When a student is configured in the system the instructor can choose whether to use a formal syllabus or free form lessons.
The current Syllabi loaded in the application are the FAA Industry Training Standards (FITS) that have be downloaded from the FAA website and imported. But if a school wanted their Syllabus imported into the app that would be possible.
A syllabus is composed of multiple Missions…
A mission is a proposed lesson that starts by giving the student a detailed description of the flight that is going to be undertaken, objectives, completion standards and a list of tasks that will be preformed during the lesson. It is a template for the lesson that is going to be given.
Scenario
A friend of yours from a nearby city is an avid car collector. In order to have her 1966 Ford Mustang in tip top shape, she needs a new transmission bell housing. You have volunteered to pick one up for her and deliver it to a nearby city airport where she will be waiting for you. The bell housing weighs 220 pounds and is split in the middle (each half weighs 110 lbs). It is up to you to decide if you can carry it and where you will put it in the aircraft.
During your preflight planning, you discover several NOTAM's for the airport. Apparently a telecommunications company has strung a temporary cable 1000 feet from the approach end of the runway. The cable is approximately 50 feet in the air, which means it protrudes through your normal VFR glide path. Also, there are several 300 ft cranes at the other end of the runway that are involved in the construction. They are not highly visible, and you are not certain of their exact location, so a normal climb-out may not clear them sufficiently.
This mission is structured to expose the student to short-field take-offs/landings, weight and balance calculation an decisions, aircraft loading, importance of reviewing NOTAMs in flight planning, etc.
Missions are composed of a list of Tasks that will be performed during the mission…
There are a number of tasks that will be performed during a mission they are typically broken up into groups:
| Objective | Desired Outcome |
|---|---|
| Pre-flight Discussion | |
| Emergency Operations | PRACTICE |
| Power-off landings | PERFORM |
| Zero-flap landings | PERFORM |
| Review | |
| Steep turns | PRACTICE |
| Slip to landing | PRACTICE |
| Normal and crosswind landings | PERFORM |
| Introduction | |
| Power-off landings | PRACTICE |
| Zero-flap landings | PRACTICE |
| Single-pilot Resourced Management | |
| Risk management | PRACTICE |
| Automation management | PRACTICE |
Along with the task is the desired outcome we expect in this lesson.
Description of Desired Outcomes
Each of these tasks is associated to one of the underlying Modules in the application…
The lesson is the training session itself. It can be based on a scenario from the syllabus or it can be a stand alone session.
For example assume we gave a lesson based on the Scenario above and the student did not do well on his short field landings and asked to meet again the next day for a few trips in the pattern to practice them. Both training sessions would be lessons but landing practice lesson is not based on a scenario from the syllabus.
Lessons have one or more modules associated with them…
A Module is a linkage between the tasks performed during the lesson and the FARs that are addressed by those tasks. Multiple tasks can be related to a single module, for example:
Module: Stalls
And each module has a association with the far it addresses:
Module: Stalls
You have a private pilot student using the FITS Private Pilot Certification Syllabus. He is ready for the Mission 7 which is an “Aerial Survey Flight” which will exercise his ground reference maneuvers. He can view the assigned scenario in the app and know prepare in advance.
Before the lesson you print out the task grading sheet and instructor notes from the app to carry with you during the lesson and keep notes.
After the lesson you login and confirm you did fly the mission which turns it into a lesson in the system. You input the outcome for each task and compare them to the desired outcome for the task.
As it turns out your student had some trouble with an engine-out emergency last week so you threw one of those into the lesson. You can attach that module to the lesson even though it is outside the scope of the mission.
The student can visit the app to see your comments on his lesson and the individual skills and check where he is in the overall training.