How Important Is Training, Really?

I've always liked learning new things and teaching others. I've had the opportunity to teach in aviation and in other fields. It's such a joy to positively impact another person's life and make it better because of something you taught them.

Training is one of the services we offer and one that we're working hard to expand. However, there is always the marketing factor: how do I sell this to people? How do I translate and demonstrate its value?

These thoughts come from previous experiences. I have, like most, worked for companies where training on company manuals or the applicable regulations hasn't always been priority.

Many years ago, I worked for an EASA CAMO managing Cayman-registered aircraft, and I received no training on the applicable regulations, the OTARs. I was simply told where to find the regulations, that they were very similar to EASA requirements, and that was it.

I've seen this scenario many times, and I find it very interesting. Training on regulations, particularly for lesser-known registries, is often never accomplished. Training is a fundamental element of aviation. It's even written into regulation, and yet many companies and aviation professionals don't even consider it.

Sure, training availability may be limited, but that shouldn't stop a company that is managing or transitioning multiple aircraft registered under different jurisdictions.

Another interesting factor that allows this to happen, in my opinion, is the lack of reaction from Civil Aviation Authorities. They may check for training during an audit but, when the lack of training is right in front of them, they don't push organizations to address requirements (I’m referring to lack of training on regulation).

If they do act, they tend to raise findings that often get buried in reports and lost in the CAAs' systems and never followed up on.

I find this disturbingly fascinating because I see and hear discussions about safety all the time. We need to improve this and improve that, and yet we can't even get the basics right, like training people on the requirements they're supposed to follow.

Aviation is a chaotic industry. Everybody is busy, overworked, and stretched thin.

During a transition project, for example, mistakes can be made because of a lack of knowledge about a specific requirement. A Certificate of Release to Service (CRS) statement is a good example. Lesser-known jurisdictions often have their own approval statements, and the wrong ones are frequently used.

People should be aware of these differences through training on the applicable requirements but that training, more often than not, is never provided.

So what happens during projects like these?

• You deal with the problem in front of you as quickly as possible to avoid stopping the project.
• Your boss or the lessor who hired you is in the middle of the transaction, so replacing you isn't really an option.
• After some scrambling, the issue gets corrected and the project reaches completion; inevitably with CAA involvement.
• Then everyone moves on to the next project without reporting what happened or why. The issue isn't investigated, and the root cause is never addressed.
• Your boss doesn't see a problem because the project is finished, the invoice was paid, and another project is already around the corner.

Being aware is the first step toward safety.

That awareness comes from training and experience.

In this industry we all strive for excellence — it's a motto that, interestingly, appears on the first page of many company and CAA publications. So if we are all actually striving for it, shouldn't we care about all forms of training, particularly training on the requirements we're supposed to follow and comply with?

Who decides what training is important and what isn't?

I've met many people managing aircraft who weren't conversant with the requirements that they were supposed to be following.

Many of them are lead blindly by management that under estimate the intrinsic value of knowing the intricacies of different regulations.

It seems that unless it's forced on some people by a regulator many are content in playing the risk vs reward game, rather loosely.

How do we rid the industry of attitudes like "it's just not important", "I've done it this way for 30 years, leave me alone," or "Nothing has happened so far, so I'll just keep doing what I'm doing" (even if it's not correct)?

How can we strive for excellence if we don't pay attention to detail?

Isn't aviation the most detail-oriented industry on the planet?

I struggle with this, and I often wonder if I'm the only one who sees and feels this way.

I recently read an interesting LinkedIn post where someone reflected on the number of accidents and incidents that have occurred around the world over the last five or six years. He questioned whether it's time for the industry to pause and evaluate where we are and where we're going.

I agree.

Amen to that.

Everybody wants everything yesterday, all the time. And everybody wants to be safe.

Maybe we don't need more safety initiatives.

Maybe something in the industry simply needs to shift before the system begins to falter.

Perhaps what we need most is a pause, followed by honest reflection.

Annalisa - Aircraft Management Specialist, Co-Author of "Introduction to Aircraft Management"