The Speed of Technology vs. the Speed of Aviation Culture
Technology is changing and improving at a very high speed. I think most can agree that this has had a serious “disruptive” affect on how we live day to day. Fortunately in most cases the speed at which we can adapt and integrate technology in our personal lives is relatively fast for most people. As an example, we can adopt and include the use of a new smart phone feature very quickly as its features are intuitive and its use fits an immediate need.
In addition, we really may not have any barriers to adopting its personal use such as the logistical challenge of integrating the technology into a large group of users with specific uses. We simply take ourselves to the electronics store, and buy a phone! We also may not have issues such as how long it will take the large group of users to learn the features and use them. After you buy the phone, you experiment with its features, and use the one you think you want to use.
There is no “ramp up” per se, no outside regulators ensuring you can use the features it thinks are the most important, no tasks that must be identified and demonstrated to show a requisite amount of proficiency. However, there are numerous materials developed by marketing departments to support adoption of the new features. Videos are produced, manuals are developed, commercials demonstrating the features, even short pamphlets outlining the features are in abundance.
For a single end user to adopt the new phone and its features the on-boarding is quick and with little resistance. Immediately usable and information is available through multiple mediums.
I want to provide a little contrast to the single retail user of technology I have described with technologies contributions to aviation, namely professional pilots.
When a new technology for a professional pilot is introduced, there tends to be a much steeper “ramp up”. In my personal experience, I have had the opportunity to be involved in a team tasked with on-boarding new software developed to make a professional pilots life easier but with a few challenges…
Here are a few examples of what I have seen:
Electronic Flight Bag hardware and software. “Here is a new tablet device with a new software package that needs to be integrated into the pilot group ASAP. Because its going to save time and money, we need you to take these pilots from using paper based charts to digital charts in about 6 weeks! Oh, by the way, there are limited training materials developed by the manufacturer for this context and we don’t really have any policies developed!”
Flight Operations Scheduling Software: “Here is a new aircraft scheduling software package that will reshape about 95% of the pilots daily tasks outside of actually flying the plane. The manufacturer is a great reference, they do actually have a “help” reference, and they have a “training webinar” that is generic but does address task basics (The webinar is about 1 hour long for a software that completely reshapes a pilots daily tasks). Its only a webinar though, so simple viewing is all it provides. Because its so efficient and effective, we really want it integrated ASAP!”
Aircraft Performance Planning Software: “Here is a new performance planning software package that (though should be much simpler) completely changes the method by which all the pilots conduct pre-flight performance planning. Because its so much safer and faster, we need this in place in the next 2 months. By the way…… There are no guides, videos, pamphlets, handbooks or even a manual developed for this software! The manufacturer is a great reference for questions, but again, they don’t even have a manual for you to use!”
With all three of these situations another significant common element was included. They all included an FAA regulator overseeing the integration and execution of the on-boarding. That FAA regulator had varying knowledge of the technology from moderate familiarity to completely unfamiliar! In affect, they needed trained as well as the pilots.
I have no doubt that other training professionals have been in the very same situations with the speed at which technology is expanding. Aviation gets its fair share of new developments but the barriers to integration are a little steeper. As the technology is introduced to groups at a time, that all need specific outcomes that can be demonstrated, and used in direct job tasks the process is more challenging. In addition, the need to provide proof to FAA regulators that the pilot group is proficient (not just familiar) with the technology provides a significant challenge. Don’t forget the issues that would impact the flight operation if the pilots cannot actually use the technology well in the day to day operation…..
In each of these situations the technology was introduced rapidly as a result of the speed at which it is being developed. Flight organizations see an immediate use for the system and try to jump on it! The vision is sound: identify cost and efficiency benefits, get the technology as soon as you see its benefits, and integrate into ops ASAP to immediately receive its benefits. Who can blame anyone for that? After all, isn’t that what an individual retail consumer does when they see the latest smart phone as discussed earlier on?
However, the impact on the pilot group needs to be fully appreciated and thought needs to go into the amount of time required… and resistance to change for the integration. In addition, aviation culture is used to a barrage of information in short amounts of time that aren’t really evaluated in the long term. As an example, CBT in Indoc covering weather phenomena such as identifying cloud types; See it at Indoc, respond to a quiz question, don’t see it again until recurrent one (or two!) years later.
The accompanying behavior results in the pilots innate ability to respond in the short term accurately and then disregard (unless job tasks require its use) until the next time. Its a sort of coping mechanism a pilot appears to gain to handle the “fire hose” method of learning that aviation often entails. The “fire hose” method is a analogy of placing a fire hose in someones mouth and turning it on. The water represents the amount of information pumped in over the short indoctrination training. This is all based on personal experience, I cannot refer to studies but any professional pilot would likely agree.
Unfortunately, it also results in a situation where if we simply place some course ware in front of them on the new technology, then send them on their way without any sort of job task aids, they lose a lot of the skills they were exposed to in the initial training over time.
The results I have seen to this phenomena tend to be less than ideal. I have made personal observations of outstanding tools such as performance software for one engine inoperative planning reports accurately produced, but then completely ignored and not included in the pre-departure safety briefing! I cannot blame a pilot for this, its the rate at which the technology changed and the method it was integrated. It came so fast and the technology made it so easy, the pilots got the impression the data was of moderate importance. In this particular case, it actually completely reshaped what the pilot does in the event of an engine failure at V1. I am pretty sure the performance report appeared so easy that the system was pushed out to the pilots quickly without any real time spent on outlining the actual behavior that needs to change for each takeoff.
Aviation culture is a tough culture to change. Technology is changing so rapidly that its speed and usefulness is a shock to a flight organization. I wish resources were available such as to a retail technology consumer as I believe the ability to integrate would be much swifter and more effective. However, with intense oversight by the FAA, limited resources (we don’t have an entire marketing department making all the videos, FAQ’s, and pamphlets), and limited know how (often times individuals assigned duties to train the pilots are just pilots and not course/job aid developers), a challenge is presented to aviation cultures ability to change. More time and thought into the process is a great place to start. A good review of the impact such as an SMS change management program is an even better direction. A well built repository of short task related videos or walk-throughs is another contribution. All these are tools we can use to ensure we don’t have an outcome where the technology isn’t actually REALLY used as its should be.
I would especially like to take a lesson from retail electronics marketing. They provide ample methods to see the benefits, using multiple mediums, and really making an impact on the perceptions of the end user. The support materials (pamphlets, videos, commercials, and branding efforts) make it very easy to review the purpose and refresh on the features/benefits over the long term. They have truly considered making an impact on consumer behavior and aviation can take a lesson on how to integrate technology from them!
Adam Stoughton, ATP, CFII, M.S. Instructional Design and Human Performance Technology. I have been working in aviation training and design for over a decade and have a strong desire to see effective pilot training in flight organizations.
One response
Good read, Adam. Many, most, all of those training scenarios sound so familiar… 😉
Yes, I’m responding a few years after the fact, but your points are as true today as it was when you posted if not more so.