#Leadership
Bright flight 123 – cleared for take-off!
Jacques Dunselman
11 February 2023
For the fifth year in a row, a new group of eight Bright society members experienced our Leadership in Turbulent Environments training. In two evenings we introduced the principles behind Crew Resource Management. Armed with new insights, the participants were prepared for a challenging day at Lelystad Airport. Here they got the opportunity to fly a real flight simulator – and to show that they can make the right decisions under stress.
Louis Fixsen, one of the participants, stated: “I had an excellent experience on the course. I gained insights and skills to improve how I function under pressure, and could put these into practice in the amazing flight simulator. I believe this will help me for the rest of my career.”
Watch Louis land the Boeing 737 on LinkedIn.
Turbulent times for Bright society members
For the participants, the simulator day was the highlight of the training. Entering the cockpit with all the switches, dials and displays already provided some level of stress – and the motion of the simulator made it very realistic. Even communication with the Control Tower was provided, and pretty soon the new pilots were ‘cleared for take-off’. During the cruise flight the ‘crew’ got to tackle some challenges – by analyzing the situation and by coming to a sound decision. This flight simulator part occupied the participants for a good two to three hours – from the briefing, the actual flight (of an hour) and the debrief – and the opportunity to watch (via a camera link) how their colleagues were handling the challenges in the ‘turbulent’ environment.
But Lelystad has more to offer: Aviodrome – the aviation museum – also provided a nice ‘aviation’ touch to this exciting day.
One of the participants – Louis Fixsen – stated: “I had an excellent experience on the course. I gained insights and skills to improve how I function under pressure, and could put these into practice in the amazing flight simulator. I believe this will help me for the rest of my career.”
Some of the feedback of the participants on their ‘flight’:
- ‘Perfect combination of theory and practice. Flying experience is awesome!’
- ‘Exciting training’
- ‘Very nice balance between theory and practice’
- ‘Amazing experience and very practical and useful’
- ‘Theo is a great instructor’
You can read more about this unique training here.
