Instrument flight procedure design, PANS-OPS training, ICAO doc. 8168, Aviation Training

ICAO will release guidance material about Flight Validation of Instrument Flight Procedures and the associated training requirements very soon. Some guidance is already available in the Quality Assurance Chapters of PANS-OPS. The ANI Flight Validation Pilot Training will cover the Skills, Knowledge and Attitudes (SKA), related to Flight Procedure Design, Database Coding (ARINC 424) and Geodesy. ANI will not provide any training related to the necessary Flight Crew licensing and ratings. The minimum requirements to qualify as a Flight Validation Pilot are a current CPL with a current Instrument Rating and 1500 hours for fixed wing and 1000 hours for helicopter pilots.

Flight Validation Pilots will therefore have to go through additional training to meet ICAO requirements to perform their duties. One key competency is the understanding of flight procedure design criteria. A FV Pilot does not need the same level of competency in procedure design as a flight procedure designer, but nevertheless a relatively high level of understanding is required. This will assure that a FV pilot understands the procedure provided by the designer when performing the flight validation.

For the above reasons ANI has created specific courses to meet the training needs for flight validation pilots. See below for the individual modules.

PANS-OPS Procedure Design Module Classroom or CBT

Duration:
Classroom 10 working days
CBT approximately 80-100 working hours
Principal Instructor: Beat Zimmermann

Course costs:
4000 CHF (Swiss Francs) per student, includes tuition fee and course materials
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ANI PANS-OPS courses fully comply with ICAO document 9906 (Quality Assurance Manual for Flight Procedure Design), volume 2 (Flight Procedure Designer Training) and volume 6 (Flight Validation Pilot Training and Evaluation, not published yet).

This module covers the flight procedure design competencies for FV pilots. In two weeks, all the necessary understanding of procedure design criteria according PANS-OPS will be developed. Simple design exercises will consolidate the knowledge. At the end of this module, a FV pilot candidate will be able to understand and interpret a procedure documentation written by a flight procedure designer. Any critical decision in the procedure design process can be identified and the necessary action in the flight validation process can be established. FV pilot and procedure designer will "talk the same language".

Conditions for admission:
The student must have a current CPL with Instrument Rating.

ARINC 424 Database Coding Module

Duration:
3 working days
Principal Instructor: Jim Terpstra or Christian Freiesleben

Course costs:
1500 CHF (Swiss Francs) per student, includes tuition fee and course materials
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This module covers the understanding of ARINC 424 database coding. The goal is not to train actual coders but to give broad overview of coding issues, database/chart harmonization issues, FMS capabilities, differences in on-board system performances based on the type of navigation system installed etc. At the end of the course the FV Pilot will understand all ARINC 424 Path/Terminator types, which ones can be chosen under what circumstance and where specific attention in required in the flight validation process. Candidates will be able to translate charted procedures into basic ARINC 424 code at the end of this module.

Conditions for admission:
The student must have a current CPL with Instrument Rating.

Geodesy Module

Duration:
2 working days
Principal Instructor: Dr. Maurizio Scaramuzza

Course costs:
1100 CHF (Swiss Francs) per student, includes tuition fee and course materials
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The Geodesy module will assure that FV pilots are aware of possible issues related to obstacle data and/or terrain data handling. Often such data is available in a local reference coordinate system and the flight procedure designer will have to use map projections and eventually coordinate conversions to work with the data. In the end, all publications are made in WGS84, which again will involve a coordinate conversion from a local reference system in most cases. It is important that a FV Pilot is able to understand the possibility of resulting errors and inaccuracies related to these processes.

Conditions for admission:
The student must have a current CPL with Instrument Rating.

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