Facilitated Debriefing of Line Operational Simulation training events

Abstract: This study analyses aspects of instructor behaviour and their possible effects on the ability of the participating crew to analyse their own performance following simulator training events for Flight Crews. Eight briefings and debriefings related to one airline’s training sessions were observed. The debriefings were recorded and transcribed. The analysis was performed using the “Debriefing Assessment Battery”, a subjective rating scale developed by McDonnell (1996) in order to systematically assess the instructor’s facilitation skills and the behaviour of the participating crew during debriefing. Additionally, quantitative data was collected using transcription of audio recordings from the observed debriefings. Further, a questionnaire was used to collect information about the participants’ opinions on the debriefing process and outcome. Due to the small sample size of this study, the analysis results should be treated cautiously. However, the results of this study indicate that instructor behaviour and level of facilitation skills are predictive of the resulting level of crew participation, self-analysis and self-reflection. These results suggest that development of instructor facilitation skills is likely to improve the learning value of simulator training events. Based on the observations, a few suggestions for improvement of facilitator techniques are provided.