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Old 18th April 2008, 06:52 AM
Grant Smith Grant Smith is offline
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Default Pilot training course earns stripes

Quote:
Originally Posted by Geoffrey Thomas
Geoffrey Thomas | April 18, 2008
SOME of the many misconceptions about the Multi-Crew Pilot Licence program are being swept away as pilots start to graduate from courses around the world.

Many believe that MPL is a knee-jerk safety-compromising reaction to the world's pilot shortage, but the reality is quite different.

MPL was developed by the International Civil Aviation Organisation (ICAO) over six years in response to airline requests for a far more focused path for pilots.

For generations, airlines have relied on a steady stream of pilots from the military and GA (general aviation) but the supply can no longer meet demand and the poaching of pilots has become the norm, with countries such as India forced to legislate to bring stability to the pilot ranks.

The MPL, incorporated in 2006, is designed to train pilots between 12-18 months with 70 hours of actual hands-on flying, 10 hours of which must be solo, with a total of 240 hours simulator time.

However, Boeing's Alteon, which is conducting a beta test program in Brisbane with six Chinese pilots, is going beyond the ICAO MPL criteria requiring the trainees to spend 96 hours ina single-engine Diamond 40 aircraft and 350 hours in the Diamond DA-40 and 737-800 simulator.

That simulator time is broken down to 33 missions as co-pilot, 33 as captain and 33 as observer with each mission lasting about two hours. At the end of the course, they must complete 12 landings and take-offs in the 737-800.

Alteon Training's vice-president marketing Marsha Bell is upbeat on the beta test program. "We are seeing good indications that skill sets can be developed earlier," she says.

Also upbeat is Mark Pearson, CEO of Alpha Aviation Group's Philippine subsidiary Clark Aviation, which has 150 students moving through its year-long MPL course.

"We are delighted with the cadets' progress" he says, adding: "We have continual assessment and they are assessed virtually every day."

At the Clark Aviation course, pilots must complete 70 hours ofactual flying, with 30 hours being solo and 170 hours in the simulator.

Clark Aviation has a joint venture with Cebu Pacific, with the airline sponsoring 59 of the students at the training school.

As part of Alteon's beta test, it will continue to monitor the pilots for several years against pilots moving through the traditional channels.

Bell says various industry bodies are supporting the program, including the Association of Asian Pacific Airlines and IATA. Bell adds that MPL has "galvanised the industry".

And one area of focus is the harmonising of ATPL (Airline Transport Pilot Licence) licences.

"We hope to get a better product (ATPL licence) in the end," Bell says.

Some airlines such as Qantas and Cathay Pacific, while not having a critical pilot shortage problem, are examining elements of MPL to raise the standard of conventional ab initio training.

One element is MPL's focus on modern crew resource management and team building much earlier in the training.

One of the big advantages of MPL, which takes suitable candidates off the street, is that it is able to focus the training of pilots and "we don't get the challenge of weeding out bad habits", notes Bell.

However, Bell says one challenge is that some concepts should be taught in the native language of the students.

"We are finding difficulty in some areas with their (Chinese pilots') English language skills, which are fine for ATC communications but not adequate to comprehend more complex engineering," she says.

While recognising that language may be a problem with some nationalities, there have been no difficulties at the MPL course at Clark Aviation, says Pearson.

"We have a broad mix of students from around the world and ICAO's new standard Level 4 English has not been a problem," he says.

Alteon is making available the data from the beta test to the industry, as Bell explains, "so the industry can better understand what MPL is meant to be, rather than what they think, which is a rush to get pilots trained".

"This isn't a fad and we must get it right but we must not compromise safety," she adds.

For instance, Australia's Civil Aviation Safety Authority has added 465 sub-competencies to the nine broad ICAO requirements for the training of the co-pilots.

And to add spice, CASA requires each competency to be assessed twice on different flight training events.

An example is the ICAO requirement for five assessment levels for the take-off roll, to which CASA has added another four that list a further 29 sub-competency elements.

Bell says there are many misconceptions about MPL: "No solo flying, no command training, faster and cheaper training and of course a response to the pilot shortage," she says.

"What some do not comprehend is that trainees must demonstrate ATPL skill level to achieve MPL. Importantly, crew-based integrating CRM (crew resource management) and Airline SOPs (standard operational procedures) are introduced much earlier in the training.

"MPL is a response to the fact that ICAO's 40-year-old Standards and Recommended Practices didn't reflect training capabilities of advanced training devices, especially high-fidelity simulation."

With the success of Clark Aviations MPL program, the Alpha Aviation Group signed a joint venture with Air Arabia in November to build an International Aviation Training Academy to be based to Sharjah, United Arab Emirates, to train the airline's pilots for A320 operations using MPL. Air Arabia has 11 A320s and signed for another 49 at the Dubai Air Show.

Alpha also reached agreement with the Government of the Republic of Kazakhstan to create a similar academy in Kazakhstan to assist in providing pilots for Air Astana. Operations are expected to start in the second half of 2008. Alpha plans a global network of 10 schools. Not surprisingly Pearson concludes: "We are totally committed to MPL as it is far superior and relevant."

And totally committed is Scandinavia's largest pilot academy, Copenhagen-based Centre Air Pilot Academy of Denmark, which was the first training organisation in Europe with a Danish Civil Aviation Authority-approved MPL course.

It began developing the curriculum in 2004 in co-operation with Sterling Airlines based on the ICAO MPL draft, according to Anna Kjaer, CAPA's chief ground instructor and operating manager.

Kjaer, told Air Transport World; "This truly is an improved way to train pilots."

CAPA and Sterling maintained a close dialogue with the Danish CAA as the curriculum was being designed and also invited the airline's pilot union to participate.

Denmark approved the MPL standard in January 2007 and four pilots in training were transferred to the MPL course and graduated late last year.

Kjaer stressed during an Air Transport World global webcast early this month that MPL is not about saving time or money.

"The myth is that it's a shortcut and a quick way to train a whole bunch of pilots. That is, in our case, not the case," she said during the webcast. "MPL training is more efficient and time is spent only on relevant training."

- The Australian
Interesting reading...

Last edited by Grant Smith; 18th April 2008 at 04:03 PM.
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Old 18th April 2008, 11:28 AM
Brenden S Brenden S is offline
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Very interesting. I would dare say that in the near future for all the QF cadetship will go along the line of MPL for sure.
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