"You Don’t Know What You Don’t Know": The Hidden Risk in Pilot Training

The Training Gap We’re Not Talking About

Not all pilots are trained for failure.But we expect them all to manage it.

In more complex operations such as airlines, aeromedical, charter, law enforcement, pilots operate within formal check and training systems.

In these environments, they are exposed to:

• structured simulator training

• repeatable emergency scenarios

• high-workload, high-pressure environments

  
  

And importantly............. they are assessed in it.

They are given the opportunity to experience failure, practise recovery, and build decision-making capability in a controlled environment.

But before that?

What about the General Aviation (GA) pilot?

The pilot who:

• may never experience a full emergency scenario during training

• may never feel true startle in a controlled setting

• may never be assessed under real cognitive load

Yet we expect them to perform:

• correctly

• instinctively

• under pressure

In real life.

No simulator.

No reset button.

No second attempt.

What Do They Rely On Instead?

In many cases:

• experience

• habit

• instinct under pressure

But that’s not a system. That’s exposure. And exposure is inconsistent.

Some pilots develop strong decision-making capability.

Others don’t. Because we’ve never explicitly taught them how.

An instructor of mine once said to me, 'You don't know, what you don't know'......

And that’s the reality.

If something isn’t taught as part of training, we cannot expect it to appear when it matters most.

And yet, this type of training is safety critical.

To be fair, we do assess some of this at a foundational level training. Under Australian training standards as outlined in the CASA Part 61 MOS instructors are expected to assess:

• NTS1 – Manage Flight Path

• NTS2 – Manage Situational Awareness

But in my view, assessment is not the same as instruction. And, we are not deliberately teaching them:

• how to manage cognitive load

• how to prioritise under pressure

• how to make structured decisions when things go wrong

Where the Gap Begins

This gap doesn’t start later.

It starts early.

From the first solo circuit session, (arguably even before that) pilots are already:

• managing workload

• building situational awareness

• making decisions

Without structure, they rely on:

• trial and error

• instructor style

• personal interpretation

• stories from other pilots of real emergencies

What Happens Under Pressure

When workload increases or something unexpected happens, Pilots don’t rise to a higher level of execution. They fall back on what they know.

If that foundation is:

• inconsistent

• unstructured

• experience-based

Then decision-making becomes:

• reactive

• delayed

• or incorrect

This is where we see:

• loss of situational awareness

• fixation

• poor prioritisation

• ineffective responses

The Missing Piece: Structured SRM

This is where Single Pilot Resource Management (SRM) becomes critical. Not as an advanced concept. As a foundational one.

SRM provides pilots with structure under pressure, including:

• Aviate – Navigate – Communicate prioritisation

• ASAR framework (Acknowledge/Aviate – Stabilise – Assess – Respond)

• 4D model (Detect – Diagnose – Decide – Do)

• Workload management and task prioritisation strategies

• Threat and Error Management adapted for single-pilot operations

These are not “nice to have” tools. They are trainable systems for decision-making. And they must be introduced early, before bad habits form.

What the Structured Training Is Really Telling Us

When pilots eventually enter structured check and training environment, often later in their careers. they are exposed to high-fidelity simulator training.

They are placed into:

• high workload

• time pressure

• unexpected failures

• startle scenarios

And sometimes, performance drops. But this is the important point:

The simulator isn’t creating the problem. It’s revealing it.

It’s showing us that even at advanced levels of aviation, decision-making, situational awareness, and workload management are not as robust as we assume.

And that should make us stop and ask a much bigger question:

If these gaps are being exposed at the highest level… where did they start?

Why This Matters More Than Ever for GA

Because those competencies don’t begin in the simulator.

They begin:

• in early training

• in the circuit

• in the first moments a pilot is managing workload and making decisions

And if they are not deliberately taught there… they don’t magically appear later.

In multi-crew airline operations:

• there is structure

• there is repetition

• there is a safety net

But in General Aviation—particularly single-pilot operations:

There isn’t.

The pilot is the system.

There is:

• no cross-check

• no redistribution of workload

• no second perspective

Which means these competencies are not just important… They are critical to survival.

So Why Aren’t We Teaching This From Day One?

If we know:

• these skills break down under pressure

• they are exposed in advanced training

• they are fundamental to safety

Then the real question is:

Why wouldn’t we teach them early?

Why wouldn’t we:

• build structured decision-making from the first lesson

• train workload management as a skill—not an observation

• develop situational awareness deliberately, not passively

It’s Not Too Late… But It’s Harder

These competencies can absolutely be taught later.

But when we delay:

We are no longer building foundational knowledge, we are correcting.

• unlearning habits

• reshaping behaviour

• trying to introduce structure into something already inconsistent

  
  

And that is: harder, slower, less reliable

What Needs to Change

If we want better outcomes, we need to move from assuming the knowledge is there to delivering deliberate instruction.

This means:

• teaching SRM frameworks from the beginning

• embedding decision-making into every lesson

• training workload management, not just observing it

• reinforcing structured thinking continuously

Not just assessing it later. We don’t rise to the level of expectation.

We fall to the level of training we’ve actually had.

And right now…

We are asking some pilots to perform at a level they were never properly trained to achieve, that is just setting them up to fail.

Check out the SRMPilot Training Courses here: SRM Training Courses | www.srmpilot.com