What’s the Worst That Could Happen?

Have you ever sat next to someone on a plane who is scared of flying? Typically, the fear shows up before the plane is in the air.

There’s a reason for that.

An aircraft is at its heaviest weight before takeoff. If there’s an emergency, a pilot has moments to figure out what’s going on, decide what to do, and take action.

In those moments, pilots need not only their sight, sound and flexibility, but their problem-solving and decision-making skills.

To succeed in any unpredictable environment, military personnel need to be prepared for a variety of scenarios, including the worst that could happen. Through immersive, scenario-based training, these real-world situations can be replicated with little or no variations, ensuring pilots and aircrew are prepared for anything. This is one aspect of what the U.S. Air Force calls mental toughness training.

So, what does this training look like?

Using technology and methodology, our training team uses high-fidelity cockpit and visual environments to create scenarios through simulation, which allows:

• Accurate replications of real-world circumstances, with the ability to train for infinite twists, variations, and levels of difficulty.
  
  
• Deliberate planning in early phases of training, so scenarios can be injected later without warning.
  
  
• Replication until proficiency is achieved.

The end goal is not perfection, but for students to learn to consistently make valid, reasonable choices under stress and build confidence in one’s ability to deal with the unexpected without panicking or freezing up.

One student testimonial: “Without this program, I would have washed out.”

Mental toughness training also includes additional mental and physical agility activities, and provides an early role model for how training can and should be integrated into pilot and aircrew training programs from basic through advanced phases.