ABSTRACT
With the rapid expansion of Commercial Aviation in the late 1950s and early 1960s, it became apparent that the traditional sources of pilots were not capable of forming a sufficient supply to meet the needs of the industry. Theoretical training in aviation has always been treated as ‘a necessary evil’ in the training of a pilot. It has taken the role of the support to the necessary manual skills which pilots have to display in order to prove professional competence. In the United Kingdom the then Minister of Transport set up a committee under the Chairmanship of the Duke of Hamilton. The scheme resultant from this became known as the ‘Ab Initio Integrated Training Course For Commercial Pilots’. Ab initio trainees from a ‘traditional’ scheme are poorly prepared for this role as their training. A great degree of interest has been generated in the use of self-paced learning systems which will enable ab initio cadets to reinforce the traditional training.
