Structured Training Ends
in the Simulator

Professional pilots receive more structured assessment of their technical performance than almost any other profession. Simulator checks, line checks, type ratings, recurrent training — the technical standards are documented, assessed, and maintained with rigour. The non-technical side of performance receives a fraction of that attention, and what attention it does receive is largely confined to the sim environment.

This creates a gap. The 9 ICAO Core Competencies — Leadership and Teamwork, Communication, Situational Awareness, Workload Management, and the rest — are taught in every CRM course and assessed in every proficiency check. But they are not practised systematically between those events. For most pilots, the gap between a CRM refresher and the next is two years. In that time, the behaviours that define high performance on the flight deck either develop through conscious effort or don't develop at all.

High Performance Pilot exists to close that gap.

What the App Does

HPP is a mobile-first app built around all 9 ICAO/EASA Core Competencies and the 77 observable behaviours that sit within them. It gives pilots a structured daily practice framework — a specific behaviour each day, three levels of How-To guidance for each one, and a reflection tool that ties the session to a real moment from the duty day.

The design principle is daily habit, not periodic training event. Five minutes at the end of a sector. A reflection written in the crew room. A behaviour practised with deliberate intent rather than encountered by chance. Over time, that consistency produces something that two-yearly CRM courses cannot: genuine development in the behaviours that distinguish good pilots from exceptional ones.

Three Levels of Each Behaviour

Every one of the 77 behaviours in HPP is structured at three levels: Foundation, Proficient, and Mastery. Foundation is where most pilots start — a clear, actionable How-To that applies on any flight in any role. Proficient moves toward consistency under varying conditions. Mastery focuses on leading that behaviour in others — the level at which a Captain or Training Captain operates.

This three-level structure is what makes HPP useful across all career stages. A First Officer working toward command builds Foundation and Proficient across all nine competencies — a structured development record that demonstrates readiness in concrete, observable terms. A Captain uses the same app to develop at Mastery level, which means developing the behaviours that make the crew better, not just the individual.

The structure also reflects how expertise actually develops. Competence is not binary — it exists on a continuum, and the How-To levels in HPP map to genuine stages of development rather than to pass/fail thresholds.

The Reflection That Makes It Stick

Every practice session ends with a 280-character reflection — a single sentence tied to the specific behaviour just practised. Not a general diary entry, but a specific observation anchored to a real moment from the flight. Over time, those reflections build a detailed, chronological record of how performance is developing in each competency.

This is what makes HPP qualitatively different from a training course. A course leaves a certificate. HPP leaves a record of specific, dated, self-authored observations about real performance in real conditions. That record is the development portfolio — and it forms the basis of the My Report, which can be generated at any time and shared with evaluators, training departments, or included in a professional portfolio.

Who It's For

HPP is built for professional pilots at every career stage. First Officers who want to demonstrate development readiness for command. Captains who want to lead their own performance with the same rigour they apply to technical standards. Training Captains and TRIs who want a structured framework for their own development — not just the development of the pilots they assess.

It is also a credible tool for aviation training departments and operators who want to support voluntary self-development between mandated training events. Unlike prescribed training programmes, HPP is pilot-led — which means the engagement is genuine and the development record reflects actual practice, not compliance.

A Note on Why I Built It

I have spent forty years in multi-crew aviation. As a Line Training Captain and an instructor on MCCI and APS MCC courses — programmes specifically designed to build genuine multi-crew practice from the ground up — I have spent a significant part of my career working with pilots on exactly the behaviours that the Core Competency framework describes. MCCI and APS MCC are built around CRM at their core, which makes them uniquely aligned with the framework in a way that few other training environments are.

What I consistently observe across that experience is that the pilots who perform best are not always those with the most hours. They are the ones who have thought carefully about their own performance, developed genuine self-awareness, and practise the non-technical behaviours with the same intentionality they bring to their technical flying.

Those pilots are not born that way. They develop — through deliberate practice, honest reflection, and sustained attention to the behaviours that define professional performance. HPP is the tool I wish had existed when I was building those habits myself. It is built on the same framework I teach, written at the same three levels I observe in high-performing crews, and designed to be used on the line — not just in the training environment.

If you fly professionally and you are serious about your development, HPP is the daily practice that makes the difference visible — to you, to your colleagues, and to the people who assess you.