Is the training of air traffic controllers better?
One of the surprising and possibly unexpected early recommendations coming out of the investigation of the recent Air France Airbus 330 crash is that training in certain basic piloting skills and the handling of unusual situations must be strengthened and improved. Excuse me? Have we already reached the stage where the pilots of a sophisticated aircraft like the 330 are left wondering what to do when the screens go blank or numbers no longer add up? One accident, however tragic, is probably not enough to draw far reaching conclusions on this thorny issue. But it does pose a question in a different context: is the training of air traffic controllers any better and is it keeping up with developments in the cockpit? It is an open secret in aviation that incidents occur here and there as a result of inadequate training, misunderstandings or unforeseen events. I still remember clearly when many years ago an aircraft that had just taken off from our mid-sized airport called a fire warning in
