2014 AABI IE Forum Report & Notes. (60 and 75 persons in attendance)
Panel 1: Aviation Management Topics
David Sneed Corporate Planning Delta Air Lines. See presentation. Q&A
 Given that this presentation is targeted at aviation management curricula, how
much of this does an airline captain need to know to effectively do her job? A:
Captains in airlines many times have business competency. Chris Jones: ability of
captains to execute the company policy is important for them to understand the
strategy and results from effective communications policies in the company. A: Delta
has a communication plan for employees.
 Does Delta have a formal mentoring program? A: yes, in flight operations, and in
finance it is more of an informal and unwritten expectation. In my group I make it
clear that we are here to support each other and that we need to play off each
other’s strengths.
 Aviation management graduates are difficult to place because industry wants
experience. Is there better entry-level possibility? A: It has not been on my radar
and we need to look into that. Let’s talk.
 Does your ownership of an oil refinery also benefit your competitors? No, probably
not. It gives us a bit more leverage at the negotiating table for crude, and is valuable
when there are political or other disruptions.
Gregg Davis, GM Schedule Optimization Delta Air Lines, See presentation. Q&A
 Does your group participate in aircraft purchase decisions? Would buying all Boeing
equipment improve your cost structure in schedule optimization through the
flexibility of the one type common type rated families? A: Advantages to us to having
two robust OEMs.
 When you have specialty operations that affect airplane configuration like
transporting a major league team, how do you use those airplanes when they are
not assigned to team activity? A: Aircraft are contracted during the season to the
league and specially configured. We are allowed to use them if not obligated for
team travel.
 Impact of mergers and acquisitions on jobs? A: temporarily a reduction, much of it
managed through voluntary severance; but subsequent growth has increased the
requirement for specialties in both these organizations. Industry consolidation has
been a good thing, and good for employees. Industry now populated by strong
players with the right financial motives. Your students are looking at an industry
with better employment opportunities.
Q&A Both Presenters
 Really appreciate Delta coming to AABI to present Aviation Management topics.
What are the limiting factors of the system going forward? Is it pilots? Pay at
regionals is a concern of our students. Compared to other walks of life, what will
happen if the regionals start to close down routes? Chris Jones was asked to speak:
A: The industry recognizes the shortage of pilots; considerable volatility in this labor
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market. I am convinced that the major airlines will get the pilots they need. There
are many forces interacting right now, and we are in the middle of it in a ringside
seat, and we will be part of the solution. The limiting factor of pilots, if it exists, will
be short lived because of the importance and the fact that we have the resources to
do what is necessary. This is a supply & demand issue and it will be solved, though
the solutions may have substantive effects on major airline outsourcing of routes.
Scott Foose: A: We recognize that starting pay is a concern and we see industry
starting to address this question. We are being successful in raising the information
to students about career earnings as well as starting salaries. We are trying to be
transparent about this with students. AABI members have been effective in sharing.
Guy: Gregg, your presentation was interesting and it seems to provide the basis for
our teaching. Is there some underlying proprietary software in use? A: Yes, we use a
Sabre derived product.
Gary Morrison: we expect a solution to the pilot problem, but as an investment to
cover the initial costs to preparing the pilots, who is going to fund them? There is no
effective mechanism in the USA and we wonder where the funding comes from. A:
There will have to be more pressure to the industry before the answer to your
question becomes clear. The airlines will probably have a chip in this game. The
Regional industry may be key.
Kourosh Hadi Boeing Director Product Development, See presentation. Q&A:
 Comment: assumption is that we will keep on flying. Railroad industry did not see
airplane industry, does the airline industry see information industry as a disrupter.
A: There is no question it has an impact. It started 15 years ago, so maybe the
growth in aviation would have been larger if not for information technology.
Discussion on importance of “being there”.
 Guy: where is suborbital flight in the future? A: We still look at. Kourosh discussed
how the Sonic Cruiser became the 787.
 Ken Carson: How about the ultra large freighter? Is this likely to someday become a
niche market? A: That is one of the advanced concepts we are looking at between
the shipping industry and the 747/777F. If you add 50% to a 747 size at .5M, or
make an airplane 10 times bigger than the 747, the cargo operators do see value if
the technical challenges can be met. Only 3% of cargo is shipped by air, if you could
attract a small additional market with a new large airplane it could be a significant
niche market. Another new technology we are looking at is the open rotor, though it
has some technical issues.
 Gary Morrison: Why did you up the hydraulic pressure to 5000 psi in the 787? A: we
look at systems and make weight trades. If you can make a system more compact,
that has value.
 Steve from K State, are we ever going to get away from the tube and produce an
airplane like the blended wing body. A: we do look at these concepts, and examine
the issues. Fuel efficiency is improved, but it also has some significant concerns,
such as passengers losing window proximity. Also need to examine production
system concept. It also has some challenges in making a family plan.
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787 – 9 Farnborough demo, please explain spoilers coming up. A: Maneuver load
alleviation was explained. “Smart wing parts”. Also provides a smoother ride as gust
alleviation.
New employee opportunities for educators? A: In our environment communication
is key; working as a team player is critical. I look at people who have worked in team
environments on projects that require collaboration. Hands on experience that force
individuals to think is important; passion about aviation is significant. Employees
need to understand that it is not just about the best design; it is important to
consider the business and the market.
Q&A Entire Panel 1 Presenters
 Guy: what about safety in the financials and the scheduling? A: At Delta, safety is
first, nothing trumps safety. Our schedule plans are designed assuming everything
will work as we assumed. There are actually very few days where that actually
occurs, but our Ops Center teams are always up to the challenge. Brian Quigley UAL,
discussed how their operational performance manages safety. SMS pushes safety
out to every operator; each of which is a safety officer.
 Steve from K State: revitalizing curriculum at K State, when you are looking at a
prospective candidate, what are the selection drivers. A: Looking for attitude and
aptitude. Passion for the industry, and for planning ability for that function. The
pilot and HR interview process screens for these attributes. It is hard to quantify
integrity and character, but that has to be a given. Brian: Pilots are largely an
unsupervised workforce, so their work ethic is critical. They see the entire
operational landscape, which is unusual in our business. 90% of our managerial
issues come from 3% of our workforce; many times because they do not understand
the complexity of the business. For the non-pilot, we have a robust internship
program and I thank you for producing the folks who come to United. Kourosh also
expects some minimum of academic performance, but attitude, teamwork, and
hands on experience like project management and financial projects are important.
Understanding the customer is critical. I work with UW, and it is important for the
candidate to be aware and informed on the current business environment and
technologies in the industry where they seek employment. David: Attitude and
aptitude; plus some one I can see as a self-starter.
 Guy: entire panel: challenge is overwhelming because the skills and attributes we
wrote down are difficult. “Adept at solving puzzles, critical thinking, etc.,”; what
should we do in our curriculum to prepare the candidates. Kourosh: my suggestion
is to put that list in front of the students as the desires of industry. The students
have opportunities in many areas to practice those skills. Create projects, give them
a challenge, give them a budget, etc.
 How do airlines use the OEM features to attract passengers? Gregg: we are trying to
use them to move the flying experience away from a commodity. Differentiating the
experience for the airline is a possibility. Big windows is an example feature.
 Captain: Alternative fuel sources? A: Kourosh; we are actively involved in alternative
fuels. Many tests are being run.
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Panel 2 Kevin Trau Chief Mechanic, See presentation; Q&A
 Quality of A/P Techs today, any opinion, and also what do you think of a four-year
degree program like our maintenance management programs? A: the A/P
regulatory course includes a lot of things that I have not used. There is a need to
differentiate these kinds of activities. Mechanics understand the responsibility of
signing off that logbook. EASA type rating is a whole different approach.
PBN Project Perry Solmonson, See presentation; Discussion & Q&A
 UAL: Mike desires to see the technology understood by flight education graduates.
 Perry: transition from old way of flying to new ways. New aircraft; major bubble of
old airplane leases expiring; next gen Embraer and Bombardier will be PBN capable.
 Garmin: Bill looks at the world differently, non-commercial business and GA
airplanes. RNP level covers the remote and en route down to RNP 0.3; area nav with
alerting. Since 2006 we fielded 12000 G1000; 8000 WAAS equipped. GA not
burdened by Ops specs, and for this cohort LPV without AR makes sense. Backup for
containment after system or GPS failure using inertial systems is not available. For
RNP AR, there are 496 RNP AR approaches worldwide. RNP AR from aircraft carries
a burden if you are denied GPS. Hence a reliance on inertial for failure modes. There
are RNP that are not AR with RF legs; four world wide today; Ketchikan, Moscow,
Carlsbad, and Insbruk; perhaps we could use them in a collegiate database. That
might bring RNP non-AR into the academic world.
 John Frasca: Part task trainers are used to teach an FMS, perhaps we could create a
trainer for collegiate use. We build sims using either rehosted software or actual
avionics. Could be anything from part task desk top all the way to FTD. We would
need a requirements specification.
 Guy: for Perry: I did not realize the importance of the inertial. A: yes. Good question.
For a training scenario, you could get the same desired effect; you want crew to
understand they have lost the capability. Or use the training procedures only as
visuals. MITRE has a capability to do this to a point in space. Peter suggested using
the desired procedures coded as visuals; and flown in VMC; then perhaps they can
be incorporated into a data base without compromising the integrity criteria.
 Kent: after going through the RNP training with Perry, it became apparent to us that
it would be desirable to make this work either in the aircraft or using simulation. It
is another RNAV approach they are already doing except for the RF legs. Envision
doing it in a flight training device; one or two procedures in the database.
The committee members felt they had enough information to create guidance for PBN
education, and explore incorporating one or more of the RNP non-AR procedures into an
existing collegiate database. Jeremy Brown (Frasca) will explore functionality for training
purposes of the two USA non AR RNP procedures mentioned by Bill Stone of Garmin. Other
institutions, including some flying non-Garmin equipment, would like to be kept informed.
A sign up sheet was created of other institutions that want to be kept informed of activity.
Respectfully submitted,
Peter Morton, Committee Co-Chair
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