Canada needs pilots – these researchers have a new way to train them

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Aviation researchers are using tools such as AI and eye-tracking technology to make pilot training more efficient, affordable and sustainable – addressing what experts say are some of the biggest threats facing the future of the industry.

Canada’s aviation sector, which includes airlines, airports, air traffic control and other businesses, is growing. The Air Line Pilots Association Canada and the Canadian Air Traffic Control Association estimate that by the mid-2030s, the sector will contribute around $70-billion to the country’s economy – an increase of $20-billion from current levels. Yet, experts say a combination of outdated systems and barriers to entry for new talent is plaguing the industry, meaning the growth of its work force isn’t keeping pace with its rate of expansion.

In a white paper recently penned by the associations representing the country’s air traffic controllers and pilots, they state that “chronic underinvestment and lack of care” in services within Canada are affecting the way pilots, in particular, are trained and paid in their early years. They add that the labour shortages often cited by employers within the industry have more to do with “resolvable obstacles to entry” than with an actual lack of available labour.

At the Waterloo Institute for Sustainable Aeronautics (WISA), researchers are working to dismantle these obstacles facing student pilots by changing the way they’re trained and evaluated. Instead of awarding licences after a set number of hours is spent flying, Suzanne Kearns, founding director of the institute in Waterloo, Ont., wants to normalize a system that awards licences based upon pilots’ competency levels. This means students who have proved they have the required skills and knowledge before completing their flight hours could enter the work force faster.

“If we can achieve this, it will be less expensive for students and we’ll potentially be able to produce a competent work force more efficiently, which will help support some of the shortages we’re expecting in our sector,” she said.

According to a 2018 report by the Canadian Council for Aviation and Aerospace, the industry’s demand for pilots outpaces Canada’s supply – with an estimated 7,300 more pilots needed by 2025. This is still true for the sector, Dr. Kearns said, even after it recovered from the low rates of travel during the height of the pandemic.

Bob Connors, general manager at the Waterloo Wellington Flight Centre, said depending upon the provincial funding available for students, pilot training can cost between $80,000 and $90,000 to receive entry-level qualifications. Add a degree or diploma to that, and he said a lot of aspiring pilots simply won’t be able to afford to enter the profession.

Mr. Connors said WISA’s work is filling a gap in aviation training research and the institute’s emphasis on the use of flight simulators to train pilots is helping both the industry and the environment.

“Sims are typically less expensive than airplanes and because it’s safer feeling, you perhaps get into the airplane with a better foundational set of skills,” he said, adding that simulations also don’t burn any fuel, unlike a real airplane.

Ewa Niechwiej-Szwedo, an associate professor of kinesiology at the University of Waterloo and associate director for WISA, is applying her research in eye-movement patterns to help develop a competency-based training program. Using data collected from a pair of smart glasses worn by student pilots, Dr. Niechwiej-Szwedo is analyzing what the ideal pattern is for a pilot’s eye movements while flying.

“Eye tracking can give you that additional insight into how the person is processing information, so that you can have better insight into the potential errors that this new pilot is making, and you can fix them early,” she said.

For example, if someone crashed their simulator, reviewing their eye-movement pattern from during the flight may reveal if there were any key warning signs that they failed to notice.

Eye-tracking technology can also evaluate the mental state of a pilot-in-training, determining whether they’re fatigued, stressed, anxious or unfocused, Dr. Niechwiej-Szwedo said. If an instructor can get a closer look at these factors, beyond just asking a student how they’re feeling, she said they can glean a better understanding of how capable a student may be at absorbing new information that day.

Intersecting with Dr. Niechwiej-Szwedo’s research is the work being done by Shi Cao, an associate professor of systems design engineering at the University of Waterloo. Dr. Cao is collecting data from simulators and real flights flown by pilots of varying skill levels to train machine-learning models and validate computational cognitive models, which can then assist in evaluating the performance of pilots-in-training.

Weather, flight task, movement of aircraft, and the heart rate and eye movement of a pilot are examples of the data Dr. Cao is gathering to train these models on what a well – or poorly – executed flight looks like. His goal? To have these models aid instructors in evaluating students’ flights and provide feedback on how they can improve.

“By only asking one instructor to observe the student’s performance, they may miss some important details. By using a more data-driven approach, we may be able to capture those finer, minor details and better provide feedback,” Dr. Cao said.

Industry’s response to WISA’s research has been strong, Dr. Kearns said. For example, its partnership with the Waterloo Wellington Flight Centre is allowing them to implement their research in flight simulators housed at the centre and interact with the student pilots there.

Aviation is an undeniably difficult sector to decarbonize, Dr. Kearns said, and to celebrate the benefits of it, it’s important to be transparent about its faults. However, she said she’s hopeful that innovation can reform the industry because she sees passion for it in the next generation of pilots.

“They love aviation. All their hoodies say aviation. They play Microsoft Flight Simulator. It’s a part of their personality. These young people love aviation, but they also love the planet,” she said.