ahhh geez! PC takes a giant step forward in aviation. So, the government took 2 years of the tax payer's money to debate changing the word student to learner? Yeah...I'm sure that change will make us all safer and more proficient, sitting in the cockpit wearing our warm and fuzzy pajamas with the footies. Maybe, while the Feds are busy making changes, the cockpit should be designated as a Safe Space too.

...and would somebody please show me where the flight deck of a Cessna 172, Beechcraft Bonanza, Piper J-3 Cub, or a Consolidated Fleet is?

[note: hyperlinks can be found at linked article]

==============

WHAT'S BEHIND THE FAA'S SWITCH FROM 'STUDENT' TO 'LEARNER'?

July 2, 2020
By Dan Namowitz

When the FAA announced that the 2020 update of the Aviation Instructor’s Handbook would drop the terms “student” and “cockpit” in favor of “learner” and “flight deck” in the text, many aviators asked whether the changes would appear in other handbooks now in revision, and what was behind the move.

For answers we turned to Chris Cooper, AOPA director of regulatory affairs and a member of the FAA working group that tackles a wide range of training and testing initiatives. The group held a virtual meeting in late June.

Yes, Cooper said, “the terminology will be updated throughout FAA documents.”
As for the rationale: “The change from student to learner started several years ago in an industry working group,” he said. “Industry wanted to get away from using the word ‘student’ because traditionally we think of student as in ‘student pilot’ or a beginning student pilot/mechanic.”

There was a debate about what word to use instead.

“Within the industry group the air-carrier people wanted to use ‘pilot-in-training’ and the general aviation people wanted ‘learner.’ After about two years of discussion, the FAA decided on ‘learner’ with the thought that at different times we are all learners.

“Several school systems and institutions of higher education are referring to students as ‘learners’ now,” he added. “The concept of ‘lifelong learning’ has been adopted over the years.”

There was another consideration on the mechanical side: The Aviation Instructor’s Handbook was written for maintenance technicians as well as pilots—a point some industry members thought could be emphasized by replacing “student,” a word frequently paired with “pilot,” he said.

Where we work
Replacing “cockpit,” a term of nautical origin, with “flight deck” was an imperative for the airlines where the term is already commonplace—and obviously more reflective of that flight environment than, say, for a primary training airplane or a biplane with its driver’s seat exposed to the elements.

The 2020 edition of the Aviation Instructor’s Handbook was released in May. A quick word search turned up 1,883 instances of the word “learner,” and only 13 occurrences of “student.” “Flight deck” appeared 27 times, and “cockpit” just four times.

If it seems a huge project to update the many works and volumes to which these changes should carry over, the FAA is counting on the performance of a systemwide content-management system to sniff out opportunities to revise existing language for consistency across the board, Cooper said.

Other volumes are on the way. According to the What’s New and Upcoming in Airman Testing document on the FAA website—and how long is the word “airman” going to hang around?—eight FAA handbooks are now in revision. They include old standards like the Pilot’s Handbook of Aeronautical Knowledge and the Instrument Flying Handbook. Release dates have not yet been announced. An updated and reorganized Risk Management Handbook is in the final stages of review.

Several other news items emerged from the FAA’s Airman Certification System Working Group’s June 23 meeting.

As of late June, knowledge testing was down about 7 percent from the same time in 2019. About 640 knowledge testing centers were scheduling exams as of late June, operating in accordance with health safety measures.
Flight instructor applicants should note that on September 28, the Fundamentals of Instruction knowledge test questions will be changed to bring the test into alignment with the updated Aviation Instructor’s Handbook. “The time between now and then will provide ample time for applicants to prepare for the test with the new edition,” Cooper said.
The FAA’s Aviation Rulemaking Advisory Committee has approved and passed along to the FAA for implementation publications including the updated Airplane Flying Handbook, and airman certification standards editions for Private Pilot—Lighter than Air Free Balloon, ATP (Airline Transport Pilot) and Type Rating—Helicopter, and Flight Instructor—Powered Lift.

Dan Namowitz Associate Editor Web.
Associate Editor Web Dan Namowitz has been writing for AOPA in a variety of capacities since 1991. He has been a flight instructor since 1990 and is a 30-year AOPA member.

I just learned to spell "library," and they went and changed it to "media center"...

Somewhere in there, "elevator man" went to "vertical lift assistant operator"

Don't even get started on pilot flying vs. pilot not flying vs. handling pilot vs. non-handling pilot...

Roger over under dunn.

Wait until they see how we get up on the flight deck of the mighty single seat Air Tractor 802 and go aft, to visit the lav.

It’s a good thing that “joysticks” are no longer common in aircraft.

Check out the Airbus.

Life must be good when we can spend that much time and money updating words instead of focusing on content.

I'll need to retrain myself to refer to the flight deck of my Long EZ instead of the cockpit I've been calling it for 39 years.

Sounds like the marketing dept. coming up with jargon to justify their jobs.

You know what they call it when there are two female pilots up front? The box office!

quote:

Originally posted by Puckpilot78:
You know what they call it when there are two female pilots up front? The box office!

As opposed to the "flight dicks?"

I just wanted to let you know, we re all counting on you.

quote:

Originally posted by sns3guppy:


Don't even get started on pilot flying vs. pilot not flying vs. handling pilot vs. non-handling pilot...

We've already converted to the pilot flying vs pilot monitoring...because pilot not flying implies he's not doing any work. He/she needed a title that conveyed activity.

And a truck driver is now a Product Relocation Specialist.

Is a hooker now a Horizontal Hostess of Recreation?

quote:

Originally posted by aileron:
I'll need to retrain myself to refer to the flight deck of my Long EZ instead of the cockpit I've been calling it for 39 years.

That's not a cockpit, that's a wetsuit.

Damn. My flight instructor certificate is coming up on its two-year renewal. I'm seriously considering just letting it expire. I don't know how much more of the bullshit, up with which I want to put.

Only fighting aircraft have a cockpit. All other aicraft have flightdecks or crew stations etc

No, a piper cub has a cockpit. I can assure you, there is no flight deck. Having spent many years working on flight decks, it definitely lacks one. Crew station? No. It's a cockpit.

Air tractor 502? No flight deck. Not a crew station. It's a cockpit. A flight deck has several crew stations and cockpits may have crewstations. A flight engineer panel is a crew station. Found on a flight deck. That 152 has no flight deck. It lacks a deck entirely, but does have a cockpit.

About 15 years ago while I was still teaching, I was taking a college course in my subject area. Most of the students were of traditional age. A few of us were older and had been teaching for sometime. The instructor chided me for calling the young people in the class students because it hurts their self image. She insisted that I refer to them as "pre-service teachers." WHAT???

quote:

Originally posted by aileron:
I'll need to retrain myself to refer to the flight deck of my Long EZ instead of the cockpit I've been calling it for 39 years.
[picture of COCKPIT]

That is definitely not a flight deck.

"Cockpit" should be changed to "Schlong Vault"

Aileron - is that an 8-track cassette player on the left?