Business aircraft pilots may sometimes face the feeling that, while they may be current to perform a given task, such as flying an approach to minimums at night into an unfamiliar airport, when they consider that their recent trips have been daytime and in excellent weather, they may want to ensure their proficiency level is as high as possible.
“Currency is about a pilot being legally able to fly. Proficiency is about a pilot’s comfort in a situation,” explained Kellie Rittenhouse, CAM Fellow and director of aviation for Hangar Management LLC. “You can be current without being proficient.
“For example, if you are out doing ‘night currency,’ you are interested in the number of takeoffs and landings you need,” she said, “but you are not transitioning through airspace or dealing with weather or unfamiliar airports like you would during a normal flight.”
As one director of operations for a large Part 135 company put it: “We can be legally current by meeting all of the calendar training requirements for competency in things like night flying, circling approaches and instrument flight, but it’s quite possible that you’ve not been exercising the skills and thought processes you need to complete the required tasks under real-world conditions.”
For many flight operations, the currency-versus-proficiency issue really came to the forefront during the pandemic. To stay “current,” flight crews were required to continue their scheduled simulator training schedules, but because they weren’t flying as often, they also wanted to pay attention to their proficiency.
“During those times, we would put ‘proficiency’ flights into our schedule to stay sharp,” Rittenhouse recalled. “Our team knows that they can go out and fly to maintain their sharpness and comfort. It’s beneficial for the pilots and our passengers.”
What’s Your Proficiency Level?
Of course, determining your personal level of “proficiency” can be difficult. One tool that can help is the FAA’s Pilot-in-Command, Aircraft, Environment and External Pressures (PAVE) checklist.
While it’s primarily designed for single-pilot operations, if any flight crewmember has any discomfort with the precise state of their personal proficiency level, if the company they fly for doesn’t define proficiency in its SMS or operations manual, they can always use the guidelines set by the PAVE.
“I like the idea of the pilots being totally ‘comfortable’ with every aspect of the situation they’ll fly in,” Rittenhouse added. “I think it’s important to create a professional environment where pilots don’t feel like there’s something wrong with their skills if they feel the need to keep them sharp.”
Encourage Post-Flight Debriefs
While published federal aviation requirements are designed to ensure that pilots are technically and legally current, how can flight departments determine a pilot’s proficiency in a particular situation?
“We encourage robust debriefings after each flight to track each pilot’s actual flight activities,” Rittenhouse explained. “Much of it is incumbent on the pilot. They know what they did and didn’t do well, and with our ‘no fault’ safety culture, they can be very open to asking for more time in the aircraft to sharpen their skills.”
Some flight departments actively identify each pilot’s proficiency as part of their SMS flight risk assessment matrix. After determining which pilots are less proficient with the required operations at the more high-risk airports, they schedule those pilots with one who is recently proficient in that situation.
Consider Different Flight Crew Combinations
One of the emerging issues both of our experts stressed was that, because of the increased range provided by today’s jets, it’s easy for a flight crew to accrue many flight hours with fewer approaches and landings.
“The majority of our flights are very long distance, so we have a lot of ‘loft time’ each month,” Rittenhouse said. “It’s an ongoing challenge to manage that need. One way we meet the need is to mix up our crews, putting a less ‘proficient’ pilot with one who has a lot of recent experience.”
The Part 135 director of operations compares it to “a flight department whose crews fly a lot, but they’re always going to the same destinations, and that can make it challenging to keep certain skills sharp. They’re all very proficient until they’re asked to go outside of their ‘comfort zone.’ That’s again, where it’s up to the flight department’s leadership to monitor the pilots and make sure everyone is getting the opportunity to maintain proficiency.”
The Case for Being Proactive
Rittenhouse is a great proponent of flight departments being open and proactive in giving their flight crews the ability to go out and fly in situations they may not routinely encounter.
“I think some of [the reluctance] comes down to cost, but I feel there’s a larger cost to not doing it,” she said. “It comes down to having flight crewmembers who are willing to say that they would feel more comfortable if they got another few hours of flying in and knowing the company is there to support them.”
“Of course, not every department can do that, but I think if you make it a goal of the organization, then you can always find ways to make it happen, whether it’s in the airplane or through other types of scenario-based training,” Rittenhouse added. “The bottom line is proficiency builds confidence and a confident pilot is a safer pilot.”
International Business Aviation Council Ltd.