Colonel Don 'Stryker' Haley

Commander, Detatchment 62, Headquarters Air Education and Training Command

Colonel Don ‘Stryker’ Haley is Commander, Detachment 62, Headquarters Air Education and Training Command. In his current role, he supports AFWERX Agility Prime by accelerating the commercial and military adoption of electric vertical takeoff and landing vehicle (eVTOL) technologies through curriculum development and training. An F-15E fighter pilot and former fighter squadron commander, he has over 3200 hours and 700 combat hours. He taught fighter lead-in training as a T-38 instructor at Euro-NATO Joint Jet Pilot training and was an F-15E evaluator and instructor pilot. Col. Haley is a 1999 graduate of Vanderbilt University and has three masters’ degrees, including a fellowship in the Army School of Advanced Military Studies. A strategist and operational planner, he has led numerous planning efforts, including authoring operational plans for the defense of South Korea. During a three-year tenure at the Pentagon, he was the Chief of USAF joint wargaming and DARPA liaison. He developed numerous novel warfighting concepts, which directly drove future force design and capability development. Additionally, Stryker serves as a speaker and executive consultant for Afterburner, teaching companies how to accelerate performance by leveraging the techniques of elite military teams.

Training a New Generation of Pilots: Open Issues in eVTOL Pilot Training

Although autopilot features have existed for decades, the level and types of automations seen in the ever-growing and diverse class of electric vertical takeoff and landing (eVTOL) platforms are introducing some disruptive innovations that are creating widespread challenges across the industry. In this presentation Col Don ‘Stryker’ Haley and Dr. Kent Halverson will highlight some of the primary technical challenges in training the first cadre of eVTOL pilots. Three key challenges will be discussed from both an operational/pilot and scientific perspective related to pilot training. The first topic will explore the evolving role of pilots in this increasingly automated space. Traditionally, pilots were trained on to how to control or manage every system and subsystem of an aircraft, with special attention paid toward emergency procedures. However, eVTOLs are automating many of these tasks leading to decreased pilot cognitive workload, fewer task saturation situations, and better task prioritization. The second topic will explore how to measure pilot proficiency. Measuring “human” performance is less than straightforward in highly automated eVTOL platforms because it is not always obvious what aspects of flight are human-controlled versus machine-controlled. This leads to blurred lines between pilot evaluation and system evaluation. The pros and cons of subjective (i.e., expert ratings) compared to objective (i.e., data from the simulators and aircraft) will be discussed, as well as the potential application of physiological measures. Finally, the third topic will explore the development of an eVTOL curriculum. The eVTOL market is highly diverse with over 700 prototypes in development, each featuring unique combinations of propulsion systems, controls, and automation. This diversity makes developing a singular “eVTOL curriculum” highly improbable and poses a challenge for how curricula should be developed and how they can build on one another.