- Evidence-based training (EBT) develops and assesses pilots against the core competencies, using observable behaviours, in scenario-based simulator sessions.
- Its limitation is one of sampling: an instructor sees the behaviours a scenario brings out, on the day, roughly twice a year.
- The hundreds of line sectors between sessions are where behaviours are actually built, and EBT does not see them.
- High Performance Pilot works the other way round: the pilot practises all of the behaviours on the line, so the next check samples a pilot who has been developing in between.
Anyone who has flown recurrent training under both systems knows the difference EBT makes. The old model was a list: engine failure at V1, a rejected take-off, a single-engine go-around, signed off one by one. The manoeuvres still matter, but they no longer define the session. Today the question an instructor is answering is not only "did the pilot fly the manoeuvre?" but "how did this crew manage the situation, and why?"
That shift is real progress. It is also worth being clear about what a simulator session can and cannot tell anyone, because the answer explains where most of a pilot's development is won or lost.
What Evidence-Based Training Is
ICAO set out the approach in 2013 in Doc 9995, the Manual of Evidence-based Training. The idea is in the name. Rather than training the events that caused accidents in earlier generations of aircraft, the programme draws on evidence from accidents, incidents, flight operations and training to decide what modern crews actually need, and then develops the competencies that let a crew handle situations nobody scripted.
In practice, a typical EBT module has three parts:
- An evaluation phase: a realistic, line-oriented scenario flown to see how the crew performs before any training is given.
- Manoeuvres training: the handling events that still need regular practice.
- Scenario-based training: the largest part, aimed at developing competencies and managing the risks the evaluation exposed.
Throughout, the instructor observes and records what the crew does, classifies it against the observable behaviours of each competency, and looks for the root cause before grading. A programme typically runs over three years, with modules spread across it.
What a Check Can See
The strength of EBT is that it looks at behaviour, not just outcomes. A good instructor can tell you not only that the approach became rushed, but that the rush started with a briefing that didn’t develop spare capacity, and that the briefing left more questions unanswered than it clarified. That is a genuinely useful diagnosis.
Its limitation is one of sampling. A scenario is built to bring out certain behaviours, so those are the behaviours the instructor sees. A competent pilot may never be put in a position that tests the one behaviour they find hardest. And whatever the instructor does see, they see on one day, in one device, with one crew, roughly every six months.
A check samples a pilot's behaviours. It does not develop them. The development happens in the sectors in between.
Between two sessions, a line pilot might fly several hundred sectors. Every one of them contains briefings, workload peaks, communication with colleagues and air traffic control, and decisions. That is where habits are formed, reinforced or quietly eroded. Yet in most operations, the debrief from the last session is the only structured input the pilot carries into all of that flying, and its detail fades within weeks.
Working the Other Way Round
EBT starts at the check and works backwards: observe a performance, identify the weaker competency, train it. High Performance Pilot starts at the other end. It takes the same competencies and the same observable behaviours and gives the pilot a structured way to practise all of them, on the line, between checks.
The framework has nine competencies and 77 observable behaviours, built on the ICAO core competencies. Each behaviour has practical How-To guidance at three levels: Foundation, Proficient and Mastery. Each day the pilot takes one behaviour into the flight, then reflects briefly afterwards on what happened, what worked and what they would do next time.
| EBT session | Between checks with HPP | |
|---|---|---|
| Where | Simulator | On the line, every flight |
| How often | A module roughly every six months | A few minutes a day |
| Which behaviours | Those the scenario brings out | All 77, chosen by the pilot |
| Who drives it | The instructor | The pilot |
| Purpose | Develop and assess | Develop only; nothing is graded |
Over weeks and months, this builds what a check cannot: a picture of how a pilot actually engages with every behaviour, not just the ones a scenario happened to test. The pilot arriving at the next session has been developing in between, and the instructor is sampling a moving picture rather than a still one.
The Debrief Becomes the Starting Point
Because both use the same language, the two connect naturally. The debrief from a simulator session does not have to fade. It becomes the starting point for the next six months.
A first officer's debrief notes that as workload built during a non-normal, they became reactive: responding to each new event rather than staying ahead of it. That is a Workload Management issue more than a Situational Awareness one, because awareness was lost as a result of the workload, not the other way round.
They record the feedback in their High Performance Pilot profile. Their Flight Plan points them to the planning and prioritising behaviours, with a prompt to take into the next sector, and their daily practice builds the habit of protecting spare capacity before it is needed. By the next session, the behaviour the debrief identified has been practised on dozens of real flights, not just remembered.
The coaching algorithm that builds the Flight Plan draws on High Performance Pilot's own library of more than 850 practical insights, written by a Line Training Captain and mapped to the core competencies. It does not grade the pilot, and it is not a check.
Complementary, Not Competing
None of this replaces EBT, and it should not try to. Assessment belongs with trained instructors, in a controlled environment, under the operator's programme. What a pilot does between checks belongs to the pilot.
That is why the privacy line matters. A pilot's practice and reflections in High Performance Pilot are private to the pilot. They are a development record, not an assessment record, and they are not shared with an employer. Pilots are conscientious learners; given a structure they trust, most will use it honestly. The value of the tool depends on keeping it that way.
Structured training ends in the simulator. Development doesn't. EBT made the check far more meaningful. The opportunity now is to make the time between checks just as deliberate.
Frequently Asked Questions
What is evidence-based training (EBT) for pilots?
Evidence-based training is a way of running recurrent simulator training that develops and assesses a pilot's competencies rather than a fixed list of manoeuvres. ICAO set out the approach in Doc 9995, the Manual of Evidence-based Training, in 2013. Scenarios are chosen from operational and accident data, and instructors grade performance against the core competencies using observable behaviours.
What can EBT not see?
EBT sees the behaviours that a particular scenario brings out, in a simulator, on the day of the session. It does not see how a pilot works on those behaviours across the hundreds of line sectors flown between sessions, which is where most development actually happens.
Does High Performance Pilot replace EBT?
No. High Performance Pilot does not grade or assess anyone. It uses the same competencies and observable behaviours as EBT and gives pilots a structured way to practise them on the line between simulator sessions, so the debrief from one session becomes the starting point for development before the next.
Does my airline see my High Performance Pilot data?
No. Your practice, reflections and Flight Plan are private to you. High Performance Pilot is a personal development tool, not an assessment record.
How much time does it take?
A few minutes a day. You choose one behaviour, read a short How-To at your level, carry it into the flight, and reflect briefly afterwards.
Checks Count
Practise the same competencies and observable behaviours your instructor grades, on the line, a few minutes a day. Three development levels for every behaviour, a daily reflection, and with Elite Membership a personalised Flight Plan that starts from your last simulator debrief.
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