The aviation training legacy now under the care of Boeing Global Services began in 1968 when Sanderson Films—led by legendary instructor Paul Sanderson—was purchased by Times Mirror, and then in 1974 merged with Jeppesen to create the company Jeppesen Sanderson. Over the intervening decades, Jeppesen used its reach and technical expertise to deliver aviation education to flight schools and prospective pilots around the world. (Full disclosure: I worked in Jeppesen’s aviation training department from 1997-2000 and again from 2012-2014).
After Boeing’s acquisition of Jeppesen in 2000—and the acquisition of Peters Software GmbH in 2015—that expertise has evolved to address the challenges of delivering training both directly to student pilots and for aviation training organizations to use to oversee pilot development. With its new Boeing Learning Solutions learning management system, the company now provides nearly 100 aviation training organizations and flight schools globally with a dashboard housing a host of materials and functions to streamline student learning and flight school operations.
From the flight school’s point of view, the dashboard forms the central repository for monitoring both student and instructor progress, and resource management within the training milieu. A clean interface provides an instant read of key metrics, including attendance, flight operations, and instructor schedules. The ability to track elements such as classroom usage and aircraft utilization help the training provider to forecast more accurately. The system is scalable to fit a wide range of ATOs from a size and syllabus perspective, with both EASA and FAA courses used within the LMS—including the latest revision to the EASA syllabi available in May.
From the student’s perspective, the LMS provides a hub for the progression through study materials, interim question-and-answer sessions, and stage testing. Both EASA and FAA materials—in the form of eBooks—can be studied through the LMS, using a iPad, tablet, Mac, or PC, depending on the user’s preference. Jeppesen’s Guided Flight Discovery eBooks that follow the FAA private-pilot syllabus are included in the system as well. Students can use typical functions such as highlighting and note recording to ensure challenging topics are returned to and understood. Instructors can assign questions from the data bank and track student progress.
“The team does a release every two weeks with updates and new features,” said Sascha Neusser, program manager for the BLS, which drives user feedback into the system and keeps it fresh. Reports can be customized for the specific ATO or university, including crew, training, and flight log reports. Because it is optimized for each ATO the pricing for the LMS is by the system, per student, and varies according to the features selected.
