First off, let me say training is a two way street. By the time one gets to
a airline or in corporate aviation, one should have the basics down and have
assumed the role of a professional. This means one is prepared to fly and
prepared to learn.
In talking to many instructors, most say they absolutely hate having to
waltz students through the syllabus and abhore having to spoon feed
students. Students *should* come into training with a basic understanding of
maneuvers and what happens when. As one of my old instructors said, "The
airplane/sim is not a place to learn. It is a place to practice what you
have learned earlier."
Thus, students should know the maneuvers and the bench marks. The sim is a
place to practice and work on developing the skills.
The instructor is there to critique and assist. Often, there is a chance for
the instructor to lord his/her position and knowledge over the student. I
refer to this as a vertical rather than a horizontal learning situation. The
GOD and the dummy... it should not be this way. The instructor, as I see it,
is to analyze what is right and what is wrong and advise how to correct the
problem.
Also, were it a perfect world, the sim and instructors would be available to
the student to resolve situations, practice without prejudice, investigate
without scrutiny things that happen on the line. As it is, the sim is often
jammed with training requirements and available time is just not there for
practice. As it is, most pilots see the sim twice a year and each time is a
jeopardy situation. For this reason, most pilots don't like the sim....
I may be in a minority but I still cling to the old fashioned opinion that a
sim is a sim... and not merely a fixed base airplane. In many LOFTs and
such, the emphasis on "reality" obscures the real strength of the sim and
that is to practice maneuvers that are less than perfect. Granted, one
should walk through the scenario and if it comes to crashing, crash... let
the student LEARN...
Training should be there to assist the student, to listen to things that go
on out on the line, to resolve problems that occur in daily ops.. not
necessarily to devise new procedures in the sim and then send them out to
the line guys. I have seen this happen where checklist changes, procedural
changes came from the sim and not from the line... not a good idea IMHO...
>
>What do YOU think the training department should be doing to support
>excellence in airmanship?
Finally, the training dept is there to help train the student, to provide
the tools for the student to attain the necessary skills to be a safe,
efficient and proficient airman. There are there to teach and test...with
testing oriented to improving weak areas, not bashing them....
Wiley