2024 Cabin Crew Training Conference

WATS is entirely dedicated to airline simulation and training, allowing you to discover the latest innovative training solutions for cabin crew. Supported by the training industry and subject matter experts, the WATS 2024 Cabin Crew Training Conference provided practical solutions for those day to day challenges and offered key insights into the future of the industry.

Cabin Crew Conference Moderator: Ian Mitchell, Air Canada

Day 1 – Tuesday 30^th April 2024

Session 1 – Opening Remarks & Keynote Presentations (all streams)
1) Michael Whitaker, Administrator, Federal Aviation Administration
2) Captain Erika Armstrong, Pilot (Part 135 & 121) / Director of Marketing, Advanced Aircrew Academy
The Pilot Brain: How Personality Affects Safety

Session 2 – Regulatory & Market Outlook (all streams)
1) Robert Reckert, Manager Air Transportation Division, AFS-200, Federal Aviation Administration
FAA Update
2) Soufiane El Ouartassi, Product Marketing Manager, CAE
Aviation Talent Forecast

Session 3 – Opening of the Cabin Crew Stream & Training for Crew Member Wellness
1) Dr. Paulo Alves, Global Medical Director, Aviation Health, MedAire, Inc.
Crew member Training Impact on Airline Operations: A Focus on Health, Security and Overall Safety
2) Dr. Carlin Clarke, PhD, Facilitator, Leadership Development, Breeze Airways
Caregiver or Authority Figure? Managing the Two Faces of Flight Attendants’ Leadership for Increased Resilience
3) Michelle Mock, Inflight Crew Assistance Program Manager, Southwest Airlines
Are You Okay?

Session 4 – CBTA and Training Innovations
1) Victor Potesta, Head of Commercial Aviation Program, Columbia Institute
Multimodal Learning in Cabin Crew Training: A CBTA Perspective
2) Ivan Noël, President & Founder, Inflight Innovations & Inflight Institute.com
How Competency-Based Training and Assessments Play a Vital Role
3) Trevor Dale, Chief Executive, Atrainability Ltd.
How Do You Move from Assessment of an Hours-Based Training Course to a CBTA Framework? Timing is Everything

Day 2 – Wednesday 1^st May 2024

Session 5 – Training for Crew Member Safety
1) Davy Snowdon MBE, Founder & CEO, Pristine Condition International
Navigating the Skies of Aviation Culture Change
2) Adam Seegmiller, Consultant, Tulmar Safety Systems Inc.
Dealing with Unruly Passengers in Commercial Aviation
3) Jose Alfonso, Founder & Co-Owner, Empower Communications Group
Tackling the Gorilla in Scenario Based Training

Session 6 – Human Factors & Evolving Concepts in Cabin Crew Training
1) Emily Hooker, Learning and Development Manager, SkyPeople Training
Adapting to Generation Z
2) Michaela Klasner, MA, LPC, Your Path Counseling & Mediation
The Resiliency-Learning Connection: Can We Learn It? Can We Foster It?
3) Anne Sølvsteen Knudsen, CEO, NaviMinds ApS
Epigenetics – The New Black! And Thoughts About the Future Training in Cognitive Processes and Mental Health

Session 7 – Training Insights
1) Eric Lipp, Founder/Executive Director, Open Doors Organization & Craig Kennedy, Project Coordinator, Open Doors Organization
How to Recognize, Handle and Report Service Animal Situations Under Part 382
2) Paul Stevens, CEO, Mayflower College
Communication without Understanding is Just Noise – The R-E-S-P-E-C-T Principle of Communication
3) Tanya Phipps, Aviation Safety Inspector & Francisco Gruneiro, Aviation Safety Inspector, Federal Aviation Administration
Training Cycle Extension

Session 8 – Cabin Crew Training Workshop

• How are you currently conducting CRM training?
Søren Seindal Agner, Owner/Managing Director, AEROTEAM Training Solutions

Discover a new approach to CRM training in which Active Learning and CBTA turn your training sessions into an interactive and engaging learning experience.

Sounds intriguing? Just Call MAYDAY® and join our workshop.

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• Introducing STRATEGICS©: A Transformative Exercise in Threat and Error Management
Anne (Møller) Sølvsteen Knudsen, Chief Executive Officer of NaviMinds ApS

STRATEGICS© is an interactive exercise designed to help teams develop their various non-technical skills. In particular; Decision-making, cooperation, adherence to SOPs, and Threat and Error Management. It provides practical experience in navigating complex challenges through structured decision-making processes.

Each participant will have magnetic game pieces distinct in shape and color. The main objective is to strategically place these pieces on the game board, overcoming simulated threats and errors by using proven decision-making models such as DODAR and FORDEC. The exercise aims to enhance critical thinking and decision-making skills while emphasizing the importance of collaboration and information sharing among team members.

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• Virtual Reality Training for Cabin Crew
Ali Preissinger & Christin Orban, American Airlines; David Jones, President at Quantified Design Solutions

American Airlines will demonstrate a virtual training system that has been used to teach new cabin crew how to operate doors following normal and emergency operations over the past 7 years. A scaled version of their VR training lab will be on display along with mobile implementation that will be deployed to students this year. The new advancements that will be on display, including implementation using hand tracking on Oculus Quest headsets and tablets lay the groundwork to expand training to the classroom and beyond. Other future implementations that American Airlines are exploring for Cabin Crew training will also be on display, including game-based training concepts.

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• Time-sequenced Learning
Trevor Dale, Managing Director, Atrainability

Naturalistic decision making, commonly known as pattern-matching is an everyday facet of all our lives. Unfortunately, the human condition features fallibility which can manifest as selecting the wrong pattern, especially in a stressful dynamic situation. Even more so if the individual concerned is relatively new in their post and may not yet have established all the patterns that we call experience.

Couple in an amygdala-induced startle reflex and risk increases for all, the operator, crew and traveling public.

Can we put old heads on young shoulders by utilising innovative training methods that write direct to the long term memory?

This workshop will look at the conclusions we can draw from induced-stress training and discuss possible solutions.

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• Identify-Respond-Control-Care
Jose Alfonso, Founder/Owner, Empower Communications Group

We will be introducing our cabin crew threat response training course. The course is based on the IRCC (Identify-Respond-Control-Care) principle. The workshop will have two parts. Part one of the workshop we will discuss:

• Managing fear
• Developing the conscious mindset
• Principles of movement (Kinesics)
• Benefits of stress inocuation in training (Three Phases)
• Benefits of crisis rehearsal
• Control principles
• The false sense of security in personal safety/self-defense training as it is currently taught.

The second part of the training will be hands-on where participants will be given the opportunity to participate in the hands-on portion of the workshop. This workshop is designed to EMPOWER participants with real tools that will help cabin crew maintain critical thinking in a volatile environment.

Day 3 – Thursday 2^nd May 2024

Session 9 – Looking to the Future: Adapting to Emerging Technologies
1) Aliesha Staples, CEO, StaplesVR
How to Get Started with Emerging Technologies
2) Levi Breeding, Human Factors Research Specialist, Federal Aviation Administration & Tanya Phipps, Aviation Safety Inspector, Federal Aviation Administration
Extended Reality in Cabin Safety
3) Ali Preissinger, Team Lead, Inflight eLearning & Programming, American Airlines, Christin Orban, Specialist, Inflight Training, American Airlines & David Jones, President, Quantified Design Solutions
Virtually There: A Journey in Cabin Crew Training

Session 10 – XR Goes Mainstream (all streams)
1) Amanda Bentley, Senior Director Integration Sales, Americas, Tobii & Dr. Aki Nikolaidis, Chief Science Officer, VTR
Building Disruptive Training with XR and Eye Tracking
2) Fabi Riesen, CEO & Founder, Loft Dynamics
Virtual Reality in Motion
3) Dr. Julian Abich IV, Senior Human Factors Engineer, Quantum Improvements Consulting
Multi-Pilot Mixed Reality Simulator for Aviation Training

1245  Closing Remarks