In recent years Etihad’s existing in house training department has been expanded and commercialized to encompass cadets and pilots from other airlines as well as their own. This is the reason for the formation of Etihad Aviation Training (EAT), a new direction for Etihad, to become the world’s premiere aviation training organization. With this consideration, I will make the case on what we should set as a new global standards.

Let us look at some core tenants of being a pilot, a specific training regiment, that of the Evidence Based Training (EBT).  EBT consists of logical deduction drawn from a pool of data that consists of past mistakes and accidents, pilot feedback and industry best practices that feed a training program that eventually becomes self-sustaining, with specific organizationally owned data that drives continuous improvement in the pilot workforce. The core idea is making corrections, and providing the new crew with tools that will empower them to deal with future problems that they may never have before encountered. The main goal of pilot training is to create safe, competent and efficient pilots. A Pilot must constantly train in new scenarios, once every 6 months.

In 2016 Lee Sedol lost a one-man tournament of the ancient 3000-year-old board game of Go, against Google’s A.I. named AlphaGo. The 5 games would go down as some of the most unique and innovative games in modern Go history. The prices pool was 1 million dollars and Alpha go dominated Lee Sedol picking up the victory after 3 straight wins. Yet the fourth game as if finally, the weight of the world was lifted off the shoulders of Lee Sedol, he won. He could play without caring about the pressure of money or the human superiority over machines and he beat AlphaGo. This was to be the first and last game ever that a human beat Google’s A.I. Neural Network in Go. 

The determining of the effectiveness of the pilot training program is highly dependent upon the analytic and assessment skills of the cadre of instructors.  It should be essential that instructors talk to, question and help develop a more efficient and safer pilot.  It is my opinion that we should not only discussion and debate what standards and practices are best for the pilot but have them engaged in the discussion as well. We should have moral and philosophical dilemmas be part of it. it should be a common practice in order to make us more aware of and highlight problems that don’t always have good solutions. It is important that we create a good learning environment with open discussion where we positively influence human behavior and nurtures an attitude that cares about improving.

Neural networks are a game changer my dear reader, do not underestimate the raw capabilities of them, for they could be endless. Compared to previous A.I They can just like in EBT observe past mistakes and apply previous experience that allow continuous improvement and build an ever growing tool kit, to deduct solutions for brand new never encountered problems. They are on an entirely different level. I firmly stand by that they will overtake piloting because of what they have done over the past years since the Google A.I. vs Lee Sedol match. I’m not disheartened by this though. I think that the pilots’ job will be changed by them and we will need to put more emphasis on the thinking and feeling pilot. I am making a bold claim my dear reader. Pilots will have to learn philosophy and study moral dilemmas and be the gatekeepers to the pilot A.I. 

Surely, we could also have moral discussions to help expand the thinking of the pilots? Pilots need to be well trained and obedient, in the same way a good soldier is a team player, it is a key component to any successful operation.  I’m not trying to say that pilots should be going around having their head in the clouds and thinking of philosophy when they are flying but the implementation of philosophical lessons could prove invaluable in the future. We need to see future pilots as more than tools because guess what? The A.I.s will be doing most if not all of traditional things that a pilot does in the cockpit, so the role of the pilot is going to change and take a new form that we don’t know yet what it is but we do need to have a discourse about it.