training

Internal I.T.

Support

External I.T.

Support

New Required Structure

E-Learning

Administrator

Cabin Crew

TrainingPilot Training

Maintenance

Training

Internal I.T.

Support

External I.T.

Support

Lessons Learned…

Need outside Specialist backup / support

Need a single responsible point in the organisation (HR department)

– Co-ordinate projects and resources between departments

– Pool skills learned

– Ongoing training required

Need SMEs / Developers

– succession planning

Remote training

– Corporate support

– E-Learning Corporate Philosophy

Has It Worked?

3rd Year of recurrent e-Groundschool commenced on 1st November 2010

29 Presentations produced

6 hours of presentations and video

10 exams

456 pilots completing from home in their own time

All regulations complied with

On line Activity Tracking and Analysis

What the crews said….

Rate the Training Website

Q1: How did you rate the Training Website under the following headings?

5%3%

1%

5%

11%

6%

2%

16%16%

22%

3%

68%

25% 24%

8%

35%

53%55%

52%

23%

57%

62%

54%

33%

26%

20%

44%

5%

7% 7%

36%

17%

0%

10%

20%

30%

40%

50%

60%

70%

80%

Easy to access. Easy to navigate. Contained useful

and relevant links.

Could have

contained more

links.

RSS feeds (Irish

Times etc) were

interesting and

appropriate.

Calendar and

upcoming events

were used

effectively.

Met my

expectations of a

good eLearning

course.

Clearly identified

when all course

completion

requirements were

met.

Strongly Disagree

Disagree

Agree

Strongly Agree

E-Learning As A Training Medium

Q3: All courses required that you view a number of Narrated Presentations.

What did you think of this training medium as a learning tool under the following headings?

0% 0% 0% 0% 0%

4% 5% 6%

3%

6%3%

10%

6%

65%

62%

6%

68% 68% 68%

64%

61%

22%

27%

68%

29%

26%

29%

25%

32%

8%6%

20%

0%

10%

20%

30%

40%

50%

60%

70%

80%

Well structured. Pitched at the

right difficulty

level.

Focused and

relevant.

Well paced. Images, animation,

narration and

video were well

utilised.

Incorporated too

much pilot

interaction.

I would like to

have seen more

varied pilot

interaction.

Coordinated well

with simulator

exercises.

Strongly Disagree

Disagree

Agree

Strongly Agree

In-House Course Development

Q4: All courseware was developed in-house by our own instructros.

What is your view on this under the following headings?

26%

2%

38%

66%

5%

54%

7%

51%

6%

1%

42%

3%

0%

10%

20%

30%

40%

50%

60%

70%

80%

Off-the-shelf courseware would have been much

better.

In-house development is the way to go. We should use professional narrators instead of

our own instructors.

Strongly Disagree

Disagree

Agree

Strongly Agree