Helicopter FITS Training - We are the First!

What is FITS?

FITS is an acronym for FAA/Industry Training Standards. The FITS initiative is currently in its fourth year. The FITS program was developed by the FAA to design training focused on developing pilot judgment and decision-making skills in TAA (technically advanced aircraft). This program has been used successfully by large universities and fixed wing aircraft manufacturers to train in various aircraft, but has never been adapted to the helicopter training environment.

North Andover Flight Academy is the first helicopter flight school in the world to successfully develop a FITS syllabus for its students. Our new syllabus puts the power of scenario-based training into the hands of our instructors in an effort to raise the bar of helicopter training. Where helicopter training has fundamentally provided instruction in maneuvers, our FITS syllabus enhances the commercial helicopter training experience by placing the student within scenarios which will build their maneuver skills as well as their judgment and risk assessment skills.

Students who choose to do their commercial training using our FITS syllabus will be exposed to an entirely new way to train in helicopters - a way that was once only available using the airlines (LOFT) Line Oriented Flight Training programs.

Who Can Benefit From FITS?

Students at any level can benefit from this training, and since we are the first to develop an FAA accepted FITS syllabus we are the industry leaders. We specialize in FITS and we can integrate FITS lessons into our standard curriculum or, for our commercial students, train entirely within the FITS realm.

An Example of Using FITS

One of the tenets of FITS is to train within actual missions which would represent commercial helicopter operations. A FITS student would learn critical thinking skills and risk assessment while performing the lesson maneuvers within a commercial scenario such as a forestry survey or photography flight. The instructor builds into each lesson the necessary maneuvers which the student now learns in a real world situation, rather than in the airport boundaries. Our FITS lessons are being reviewed by the FAA and will be approved for Part 141 certification.

Evaluating the FITS Lesson

The traditional lesson would finish with the instructor and student talking about the lesson and evaluating the maneuvers. The FITS lesson ends with an instructor and student grading sheet (graded individually), which are compared after each has evaluated every part of the lesson using pre-planned evaluation criteria such as Single-Pilot Resource Management, Navigation, and Airport Procedures. Our FITS program incorporates situations and circumstances faced every day by commercial helicopter pilots, and packages these into scenarios which will develop better trained helicopter pilots.

FAA Approval

North Andover Flight Academy is an FAA approved helicopter flight school. We are in the process of receiving FAA approval for our helicopter FITS syllabus. Not only is it the only helicopter FITS syllabus in the world, it will be the only helicopter FITS syllabus approved by the FAA!