Overview

The Air Standards, Training, Readiness & Automation (or ASTRA) project is an ongoing initiative led by 1 Canadian Air Division. The ASTRA video (above) on this page is a good place to start learning about the project; this text is provided as a companion to the video, or if you are viewing the website from a workstation that does not provide access to video content.

On the video, you will hear the Commander of 1 Canadian Air Division speak of the demographic pressures the Canadian Air Force will be under in the upcoming years, and how these pressures are coming in the midst of an unprecedented modernization program that is transforming the entire service. Air Force leadership has embarked on ASTRA because they believe – in the Commander’s words – that this initiative will be “the glue that will hold us together.” The purpose of this brief overview, and of the video on this page, is to familiarize you with ASTRA so that you will be able to recognize and understand it, and so that you will be prepared to help in making it a success. ASTRA will have an impact on every part of the Air Force, and your participation is vital to its success.

Since the introduction of highly automated aircraft over twenty years ago, many things have been learned about the challenges these aircraft pose to any organization that uses them as the mainstay of its fleet. Experts in flight safety and human factors have found that these aircraft are associated with a whole new class of aviation incidents that are caused by the rapid and sometimes sudden breakdown of the interactions between human operators and technology. While it is accidents that receive attention in the headlines, flight crews experience these problems everyday in ways that may not result in accidents, but that still complicate operations and sometimes damage aircraft.

The Canadian Air Force is committed to minimizing and, where possible, eliminating these negative impacts of highly automated, highly integrated aircraft. To achieve this, we are providing our crews with the most up-to-date resources possible to support their missions. We hope to foster a new philosophy of aircraft operations, and this will start with a wholesale update of all aircraft publications, from the National Defence Flying Orders (B-GA-100) to the Standard Manoeuvre Manuals (SMMs), Aircraft Operating Instructions (AOIs), checklists, and Standard Operating Procedures (SOPs) for each aircraft. These new resources will help to foster a disciplined strategy in all of our cockpits based on the principles of Automation Airmanship.

Automation Airmanship is a vital component of ASTRA. It is the discipline of blending best practices in operating advanced aircraft with traditional airmanship skills. Automation Airmanship helps crews manage their cognitive workload, enabling them to exploit their significantly more complex and capable aircraft to accomplish their mission objectives more efficiently and safely.

ASTRA is already providing Air Force crews with modern, up-to-date flying orders that recognize the complexities of the new aircraft they are currently or will soon be flying, and that are consistent with the best guidance from researchers and experts in the field. Much work has already been done to achieve ASTRA’s goals, and hundreds of Air Force members have been working to make the changes necessary to increase safety margins as new aircraft are being put into service.

“Modern aircraft rely on a high level of automation and technical integration to create tactical advantage and achieve operational effectiveness. The acquisition of modern aircraft, and the modernization of legacy aircraft, demands new skills, knowledge, and attitudes to effectively and safely achieve mission success. Adherence to legacy operating practices on highly automated aircraft is ineffective and unsafe.

The employment of cockpit automation must be standardized, disciplined, and fully integrated in all phases of flight. Because the aviator retains authority in determining the optimal use of automation, the aviator must be proficient in operating the aircraft in all levels of automation and be fully knowledgeable in the selection of the most appropriate level of automation for the situation.

All Flying Orders, flying training programs, assessment and evaluation criterion, standard operating procedures, briefing guides, checklists, flight manuals, and flying operations shall be in accordance with this automation philosophy.”

The first important step to realizing the promise of a new automated Air Force was Major General Bouchard’s formulation of the Air Force Automation Philosophy in 2007. Shortly thereafter Major General Duval commissioned the Automation Policy and Planning Development (APPD) project. This project involved experts in aviation, automation, and human factors, and led to a report that lays out a clear roadmap for the Canadian Air Force’s adoption of multiple advanced aircraft, some of which are already in service (for example, the CC-177 Globemaster III and the CH-149 Cormorant).

Following on from the results of the APPD project, General Duval chartered the ASTRA project under the direction of the Commandant of the Central Flying School. ASTRA made immediate steps to have an impact on Air Force operations. Integrated Project Teams consisting of Air Force personnel and industry experts have already produced substantial changes to Air Force Flying Orders and to operational procedures for individual squadrons. Aircraft communities receiving the first wave of efforts include the CP-140 Aurora, CH-148 Cyclone, CC-130 Hercules, and the 1 Canadian Air Division Central Flying School. As ASTRA expands, each aircraft community in the Canadian Air Force will be engaged in an Integrated Project Team to bring full modernization to the Air Force.

The direction of ASTRA is best understood by looking at the findings of the APPD project. The final report for this project (which can be downloaded here) was the result of a comprehensive survey of headquarters and field units, and involved consideration of both current and future Air Force operations. Experts from industry flew alongside training and operational crews to gain insight into the overall state of readiness of the Air Force for adopting highly automated aircraft. While many examples of aviation excellence were identified, these were frequently independent of other communities involved in similar efforts. The final report identifies these “stovepipes of excellence” and also identifies other areas where significant challenges across the Air Force remain. More importantly, the report provides a road-map for achieving a standardized approach to the adoption of highly automated aircraft, and lays out the actions necessary to bring every community up to a high level of Automation Airmanship.

For over a decade, organizations who have achieved leadership positions in the operation of advanced aircraft have done this by considering the ‘4 P’s’ of their operations – Philosophy, Policy, Procedures, and Practices. This simple formula was developed by two of the foremost NASA researchers working on flight deck automation. In this formula, Policies, Procedures, and Practices flow from an over-arching Automation Philosophy, so this approach can be tailored to any flying organization, no matter how diverse the makeup of its fleet or the level of automation at play.

The harmonization of all Air Force Flying Orders cannot be achieved overnight. To ensure that the process is efficient, the Air Force has committed to providing each community with the resources and assistance required to ease the transition and capitalize on existing areas of excellence. ASTRA will also bring some structural changes to the way the Air Force administers its standardization program. The result of ASTRA will be an unprecedented integration of Operational and Technical Airworthiness that will match the dedication of these two organizations to provide Canada with tremendously capable aircraft and aviators through a highly standardized approach.

ASTRA will have an impact across the Air Force that will be felt in training for ground, maintenance, and flying operations, by pilots and aircrew alike, by those in the “front-end” and “back-end” of our aircraft, and by the many professionals who support them. All crews in all communities will be operating under a harmonized Automation Philosophy, according to robust Flying Orders, and through rigorous procedures that integrate the automated operations with traditional airmanship to deliver the safest, most effective, standardized, and integrated Air Force in Canada’s history.

ASTRA’s focus is on the individual users of new equipment, and promises to make flight operations safer and aviators more effective. The plan for rolling out ASTRA across the Air Force is intended to address quickly the most important problems identified in the APPD project report. ASTRA is already dismantling the top-level “stovepipes of excellence” through the work to revise Air Force Flying Orders and standardize SMMs and AOIs. The lessons learned by leading civil and military organizations around the world to lower the risk associated with the adoption of new technology and to accelerate the development of expertise related to that technology are already being applied to the Air Force today.

The Canadian Air Force is the first Air Force to apply this approach service-wide. As ASTRA progresses, Canada will gain an Air Force whose readiness and expertise in maintaining, training for, and operating advanced aircraft is unparalleled.

If you haven’t done so already, you should take the opportunity to learn more about ASTRA by viewing the video on this page which features Major General Blondin, and which demonstrates a clear path forward for all of us.