Re: SA Training - Hands On
CRMDEEN_at_aol.com
Tue, 22 Jul 1997 15:42:20 -0400 (EDT)
Role-play exercises are the most realistic and fun, short of a full
mission simulator. Students like being active. You can add some realistic
stressors to the role-play exercises, to improve the "realism". Try:
Time pressure: tell the acting PIC he has "ten minutes" to resolve the
delimma.
Noise: have tape of obnoxious music or "engine noise" filling the
room. Increase the noise level if the PIC goes overtime.
Temporal distortion: periodically announce how much time is
remaining; make the reports inaccurate of course.
Aircraft control: it is important to not forget to fly the airplane;
two techniques:
1. Give the PIC a cup of water to hold, and after he takes it,
use another to fill his to the brim. The PIC is not allowed to "spill" the
aircraft.
2. Draw a circle about six inches in diameter on a piece of
stiff cardboard. Hand the board to the PIC and then place a small ball or
steel bearing in the circle. The pilot must keep the "aircraft" within the
circle---that's the edge of the flight envelope.
In either case, the PIC may delegate the flight duties to the
co-pilot, who must also maintain control. Make sure the copilot's script has
more info than the pilot's, and perhaps a critical piece to the puzzle.
If the aircraft is "crashed", the party is over!!!
You'll find these quite enjoyable and entertaining. If you have a large
audience, have the observers evaluate the "crew" afterwards. The evaluation
can be quite subjective, or using an actual assesment tool. If you teach a
particular decision-making model, have the audience use that as a guide and
note how the crew applies the model.
I have also had the observers take notes of the feedback loop Kieth
Hendley tells us about. Each person must "tick off" whenever they notice a
question-answer-review sequence, by each crew member represented. It's
interesting to note how fast they notice how one person does all the talking,
and some don't participate.
Case studies are the most popular among students, but this is
generalization and not experiential training. It gets quiet in a room when I
ask students to convince me they would have made a difference had they been
on the aircraft.
Greg Deen
HTI