Plans

Following the 4 P’s of Automation Airmanship (see the overview), ASTRA is being implemented across the Canadian Air Force at four different levels – Philosophy, Policy, Procedure, and Practice. Current progress and future plans for each of these levels is outlined below.

The Canadian Air Force has shown leadership in establishing an explicit philosophy for the operation of automated aircraft. This philosophy was promulgated by the Commander of 1 Canadian Air Division, and is reproduced below:

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.

This philosophy is the first and foundational step in instituting Automation Airmanship across the Canadian Air Force, and is the foundation for the development of Policies and Procedures, and the actual adoption of new aviation Practices by air crews.

Following on from the overall Philosophy, Policies are broad statements about the way that operations are to be performed. The Canadian Air Force’s policies are found in the National Defence Flying Orders (B-GA-100) and Command/Division level orders. Work has already begun to make important changes to these policies that will foster Automation Airmanship across the Air Force.

As a part of developing new policies related to Automation Airmanship, the Canadian Air Force is also committed to ensuring that appropriate organizational changes are made to ensure that its policies are being implemented consistently across communities, and to coordinate revisions to policies as required when lessons are learned. The first and most important organizational change will be the creation of a new pan-Air Force Standards Organization, who will be the prime contributors to Air Force policies and who will work to ensure that these policies are implemented across the Air Force.

Changes to the Air Force’s Philosophy and Policies are important, but they will only have an effect on the Air Force if they result in changes to the actual procedures that aviators train to and fly. It is at this level that you will likely feel the most effects of ASTRA. There are plans in place to revise all Standard Operating Procedures (SOPs) by rewriting the Standard Manoeuvre Manuals (SMMs), Aircraft Operating Instructions (AOIs), and checklists for each aircraft fleet in the Canadian Air Force. Work has already begun on a number of fleets (including the CH-148 Cyclone, the CP-140 Aurora, and the CC-130J Hercules). There are plans in place to extend this website to be a portal for each aircraft community so that members of the Air Force can monitor the development of these documents, and contribute important perspectives based on their experiences. The current project goal is to complete the work with all aircraft communities by 2013.

The goal is that each community will comply with a standardized format for layout, style, and content for the SOP publications. To this end, work is being done behind the scenes to develop a standard framework and language for SMMs, AOIs, and SOPs. Within this framework, each community will have the freedom to comply with the policies in ways that respect the orders, but that also recognize the unique operating environments, missions, and crew structures of individual aircraft types. This will help to ensure that aviators across the Canadian Air Force are speaking the same language, so that lessons learned can be passed from community to community more readily.

The implementation of the automation Policies and Procedures, in line with the Commander’s Philosophy has as its aim to make productive changes to the Practices of each flight crew in the Canadian Air Force. This is where the rubber hits the road, and it will be the effect on each aviator’s Practices that will ultimately determine the success of ASTRA. Of course, it will be difficult to align Practice with Procedures if the Procedures are found to be illogical or frustrating by operators. To help ensure that this does not happen, ASTRA has been designed to allow for feedback from crews through centrally managed training and evaluation programs. This feedback will be augmented with best practices collected from internal and external sources, which will close the Practice-Procedure loop, and allow for continuous improvement of ASTRA.