Training on the Airbus A350

Success is in Preparation

Behind every pilot who is prepared, 

sits hundreds of passengers who don't have to worry.

Human Factors Built into Home Training 

In the midst of Covid my B777 was on its way out the door, but I was one of the lucky pilots who was still employed. Albeit,  transitioning to a new plane. The A350.  I had yet to be scheduled for training, but it would be in the distant future. I decided to see if my doctoral research held true. 

What I had learned in my research was that the level of understanding negatively impacted performance. This negative performance was the result of airline training programs due to a negative safety culture. If these facts were true, and I was responsible for my own learning, then I was in control of the outcome. Furthermore a high level of understanding should improve performance. I began studying even without a start date. Despite the many distractions of life. 

Northwest Airline Pilots unite for 

Kim's Happy 4th of July Birthday! 

I began studying systems in July, hoping to have three months before I would be scheduled for training. As it turned out, I only had one month notification. August, I learned I was schedule for a September 9th start date and the type-ride schedule for October 9th. An aggressive schedule with only the legally mandated breaks built in. My schedule varied from 0200 wake-ups with my body clock at 2300 for a week. Then, just when I shifted to the local time zone, I was moved to an 1800 report time to fly into the night. 

If prepared you can do anything!

Procrastination

There will always be distractions to pull you away from what you should do when training is involved. I began my studying process with the 4th of July birthday celebration for my friend, and our first visit from grandkids since Covid a couple weeks later. My husband was in the midst of heart procedures, and my Dad arrived to Seattle in August for a couple weeks.

Life doesn't stop when training happens,

Sometimes we have to workaround obstacles. 

My Training Process

In order to learn the plane, I defaulted back to old school technology: Flash Cards. I made them for systems, emergencies, procedures, general knowledge, and memory items. The thing about flashcards is that you can take them everywhere. When I found a conflict in information, or something I didn't know, I found someone who did and edited the cards. I wanted to understand this most technologically advanced airplane. 

The first month I sat at the lake and wrote them. Then I read them daily on the elliptical. I read them sitting in the hospital room waiting for my husband to return from his heart surgery. I even read them while donating blood. 

I then wrote a 278 page study guide, and 19 page procedures guide. Once in training, I set up my hotel room to practice flows while bouncing on the exercise ball. I also awoke two hours early to study the day's procedures on the elliptical. 

There was a purpose for the ball and the elliptical while studying. Motion helps store memories. But also, I did a lot of talking to myself. If you were the instructor and had a group of people sitting in your room, what would you tell them to explain what they needed to know? If you can do that, as if you are teaching the subject to others, you are teaching the subject to yourself. You have become the subject matter expert. Try this, it works. Vocalize as if you were giving the lessons. 

A350 Hotel Room Training 

At night I set my alarm to shutdown my studying, and soaked in a hot bath with a cup tea and read a random book that had nothing to do with life. For thirty minutes I escaped to another world of Wizards and Trolls.  Sometime this occurred at 430 pm when I had to get up at 0200. The book I read during training:

Then I cranked up the air conditioning to sleep in a very cold room. The reason behind all this was because memories are formed when we sleep. Far too often in training we believe studying all night will be the benefit of more knowledge. However, without sleep memories will not be stored. So to shutdown the plane and to store what I learned through the day, I created the sleep plan. 

First, shutdown the airplane brain and distract with something else, such as a book you don't have to think too deeply about. Second, the hot bath heats up your body and relaxes you. Third, the cold room, after a hot bath, induces sleep. Yes, the cooling down process is sleep inducing. I also scheduled 8-9 hours of sleep per night. That part didn't always work, simply because I was in a hotel. But if I awoke before I was ready to get up,  due to a slamming door at 9 pm, I would force myself to go back to sleep. 

Ironically, to be at your best performance, research says you should be sleeping during your body clock from 0200 to 0600. However, if that's not a possibility during training, get as much sleep as possible. Research identifies that accumulated fatigue will also reduce your performance. Once you get behind that power curve it might be difficult to catch up. If you have a choice to go to bed two hours earlier during training versus reading something while fatigued, my advice it to choose sleep. 

Commuting home on my days off

Many were surprised I did this with such a long commute and the strenuous program, with only two days off. Logistically from hotel to home took 8-9 hours each direction, so I actually only had one free day. I arrived home and shopped, prepared food for my husband for the week, did laundry, mowed the lawn, played Scrabble, and I actually ate real food. But I also studied while at home, and on the flight back, after my morning golf game, I studied for another 5 hours on the plane.

The important part about taking time off is that like any machine that operates 24/7 it's going to eventually break if you don't take care of it. Your brain is no different. You need sleep to store memories, but you also need to allow a bit of normal to save your sanity. Also, focus on what you can do, not on the challenges. There were times I wanted to complain, but instead I shifted to the positive and spoke my mantra. For example, waking up during maneuvers training at 2300 my body clock, I said, "I can do anything for five days."  And I did.

Newest A350 Type-Rated Pilot

On March 9th, I became the newest A350 type-rated pilot. This makes 9 type-ratings. Not a snag in training. No issues, despite the numerous personal obstacles and challenges that occurred throughout the process. I truly believe it had to do with the level of understanding and the foundation I built at the beginning. But I also had the gift of over a dozen incredible instructors during my training. Each had exceptional knowledge, indulged my daily questions, and were communicative. I cannot say enough positive things about this cadre of A350 instructors. They are proud of their program and interested in continued improvement. Nice to see. 

If you you would like to learn more about my research, I invite you to read Normalization of Deviance, a Threat to Aviation Safety. If you would like to learn more about training and additional study tips you should read, Flight to Success, Be the Captain of Your Life.  Both these books are available on ebook on Amazon, or you can get your autographed copy on this blog (order on right column). 

Flight Training Into the Sky

I am now waiting for Operational Experience, which is estimated to be out more than 6 weeks after the type-rating. Nothing is scheduled, but we know it won't be sooner.  I have a plan to retain my knowledge. I have reorganized my flash cards and am reading them daily 1-2 hours while on the elliptical. Last night I went to bed and had planned to mentally rehearse my flows prior to sleeping. However, I fell asleep prior to reaching the overhead panel during the preflight. The next plan, I'll do this in the bathtub before bed. 

So many things we can not control in this life. But those that we can, we should do our best. I will also be requesting an additional simulator session to practice what I learned before I step into the plane. Now, the million dollar question.... 

What do I think of the Airbus A350?

I love it! 

More to come on that next week... 

Enjoy the Journey

XO Karlene