PILOT Framework Review Canvas. Five questions before you change the training.
A one-page structured review for aviation training organisations, taking a recurring performance or training problem from observation to a targeted, verifiable action.
2 pages A4 · Free · No sign-up
PILOT Framework Review Canvas
Print it, take it to your next training review, and work through one problem.
Get the PDFSeparate what you observe from what you assume, before anyone proposes more training.
Agree one targeted intervention that addresses the likely cause, not the most visible symptom.
Define in advance how improvement will be tested in realistic conditions and reviewed.
Five questions, specific action.
Each letter of PILOT is one question. The canvas ends with an agreed action, an owner and a review date.
Performance
What exactly are we observing?
Interpretation
What could explain it, and what evidence is missing?
Learning
Are we developing the right capability, in the right way?
Operational Transfer
Will improvement hold beyond the training scenario?
Traceability
How will we know what worked, and when will we review it?
Our next action
What, who, and by when.
From individual pilots to whole organisations.
Use it in a one-to-one development discussion, an instructor meeting or an organisation-wide training review. The questions stay the same; only the evidence changes.
Patterns across a cohort or fleet
For Heads of Training, training managers and CBTA/EBT leads reviewing problems that keep coming back.
A shared structure for the discussion
For instructor meetings, performance development discussions and Human Factors reviews.
Inconsistent instructor grading.
Instructors assign different grades when assessing similar performance against the same competency.
A structured instructor calibration session using three common scenarios.
Head of Training / Instructor Development Lead
After the next agreed assessment cycle
The aim is not that instructors give identical grades. It is that their grades rest on a shared interpretation of the evidence and a common understanding of the standard.
A 15–30 minute structured discussion.
- 1Choose one problem
- 2Work through the five questions
- 3Agree one targeted action
- 4Define how success will be checked
- 5Review and adjust
Aleksandra Kapela
An EAAP-accredited aviation psychologist and author of Human Factors for Pilots and Aviation Specialists (CRC Press). She advises airlines and training organisations on human performance, instructor assessment and CBTA, and speaks on these topics at EATS, APATS, ATAC Canada, WATS and FSANA.
The canvas is the structure she uses when an organisation asks why a training problem keeps coming back.
European Aviation Training Summit 2025, main stage.
Want the next worked examples?
Leave your email and we will send further PILOT examples from training reviews and instructor calibration.
Want to use PILOT with your instructor team?
Calibration workshops and training reviews, facilitated by an aviation psychologist.
PILOT is a structured reflection and review framework. It is not a validated psychological assessment instrument. Developed by Aleksandra Kapela | MyWingman.