Use Before Flight

It was just another day for Captain Andy Mitchell, who was then an up-and-coming pilot undergoing his initial pilot training. “I was sitting in a multi-million-pound full-motion flight simulator with my sim partner and the instructor, talking only about the radio panels,” he recalls. “It intrigued me; why we had to use such an expensive setup for that particular lesson. And I thought to myself, there had to be a more efficient way for pilots to learn many of these tasks without using up precious simulator time.”

The thought immediately sparked his innovative spirit. Not long after, he set out to turn his million-dollar vision into reality by building the first iteration of his envisioned aviation training solution that would benefit pilots, training instructors, and airlines. The result was a revolutionary, interactive training software that replicated the mechanics of simulation training on digital devices. It addressed the cost aspects of existing aviation training programs and provided an easy way for pilots to learn and train on the go from their own devices.

Use Before Flight (UBF) is today a global leader in Evidence-based Training (EBT) grading solutions and the technology powerhouse behind aviation blended learning environments (ABLE) for commercial pilot training. “It’s a milestone for the company,” mentions Andy Mitchell, founder and CEO of UBF. “With our ecosystem, airline companies and trainers now capture objective and actionable competency data on pilots and can train them on conventional digital devices to optimise expensive simulator time.”

The Next Stage of Innovation

The vision did not end there. Today, Andy and his team have also added a new AI-based functionality to the EBT grading software, so it can personalise the training programs as per the individual requirements of the pilots. “Personalisation is a crucial aspect that was missing from the aviation training paradigm for a long time,” mentions Andy. “For instance, if circling manoeuvres are generally considered high-risk in an airline, all pilots will have to go through circling approach training in their recurrent simulator session. Now, what if some pilots are already adept at this particular task but need more focus on the part of the training that is considered by the airline to be overall lower-risk, like low visibility take-off and landing?”

UBF’s new upgrade tackled this exact challenge, bringing personalisation to the front and centre of pilot training programs.The upgraded iteration of the EBT software was named QUANTUM—notably, the only software solution in use as part of a European Union Aviation Safety Agency (EASA)-approved Baseline EBT programme, and right now managing over 50,000 pilots across the world in different stages of their EBT and competency-based training and assessment (CBTA).

QUANTUM is reducing the time spent by instructors in gathering pilot training data and helping them identify the key learning points for each pilot with its inbuilt AI training assistant.

Since the solution encourages pilots to reflect and take ownership of their training, trainers can focus their time on affecting valuable change among the trainees, while training managers can offload day-to-day monitoring of the training program and pilot performance to QUANTUM’s AI training assistant.

Guiding Pilots towards Training Success

QUANTUM is augmented further by UBF’s original, now enhanced award-winning interactive app for pilots that provides the interactive, immersive training from anywhere, anytime. Whether it is at home or the flight deck, pilots can access the UBF app and undergo multiple interactive simulations to prepare for their sim checks.

Notably, the UBF app revealed its true potential during the COVID-19 crisis, when the conventional aviation training almost came to a standstill. With the help of UBF, airlines were able to instantly deploy the apps across iPads and other devices and continue the crucial training programs for their pilots. This allowed airlines to keep their pilots engaged and with their qualifications temporarily (and effectively) extended through EASA’s Article 71 exemption until simulator slots were available again.

Scripting Success Stories through Innovation

UBF’s competencies played a key role in making Iberia Airlines the world’s first EASA-approved baseline EBT airline. When they turned to UBF, the company’s agile software frameworks, together with its in-house EBT experts, gave it a unique position to ensure that Iberia reached baseline EBT in the shortest possible timescale with the absolute best data-set possible. Today, Iberia Airlines is known for having the world-leading EBT and CBTA programs using a software platform that is flexible enough to evolve continuously with changes to regulation and best practices.

This is but one of the many success stories that UBF has scripted since its inception. Having realised its 10-year goal of providing true blended learning and tailored training for individual pilots recently, UBF is now keen on setting a new benchmark for airline companies all around the world. The company is also ready to expand to the U.S. market, bringing next-generation pilot training to the current FAA AQP system by building on the lessons learned in Europe and adjusting it to complement and enhance the existing frameworks. “Our mission is to do our utmost to improve global flight safety through our quality and objective data streams and by utilising next-generation agile software solutions,” concludes Captain Andy Mitchell.