Interview by: CAMP InSight Magazine – January 2008
With Paul "BJ" Ransbury, President - APS Emergency Maneuver Training
By K. White, CAMP InSight, January 2008

Join our FREE Email Mailing List

Emergency Maneuver Training develops the piloting skill of effectively controlling an aircraft during a crisis, an upset, an event out of the norm and, furthermore, out of the envelope a pilot’s training is limited to. Who needs emergency maneuver training? The answer is simple –every pilot! In fact, the FAA Airplane Upset Recovery Training Aid – Revision 1 states, “Most failures are survivable if correct responses are made by the flight crew.” So, with the proper training, there’s very likely nothing to be upset about.
 
APS Emergency Maneuver Training (APS) is addressing this specific need. Founded with a passion for increasing safety in aviation, APS exposes pilots to “edge of the envelope” maneuvering not seen during normal flight training in a manner that leads to thorough understanding of these flight regimes and the rapid development of tangible piloting recovery skills. Founder, President and CEO, Paul “BJ” Ransbury talks about the need for training and the programs his company offers during our interview below.

Why does a pilot need additional training? Isn’t the current standard sufficient?

Please describe the basic design of an APS course?

What is the success rate of pilots after completing an APS course?

You train using Extra 300L aerobatic planes. Why the Extra 300L and how do the lessons learned in an aerobatic plane transfer to other fixed-wing aircraft?

You mentioned that an asset of your program is that you address the 'psychology', please elaborate on elements that make APS both unique and a success?

Please expand on the reasoning behind your choice of exclusively employing military fighter pilots as instructors at APS.

What are some barriers you’ve had to overcome marketing your services?

A question on my mind… Your experience tells you when it’s time to take the controls back from the student, but how long will you let an in-flight scenario go?

CAMP: Why does a pilot need additional training? Isn’t the current standard sufficient?

Ransbury: Historically, general aviation pilots receive very limited unusual attitude training during certification and professional pilots do what they can to train for these upset scenarios in the simulator. There’s a lot of valid training that can happen in the simulator and the value of simulator training must not be discounted or ignored. However, the simulator is inherently limited by the flight envelope that’s been programmed into it. In other words, the “simulated airplane” can very aptly deal with situations that a pilot will see regularly, day-to-day. But, unfortunately, the majority of life-threatening upset situations lie outside of the envelope that the “simulated airplane” is programmed to fly within. So when a situation is beyond the programmed high-fidelity envelope modeled in the simulator, the simulator is literally guessing at what the real airplane would do.
 
That’s a big deal when it comes to dealing with upset scenarios successfully. If we’re going to train to effectively deal with these situations we have to ensure that the aerodynamic realities of what the pilot is facing are accurate, and that they’re given procedures that can deal with these situations; procedures that are going to be effective and work in a wide variety of airplanes, specifically; their aircraft.
 
Pilots are very well trained; very capable, appropriately certified and safe within the regimes of flight that the training system deals with. It is unfortunately those very rare instances where pilots end up outside those regimes when their ability to respond effectively drops off rapidly.
 
CAMP: Please describe the basic design of an APS course?

Ransbury: One of our most popular programs is the “Professional Pilot Upset Recovery Training Program.” It’s a 3-day, 5-mission course including approximately 8.5 hours of academic training and 5.0 hours of flying. In this course we deal with all the aerodynamics related to a wide variety of  scenarios, techniques and recovery procedures that address associated undermining mental processes and how to effectively overcome them in a crisis.
 
The flights are integrated into a building block program starting with fundamental recoveries to evaluate and build habit patterns followed by a series of flight envelope exercises and then proceeding all the way through to recoveries where the students are on the instruments recovering the airplanes from most any possible emergency upset situation.

CAMP: What is the success rate of pilots after completing an APS course?

Ransbury: There is a dramatic improvement in everybody. We have demonstrated this statement by formal research and study results. When pilots first arrive, we present them with five representative upset scenarios during their first mission. Our statistics show that less than 10% of pilots coming from the standard training system, including both commercial and general aviation, are able to effectively recover (i.e. 10% success rate in the recoveries). After participating in one of our 3-day programs we have demonstrated a 95% recoverability success rate with the same scenarios as well as a host of other scenarios that are not formally evaluated as part of the research project. And again, they are taught techniques and procedures that are directly transferable back to their airplane. With long-term retention in mind, we make it clear to our graduates that their highest upset recovery capability is when they walk out the door of our program. These skills atrophy over time so we recommend pilots come back every 1 to 2 years to keep their currency.
 
Interestingly enough, we’re in the process of doing another study on skill retention. We started this a few weeks ago and only have 8 data points so far, but the skill retention is impressive. Initial results show it to be somewhere between 75-80% skill retention even after a full 2 years of being away from our program. I think the reason why this skill holds so well is because of the thorough academic and “repetition to proficiency” emphasis in our building block approach. Augmented by the fact this is dramatic training addressing areas of flight many pilots are afraid of, these life-saving recovery techniques are solidly engrained for quite some time. In other words, pilots are coming in to address their biggest fears and the skills they learn with us stick with them because the learning is very pointed, very real, and completely different and unique from the training they’ve had in the past.

CAMP: You train using Extra 300L aerobatic planes. Why the Extra 300L and how do the lessons learned in an aerobatic plane transfer to other fixed-wing aircraft?

Ransbury: That’s a great question. The reason why we use the Extra 300L is because of its margin of safety. Its capabilities are well beyond the limitations of just about any airplane in the market place, certainly any certified aircraft. So, it’s a very safe platform to train in.
 
One thing that is constant throughout aviation flight operations is aerodynamics, certainly in fixed wing aircraft. So, the fundamental principles of how to deal with these scenarios remain relatively constant. When we teach our courses we don’t teach anything that is specific or unique to the Extra 300L. We use our first-hand knowledge, experience and understanding of a wide variety of airplanes including airliners, business jets, and general aviation airplanes to ensure the techniques we teach are directly transferable back to the client’s own category of aircraft.
 
Now, interestingly enough, one of the big areas that people get focused on is the perception: ‘How can flying in an aerobatic airplane be possibly useful to me flying in my airplane? It doesn’t feel at all like my aircraft'. Well, when it comes right down to it, that’s not a primary issue although many pilots feel that way because that’s the “standard line” they’ve heard over the years. In reality, the biggest barrier pilots have when faced with these threatening situations is the psychology of fear and lack of fundamental all-attitude recovery capability. In our experience, the majority of pilots become mentally and physically incapacitated during their first few exposures to true upset scenarios. The situations faced are almost always beyond their understanding of what’s going on, so the common reaction is to either freeze on the controls or start reacting with their instincts by flailing around with random control inputs and switch selections which inherently make the situation much worse. Unfortunately, the recovery instincts they have developed within their normal operating envelope (usually less than 60 degrees of bank and less than 30 degrees of pitch) do not work for them. Moreover, these instinctual reactions are usually the exact wrong things to be doing and quite often in the opposite order. When pilots get outside of their comfort zone, most all the skills they’ve previously mastered simply don’t apply to the presented upset situation.
 
CAMP: You mentioned that an asset of your program is that you address the 'psychology', please elaborate on elements that make APS both unique and a success?

Ransbury: Well, panic and fear are a big part of these scenarios. Generally speaking, it is human nature to become overwhelmed to a varying level of magnitude, a function of both character and training, when faced with situations beyond our usual realm of experience. And when possibly compounded by spatial disorientation, pilots can get into trouble very quickly. Our program is designed to put them at ease, if that’s really possible when faced with a real-life scenario, or at least in direct control of their agitated thoughts and physical actions in a crisis. Through our training pilots gain confidence, a healthy respect for the upset environment, and the knowledge of how to break out of panic and take immediate, correct action to save the airplane if it’s savable. Most importantly, by pilots having 'been-there seen-that,' experiencing highly specialized upset flight training. In most cases they can recognize and avoid the scenarios before they even happen. I think one of the biggest features we have in our program is that our team “reprograms” how pilots think about aerodynamics and how an airplane actually flies. We teach them to look at fundamental aerodynamic principles with a clearer perspective and deeper understanding.

CAMP: Please expand on the reasoning behind your choice of exclusively employing military fighter pilots as instructors at APS:

Ransbury: … Certainly. There are highly specialized regimes of aviation that inherently have these types of upset recovery skills engrained as part of the participating pilot’s training regime, fighter pilots being one of them. The reason we exclusively employ fighter pilots at APS is for the fact that their experience has taught them to deal with most any possible situation that can develop in the upset environment day-in and day-out for years upon years. They have literally lived within, on the edge and outside of an aircraft's flight envelop their entire career. Fighter pilots are experts at dealing with upset situations, comfortable in most any regime of flight and their recovery understanding and skill-set is intuitive. Having said that, it does not mean they necessarily know how to teach techniques to non-fighter pilots flying non-fighter aircraft … that is APS’s job. The expert team at APS, having 12-years of proven practical experience teaching effective learning methods to all levels of pilots flying most every type of fixed wing aircraft in the world, teaches our own pilots to become expert instructors capable of dealing with any level of pilot experience. We guarantee our results. The experience and expertise of our instructor staff is critical to retaining the ability to assure results.
 
This makes the APS Emergency Maneuver Training an “extremely safe environment.” We go up there on each flight every single day with safety being our first and foremost priority. "Safety First" - all the time. No exceptions.
 
CAMP: What are some barriers you’ve had to overcome marketing your services?

Ransbury: Most every pilot knows they need upset recovery training. Regrettably, in our experience, the ones who don’t think they need it are very often the ones that need it the most. On that note, I think one of the biggest barriers to people coming to APS is simply general apprehension and fear of the unknown. This type of reaction or mindset is very normal and understandable. Our program and most importantly our people accommodate this. We take those feelings into consideration, help people feel at ease, create a comfortable learning environment and ensure that they know they are safe at all times.
 
CAMP: A question on my mind… your experience tells you when it’s time to take the controls back from the student, but how long will you let an in-flight scenario go?

Ransbury: That’s the nice thing about using the Extra 300L. We can let pilots learn by making severe errors in the airplane with no risk. That sounds intimidating to would-be clients but it isn't at all. We always have lots of altitude with a wide margin of safety built into every aspect of the program and during every segment of the training flight. One of the very best ways for people to learn is through dramatic events that they create on their own. So what we do in these scenarios is, if they do the wrong thing, we will let the situation proceed to its logical conclusion short of actually getting any where near the ground or risk of safety. When we take control in these specific instances, there is no question in the client's mind the technique they used was not the best course of action. We explain what occurred,  immediately demonstrate the proper technique and allow them to practice, practice, practice.
 
For example, yesterday in one of the situations of control loss, a student put the airplane right into a fully developed spin from a rudder hard-over scenario based on several 737 fatal crashes in recent history. The instructor let it develop into the spin and then clearly stated, ‘Okay the airplane is now in a developed spin. This has progressed too far. Your aircraft is not certified to recovery from this flight condition. I have control.’ We then take over, recover and explain the situation further. Often we have this dialogue after the recovery is complete, it really depends on the particular situation and margins of safety involved. Of critical importance is for the client to understand what’s happened and why as soon as possible after the actual event takes place.

***END OF INTERVIEW***