by Daniel Gustin, Chief Instructor at Canadian Flight Trainers, a modern online ground school dedicated to providing positive learning experiences and solutions for flight schools, private pilots, commercial pilots and flight instructors. Daniel is also a scholar of aviation education with experience as an aerobatic instructor, airline pilot and simulator instructor
Whether we consciously think about it or not, literacy plays an important role in a pilot’s life. When you first think of literacy, you likely think about reading sentences and writing out the alphabet. While literacy skills do involve that, the discussion goes much deeper. In a classical sense, literacy is the ability to interpret text, but more broadly, literacy is a function of understanding languages and communications.
Novel media, like video, podcasts and texts from various sources, help us prepare for our flights, make sound decisions during our flights, and help us post-flight as we reflect on our overall performance. For example, pilots will use graphical images from graphic area forecasts (GFAs) or other weather products when making decisions about flight safety; student pilots may refer to online ground school videos for explanations on turbine engines; airline instructors may supplement simulator training with interactive FMS apps; or a pilot flying instrument flight rules (IFR) will brief their area navigation (RNAV) approach using the chart on their tablet. Although each of these leverage very different media platforms, they all involve literacy-related skills which challenge us to break down and use what is being communicated to us.
Figure 1: Smoke/Fumes/Avionics smoke, check list
Part of literacy is understanding the origins, design and intent of literature/media which is presented to us. The size of the lettering is intentionally larger in this checklist in the event the cockpit is filled with smoke. This procedure also helps pilots isolate systems one by one to determine the smoke's origin. However, not all media, policies or procedures are as well-intentioned as this checklist.
Credit: Daniel Gustin
In our highly regulated environment, we are required to read, interpret and appropriately apply many forms of literature prior to and during a flight. Some of these forms of literature are the Canadian Aviation Regulations (CARs), your company’s standard operating procedures (SOPs), a flight school’s operations manual, a Maintenance Control Manual or even a uniform policy. These examples have the power to dictate and control how a pilot executes their desired flight. Our policies, regulations and SOPs construct and control the environment you fly in. This may sound very scary, but it certainly does not have to be. Let’s look at a few made up examples together.
Figure 2: Image of an Airbus 320 cockpit
This photo from an airline's SOPs illustrates how literature defines the roles in the cockpit of an Airbus A320. In other instances, literature can also create different classes within a company, introduce hierarchies, define power dynamics and create social practices.
Credit: Daniel Gustin
The CARs state that you cannot fly over built-up areas at less than 1 000 ft above ground level. Keeping this regulation in mind, a pilot may opt to fly another route for their flight, which may be slightly longer but will be ultimately safer for them. Meanwhile, in Winnipeg, a student presents themselves to the flight school and expresses their interest in going for a flight. The weather is below the flight school minima, so the flight instructor decides to conduct instrument training in the simulator instead. The pilots are spared the wintery conditions of Manitoba, but they can still make progress with the student’s training.
Policies and literature can protect and guide us as they did in these two examples. But they can also have unintended consequences in an organization. Take, for example, an air operator whose SOPs state that only captains are allowed to make announcements to the passengers. Such a written procedure may devalue the first officer, cause captain upgrade training to be more difficult and reinforce a more vertical hierarchy in the cockpit. Elsewhere in a large aviation college, students are afraid to speak up against oppressive policies which severely restrict their freedom, because they fear having a target put on their backs. Because of the nature of their flying program, students are afraid to explore, make mistakes and be assertive for what they may feel is right.
Literacy is more than just words and pictures. It constructs our society, our flight schools, our flight operations and our air operators. It differentiates a first officer from a captain, a flight instructor from a student and an airline pilot from a private pilot. Your ability to be literate in your role as a chief flight instructor, a chief pilot, a student pilot, etc. impacts your ability to carry out your duties. Pilots who are more aware of the laws, the social constructs of their organizations and the literature which guides them have a broader skill set, better decision-making abilities and a deeper understanding of aviation principles and safety.
To reflect on this, I ask you to spend some time thinking about a few points:
- How do you incorporate literacy into your teachings?
- Think of a school or company policy you are familiar with and brainstorm the unintended consequences of that policy.
- How good are you at finding information that is relevant to your role as a pilot?
- Are you aware of any policies that introduce different power dynamics or classes within your organization? What role do you play in that?