Aviation LMS: Life Vest for Under-the-Wing Employee Training

‘Now that you’re working with us, please fasten your seat belts for some turbulence ahead.’

This was a joke one of our aviation industry clients cracked but she definitely intended the pun. It’s not an easy journey being responsible for the training in one of the most highly regulated industry with a diverse and dynamic workforce. Not to forget that this workforce includes under-the-wing employees who come with their own sets of challenges.

Our research into this situation, led us to the following issues in rolling out training, uniformly, across all the different roles of ground staff:

• Varying levels of educational background.
• Exposure to and comfort in using technology.
• Extended 3^rd Party workforce.
• Managing training of diverse and distanced employees.
  
  

With a Learning Management System (LMS) built specifically keeping these challenges in mind can be effective for under-the-wing employees as it is used for rolling out training and certifications for above-the-wing employees.

Allows interactive media in module creation.

Ground handling services like cleaning, cargo and baggage handling allows a lot of skilled and unskilled labour into a highly secure zone. The varying levels of educational background of under-the-wing employees gets nullified by creating training modules which are visual, with the use of colours and symbols to signify what is allowed and what isn’t. Using the same type of media for then testing for certifying these employees works effectively and quickly. With an LMS that has the inherent features that allow for the creation and serving of these interactive modules you can roll out programs which are easy to follow for all.

Simple to use UI for a diverse workforce.

Almost everyone uses smartphones today, and for those who cannot afford smartphones or choose not to use them, there are other devices which can be made available to them by the company. The interactive modules can be delivered via an easy-to-use user interface, and where deemed absolutely necessary these modules can also have voice overs or subtitles in different languages based on the geo location of the under-the-wing employees.

Extended 3^rd party work force management framework

Since ground handling services are usually provided by 3^rd party vendors, your LMS must be able to create an organizational chart for all under-the-wing employees. Listing the different roles, locations and, also the service provider through whom these employees have been hired. This provides a visual chart of how many people need to be trained and certified and in what critical areas. It also allows a view of status of training and certification, allowing the leadership to take proactive action to mitigate non-certification of people who haven’t been reached. In managing the training of a large work force employed by a 3^rd party this view becomes a huge strength for the aviation industry.

Offline and mobile capable modules

The beauty of delivering training through LMS is its accessibility. In some cases, connectivity does become an issue, like the employees are located on the ground near an aircraft hangar that is 20 kms away from the main building. In such cases the module can be made download capable so that it is available offline, and the completion or certification status can be shared later through a screenshot or photograph or even when the device gets connected again.

Using an aviation specific LMS to train your under-the-wing employees is the most efficient and a cost-effective way to ensure that all regulatory and compliance training, specific to their role is managed properly.

We at GCube, have 20 years of experience and 80+ industry awards in learning technologies; and would love to hear your thoughts, queries, and suggestions. Please do write to us.