aircraft, and the flight deck in particular, into the training environment with as much realism as possible. “We’ve invested heavily in simulation. We don’t spend much time in the classroom any longer. We do all of our systems and procedures training in FTDs because we feel the pilot benefits from touching the knobs, pushing the buttons and seeing the impact it has on the aircraft. The tactile feedback is better than you would ever receive in a classroom.” Asked for his “help wanted list” on how the simulation and training industry can better respond to the civil aviation community’s requirements, Christie responded, “My general response is invest where it will bring value to the operator.” The airline official’s following example is one that should resonate with others in the civil and military aviation communities. “Spending a lot of money to provide a better visual model for raindrops does not have an impact on how a pilot will be trained or how they will perform. The money is better spent perfecting aerodynamic aero models to make the simulation as accurate as possible. And the same applies for in-flight and maintenance training – to invest only in areas that will provide value to the end user.” Last October JetBlue outlined its fleet restructuring plan, which includes converting 18 A320 positions to A321s and an incremental order for 15 A321ceo and 20 A321neo aircraft. As there are common type ratings among the A319/320/321 models, there are limited “differences training” requirements for flight deck crews in the restructuring plan. Indeed, JetBlue’s pilots completed their differences training via distributed learning (DL) last Fall for the A321. Similarly, maintainers are completing their differences training for this restructuring plan through DL. The passenger-cabin experience in the A321 will be upgraded, providing a requirement for a different, higher level and scope of learning. Christie pointed out, “We’ve invested in a premium cabin trainer which will replicate the functionality in our premium cabin. And we’ve
created a premium training program for our in-flight crew members who will serve our in-flight customers.” The Beta class for the enhanced inflight training started the week of February 24. While JetBlue does not anticipate a pilot shortage in the near-term, its longterm pilot acquisition strategy includes a ‘gateway program’. The effort includes partnering agreements with Embry-Riddle, the University of North Dakota, InterAmerican University and other institutions. “We have established a mentoring and flow-through program where students can apply to enter into the gateways with JetBlue after graduating and obtaining licenses and certificates. They will go on and fly for Cape Air for a few years. Once they meet the hour requirement we’ll look at them again. If they stay in the program and in good standing they will get an interview at JetBlue. We have had more than a dozen pilots that have come through that program. Several of them now flying in our aircraft have been very successful,” he recalled.
Airline-Wide AQP Effort JetBlue is also creating Advanced Qualification Program (AQP)-based learning models for all in house groups, from pilots, maintainers and cabin attendants, to customer support agents, ground operations members and others. “We’ve taken an AQP model along with evidence-based training and the data collection process, and have created AQP models for all of our crew member groups,” Christie explained, and added, “From a regulatory perspective, there are recognized pilot AQPs and dispatch AQPs which we have. But we have also created ‘AQP-like’ – using the same instructional system design methodology that we first used for our pilot AQP and have applied that to all of our curricula for the other crew member functions as well.” The expanded use of AQP models for other learning audiences is allowing JetBlue to make data-driven decisions on where to better invest its training resources. cat C A T M A G A Z INE 2 . 2 0 1 4
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