High Performance Pilot was created by David Summers — a Captain and line training captain with thirty years in two-crew commercial aviation.
The idea behind HPP came from a straightforward observation: the Core Competency framework — and the behaviours contained within it — underpins modern commercial aviation training and represents one of its most important developments. But the tools available to pilots for developing against it between simulator assessments are almost nonexistent. The behaviours and habits that define high performance on the flight deck are built across thousands of ordinary sectors — and until HPP, there was no structured way to develop them.
HPP maps all nine ICAO/EASA Core Competencies and 77 observable behaviours across three development levels. It provides structured prompts for honest self-assessment after real flying, built around the same framework that examiners use to assess crew performance in the simulator.
The competency framework is not abstract to me. For three years, I taught MCC and APS courses alongside my line flying — working with pilots making the transition from single-crew to two-crew operation, using the Core Competency framework as the development structure. That combination gave me an unusual vantage point: I was building competency habits in new crew members in the simulator while watching what happened to those habits — and everyone else's — across hundreds of ordinary line sectors.
The gap between the two environments was impossible to ignore. In the simulator, competency development is structured, observed and debriefed. On the line, it happens continuously and almost entirely without feedback. HPP is an attempt to close that gap — to bring the structure of competency-based training into the regular working day of a professional pilot.
Thirty years in aviation in the multi-crew environment has made one thing consistently clear: the pilots who develop fastest are the ones who reflect deliberately, not the ones who simply accumulate hours.
HPP is built on the same regulatory framework — EASA's Evidence-Based Training and Competency-Based Training and Assessment standards — that is increasingly shaping operator training requirements across Europe. The nine competencies, the observable behaviours, and the three-level development structure are aligned to the framework that training departments already use.
For operators looking to support pilot self-development between formal assessments, HPP provides a structured, consistent tool that works alongside existing training programmes — reinforcing the language and methodology of the simulator in the context of everyday line flying. If you are considering HPP for your pilots, I am happy to discuss how it can complement your training approach.