Appendix 1 place. Instructors must have thorough knowledge about concepts entirely new to many GA pilots, such as the Washington, D.C. Flight Restricted Zone (FRZ) and Air Defense Identification Zone (ADIZ). In addition, all pilots must be made fully aware of intercept procedures. The consequences of violating airspaces have become much more severe and often allow little flexibility with respect to enforcement.
5) Transportation Security Administration (TSA).
The Transportation Security Administration (TSA) now has a role in flight-training.
Consequently, flight instructors should know which airman certificates TSA is interested in.
Instructors must also be aware of the requirements for citizenship documentation, record keeping, foreign student processing, flight instructor and flight school security awareness training, and more. Not following the TSA guidelines properly can have serious consequences both for the student and for the flight instructor.
6) GPS Navigation.
GPS is quickly becoming the principal means of navigation for many pilots. Even in minimally equipped aircraft, pilots can be found using the most sophisticated hand-held GPS receivers available as a principal means of navigation. These advances in navigation accuracy are highly beneficial. However, dependency on GPS can also lead to weaknesses in other forms of navigation (e.g., pilotage and dead-reckoning), and incorrect use of GPS can be dangerous.
Flight instructors should be able to teach, at a minimum, proper use of GPS systems, their limitations, database update requirements, and regulatory requirements.
7) Integrated Airman Certification and/or Rating Application (IACRA).
The Integrated Airman Certification and/or Rating Application system (IACRA) is an Internetbased (paperless) method of processing an airman’s 8710 application. The system allows the applicant to submit his or her application online, and the instructor can log on and electronically sign the document. The certifying officer (usually a Designated Pilot Examiner, (DPE) can then, at the beginning of the practical test, call up the applicant’s instructor-signed application, verify the information and, when the practical test is complete, simultaneously print the applicant’s temporary airman certificate (or letter of continuance or unsatisfactory notice) and submit the form to the Airman Certification Branch in Oklahoma City. IACRA is gaining wide acceptance and some flight training facilities use it exclusively. Since it is expected that use of IACRA will expand significantly in the near future, it is important that the flight instructor become familiar with the system as soon as possible.
8) Aircraft Operational Limitations.
Variations of factors relating to operating environment have a direct correlation to an aircraft’s operating limitations. Density altitude, runway composition or length, fuel loads, etc. directly impact the operating limitations of all aircraft. Not intimately knowing their aircraft’s operational limitations has caused more than a few pilots their lives. And yet, through conscious or unconscious decisions, pilots continue to ignore the limitations of their aircraft. Many do not Page 3
Appendix 1 even remember how to perform basic weight-and-balance calculations. Many more have never carefully read through their Approved Flight Manual. Regardless of whether the pilot deliberately chooses to ignore the operating limitations, or there is simply a lack of awareness of them, it is the flight instructor’s responsibility to continually and repeatedly emphasize their importance. Although most instructors are well aware of the necessity to strictly adhere to, and operate within, the operating limitations; it is essential to convey this information continually to their students
9) Effective Teaching.
Flight instructors are highly trained individuals. They hold vast amounts of knowledge gleaned during their own training and through their own experiences. Having a well-founded basis of knowledge is critical to being an effective instructor. However, if that highly trained and knowledgeable instructor is unable to convey their knowledge to a student, then he or she is ineffective as a flight instructor, regardless of knowledge and expertise. Teaching is an art. It requires not just an understanding of the topic, but an understanding of how people think and learn. It requires a certain amount of psychological understanding. Virtually all instructors took coursework in the Fundamentals of Instruction, which offers a basic theoretical framework for the teaching and learning processes. In addition, it is helpful to remind FIRC participants that flight instructing is fundamentally a “people skill.” Flight instructors should present themselves in a professional manner. Simple personal appearance can have a significant effect on their ability to effectively communicate with their students. Their mannerisms should be friendly, not bossy, should treat their students as equals not as subordinates, be able to recognize the signs of boredom and frustration and know how to deal with them. Instructors should be able to quickly recognize when they themselves become frustrated with students who may not be progressing as they think they should and know how to deal with it.
10) Safety Trends in GA.
Over the last 10 years, accident rates have been continuing a downward trend, but there is still plenty of room for improvement. What are some common causes of accidents? Which types of accidents are in decline, which have increased and why? Are there things that flight instructors in particular can do to influence those trends? While we may not be completely sure of all of the factors that might be directing those trends, the one thing we can all be sure of is that they all involved pilots. And all pilots receive training. Those pilots receive their training from flight instructors. Since flight instructors are on the front lines, it is important for them to know what is leading to accidents and incidents. The FIRC provides a good opportunity for the flight instructor to get the latest information on accident/incident trends, factors, and causes.
11) Risk Management / Risk Intervention Strategies.
Risk management/risk intervention is much more than the simple definitions of the terms might suggest. Risk management and risk intervention are decision making processes designed to systematically identify hazards, assess the degree of risk, and determine the best course of action.
These processes involve the identification of hazards, followed by assessments of the risks, analysis of the controls, making control decisions, using the controls, and monitoring the results.
Appendix 1 Flight training activities take place in a “time-critical” framework for risk management. One way to put these concepts to work is for instructors to teach the “3P” model of risk management::
Perceive, Process, Perform. We can help PERCEIVE hazards by using the PAVE checklist of:
Pilot Aircraft, enVironment, and External pressures. We can PROCESS hazards by using the CARE checklist of: Consequences, Alternatives, Reality, External factors. Finally, we can PERFORM risk management by using the TEAM choice list of: Transfer, Eliminate, Accept, or Mitigate. Another risk management tool is the “5 P Check” consisting of “the Plan, the Plane, the Pilot, the Passengers, and the Programming.” Each of these areas consists of a set of challenges and opportunities that face a single pilot. And each can substantially increase or decrease the risk of successfully completing the flight based on the pilot’s ability to make informed and timely decisions. These concepts are relatively new in the GA training world but have been shown to be extraordinarily useful in lowering accident rates in the world of air carriers. Instructors should be well versed on these concepts.
12) Takeoffs/Landings/Low Altitude Maneuvering.
There’s an old saying: “takeoffs are optional, landings are mandatory.” One might go a step farther to say that, if one is to fly at all, both are mandatory. Approximately 65 percent of all GA accidents occur during takeoffs, landings, or low altitude maneuvering and virtually all are pilot-related. We can’t eliminate the need to maneuver near the ground or to take off or land, but we can address the skill issues with the pilots performing those maneuvers. Teaching proper takeoff and landing technique can be as much an art as a skill, and the instructor needs as much information as he or she can get so that they can better understand the types of difficulties that pilots are having during those phases of flight and what the latest thinking is regarding how to best deal with them. There are multiple approaches to teaching takeoffs and landings and instructors may need to vary their training technique from one client to another. The FIRC venue provides the instructor the opportunity to learn new techniques and to share techniques among other instructors so that they can become better equipped to contribute to increasing the safety of those necessary phases of flight through the training of other pilots.
13) Runway Incursions.
One of the FAA’s top priorities is to reduce the frequency of runway incursions and the risk of a runway collision. The FAA aims to reduce the severity, number and rate of runway incursions by implementing a combination of technology, infrastructure, procedural and training interventions to decrease the prevalence of human errors and increase the error tolerance of airport surface movement operations. One of the most critical areas is that of pilot training. That is where the flight instructor comes in. It is critically important that the flight instructor be well versed in the “mechanics” of what leads to a runway incursion, the various types of incursions that can and do take place, and the techniques that can prevent these occurrences. The instructor should be made aware of those areas of operation where pilots are failing to properly place their aircraft and to teach them to be aware of and vigilant for the “traps” that can make a pilot unaware of a pending unsafe condition it happens. A well-trained instructor can then transfer that awareness to their flying students each time they get into an airplane with them.
Appendix 1
14) Pilot Proficiency Wings Program.
Every pilot is required to have some kind of recurrency training at least once every 24 calendar months. Most common is the Flight Review, in which the pilot receives a minimum of one hour of flight instruction and one hour of ground instruction once within that 24 month period. There is an alternative that benefits both the pilot and the instructor: the Pilot Proficiency Wings Program (“Wings”). The Wings program is currently in transition, moving toward a new model that will offer three levels of achievement: Basic, Advanced and Master. Wings topics will be designed to target specific emphasis areas derived from accident data. The levels will be attained and maintained on a rolling basis based on the accrual of educational credits of ground knowledge and flight training. Standards of achievement will be based on the Practical Test Standards. Recordkeeping and verification will be online. Like the old Wings program, achievement of a level will substitute for a flight review. This program is a major FAA Safety Team initiative and flight instructors need to be aware of how the program works and how it can benefit both their clients and themselves.
15) FAASTeam.
The old Safety Program has been reengineered and renamed the FAA Safety Team, or FAASTeam. Each of the FAA’s eight regions now has a Regional FAASTeam Office dedicated to this new safety program. The FAASTeam is joining forces with individuals and the aviation industry to create a unified effort against accidents and “tip” the safety culture in the right direction. These include FAASTeam members, those individuals who make a conscious effort to promote aviation safety and become part of the shift in safety culture; FAASTeam Representatives, aviation safety volunteers who wish to work closely with FAASTeam Program Managers (FPM) to actively promote safety; and, FAASTeam Industry Members, who include companies or associations of people that have a vested interest in aviation safety. The various FAASTeam affiliates will receive training and support from the FPMs and representatives so that they can help the FAASTeam objective of enhancing safety throughout GA. Flight instructors have many resources available to them through the FAASTeam offices and the FAASafety.gov Web Site, and should be aware of how to acquire and use those resources and how to participate, and encourage their clients to participate, in the program.
Appendix 2
APPENDIX 2. RECOMMENDED ELECTIVE FIRC TOPICS The following are recommended elective topics that may be used in conjunction with the required 15 core topics identified in Appendix 1. FIRC providers may submit lesson plans for each of the topics below. Each topic’s lesson plan should include, at a minimum, objectives, lesson content, instructional techniques, and completion standards. Lesson plans for any of these listed elective topics will automatically be approved. Providers may submit lesson plans for topics not listed here and they will be reviewed on a case-by-case basis. Once approved, providers may switch elective topics at any time and as frequently as they wish throughout their TCO approval period provided that they notify AFS-800 of the change prior to classroom presentation. This Appendix should be checked periodically since suggested topics may be added or deleted. However, if a topic is ever deleted and a provider has already had that topic approved, then they will retain approval for that topic for the duration of their overall TCO approval period.
For most of the topics listed below, strong emphasis should be placed on how flight instructors should effectively teach the subject matter to their students/clients, rather than simply teaching the flight instructors.
1 Teaching Aerodynamics 2 Practical Test Standards 3 Federal Regulations 4 Flight Information Publications 5 National Airspace System (May be incorporated into the Post-9/11 Airspace Core module) 6 Weather Analysis (Scenario-based training should be emphasized) 7 Human Factors/CRM/SRM 8 Fundamentals of Instruction (May be incorporated in the Effective Teaching Core module) 9 Flight Maneuvers and Procedures 10 Flight Safety 11 Recurrency/Transition Training 12 Collision Avoidance Procedures 13 Instructor Professionalism 14 Airport Operations 15 Controlled Flight Into Terrain 16 Stall/Spin awareness 17 Logging Flight Time and PIC Considerations 18 Practical Test Preparation 19 Teaching Fuel Management 20 Teaching IFR Approach and Departure Procedures 21 Aeromedical Factors 22 How to Apply for Waivers/Exemptions 23 Business Aspects of Flight Instruction 24 Ethics for Flight Instructors 25 Effective Use of Aviation Training Devices in flight training 26 How to develop effective training scenarios 27 How to teach formalized risk evaluation/mitigation techniques Page 1
Appendix 2 28 Weather in the cockpit (i.e., datalink, etc.)
29 Winter Flying/icing 30 Mountain Flying 31 CFI Legal Issues 32 Learner-Centered Grading 33 Open Forum (no more than one hour of the 16 hour program)