Popular Mechanics (South Africa)
CRANFIELD GOES ONLINE:
In a competitive and time-crunched world, the Cranfield Aviation Training facility is exploring new ways to make learning material available.
Some aviation courses have hit the web.
Technological progress has created an on-demand society in which businesses and consumers need goods, services and information whenever and wherever they connect to the internet. This raises the question: When it comes to education and training, what is the best way to deliver content?
On-demand flexibility opens up a new world of prospects where specific education and training programmes are concerned. The traditional schoolroom setting has been readdressed and although a classroom situation has its place, online learning has become a precious resource for educators and students alike. This standard of imparting knowledge allows learning to be done at everyone’s own pace and in their own space.
Cranfield Aviation Training, a facility based in Chartwell, near Fourways in Johannesburg, is a huge player in the aviation training field, with 6 000 students certified annually in over 80 courses. These courses cover instruction to all flight-deck- and cabincrew personnel, as well as to flight engineers. Cranfield has recognised the ease and potential of offering online instruction pertaining to the flight industry.
‘We realised that the modernday learner is no longer satisfied with training in a classroom environment,’ says Mandy Tebbit, Director for Cranfield Aviation Training. ‘To ensure our longevity as the leading provider of training in aviation, we needed to meet the demands of the new learner and embarked on a search for an e-learning platform that was feature-rich, yet cost-effective.’
Tebbit explains that today’s learners want the flexibility and convenience that anywhere, anytime learning provides. ‘The classroom element will never disappear completely, especially when it comes to courses that have a practical component.’
But let’s be honest, and realistic – convenience is a major factor here. Many South African pilots operate on contract in various places around the world, such as Afghanistan, Congo and Angola. It can be costly and time consuming to send crew back to South Africa for training when they could simply use their off days or evenings to work through recurrency programmes.
‘Many countries and operators across the globe also send crew to South Africa for training, largely as a result of the quality of training,’ says Tebbit. ‘Again, time and costs are greatly reduced with crew being able to undergo their recurrency training at their own time and pace and in the comfort of their own home or hotel room.’
‘E-learning also gives training organisations a more efficient method of assessing knowledge gaps and providing operators with training reports.’ Given the nature of the training, the regulations that apply, and the accreditation that’s required, the authorities need to ensure a high level of instruction is maintained, and that a level of verification and auditing is possible.
Implementing online options, though, has not been without its trials for Cranfield. ‘Challenges we’ve faced include confirming student identity, guaranteeing the material is dynamic and interactive, keeping courses updated with any changes to regulations or even as we find improved ways of presenting the material, and, most especially, eliminating any possibility of a learner simply clicking through the material without actually learning anything.’
With the support of the South African Civil Aviation Authority (SACAA), Cranfield Aviation has the initial go-ahead to put some of its courses on the e-learning platform. Tebbit says that the training provider is confident that once the SACAA sees the results and upshots that online learning provides, the approval for other non-practical courses will follow.
The goal in the long term is to have 32 aviation courses and 25 non-aviation courses relating to other high-risk industries available online. Currently, Cranfield offers nine courses online, which include Airborne Collision Avoidance System (ACAS) and Low Visibility Operations (LVO). These are both theory-only programmes. The courses with a practical component need to be tested separately and, of course, in a hands-on way.
The technology to thank for this e-learning experience is
anewspring, a highly advanced awardwinning learning software, distributed by New Leaf Technologies. Paul Hanly, co-founder of New Leaf Technologies, says: ‘We are excited about this project and look forward to the results that we know e-learning will bring to this traditionally conservative industry. We see huge benefits for pilots who are often out of the country and can now do a large amount of their recurrency training remotely, in their own time.’
The Cranfield facility has continued to remain relevant and has welcomed all developments in the aviation industry over the past 20 years, as proven by these recent training additions. But Cranfield has not stopped there.
There are many notions on the potential uses for drones, such as the delivery of shopping to specified locations, the dispensing of medicines, and even the delivery of health services. In fact, the possibilities seem almost endless. But, there are stringent guidelines worldwide about flying drones to make sure everybody is kept out of harm’s way.
With sanctioned and effective licencing systems in place, the rigorous rules for both hobbyist and commercial drone pilots within the South African borders make this one of the most established drone markets in Africa.
‘We are always looking to develop our organisation and we were advised by an SACAA inspector of the impending drone remote pilot licence regulation,’ says Tebbit. ‘SACAA needs reputable licensed training organisations, like Cranfield, to develop and offer these programmes, ensuring the industry has a means to comply with the regulations they set.’
Considering that drones will be sharing airspace with manned aircraft, including commercial airliners, it’s critical that the industry can safely accommodate both manned and unmanned aircraft and that the lives of passengers are protected from any potential threat. It’s also important to recognise that drones have many benefits, financially, practically, and from a safety point of view, complementing or even replacing manned aircraft.
Cranfield has therefore introduced remote-pilot-licence (RPL) training for drones at its Serendipity airfield to accommodate pilots looking to become qualified licence holders. This course is currently under development for online learning. However, Cranfield will still need to get SACAA’S final approval. Obviously, only the theory component of the training will be available online, while the practical flight training still has to be conducted at the Cranfield campus with Cranfield drones as per current regulations.
‘SACAA are certainly looking more favourably at all online theoretical training,’ says Tebbit.
One of the main online programmes about to be launched by Cranfield is Human Factor Training, compulsory for airline pilots to complete annually. ‘This is essentially the study of the “black boxes” or human error in air disasters,’ explains Tebbit. ‘These are exceptional programmes designed to help in the reduction of human error.’
‘With e-learning becoming more commonplace in South Africa, younger generations find learning online more manageable and user-friendly,’ says Tebbit. ‘The capacity limitations that we see in classroom-based learning can be reduced in blended e-learning, or can be eliminated entirely where courses are completely online. More people can be educated more easily in a far more efficient way. Let’s just say, with online learning, the sky really is the limit.’