AEROSPACE Industry Communications

Virtual collaboration the good, the bad and the ugly

With the world still in varying degrees of lockdown, aerospace and aviation has accelerated its shift to online collaboration, learning and training. Aviation safety consultant FAHAD MASOOD, MRAeS, (Sqn Ldr(R), Air University Islamabad, Pakistan, explores the advantages and disadvantages of this new way of working.

Some call it a curse but this global pandemic is also an impetus for change. Covid-19 has hastened the inevitable, with people going online for almost every task of daily life now and aviation is no exception. From Zoom meetings to Skype training workshops to Webex webinars to Google Hangouts, we have shifted from more intimate face-to-face communiqués to an inevitable virtual existence. In my opinion, aerospace, as a high technology sector, has adapted to this new tech relatively quicker than others due to its built-in dynamism.

Online programmes: Effective or Ineffective? ​

With cyber-everything being the ‘new normal’, a lot of the supporting functions of aviation and aerospace (apart from the actual flying itself) is now being facilitated through the Internet, such as training and development, briefings/meetings, webinars etc. This July saw the first ever ‘virtual Farnborough’ trade show – with 14,000 visitors from 97 countries, 142 companies and 247 speakers in the FIA Connect week-long digital trade event.

This ‘new normal’ and increased digitalisation was always being contemplated by industry but never was the pace this brisk. Indeed, one speaker at FIAConnect remarked that the UK has undergone a decades-worth of shift to virtual way of working in just two-three months. This shift to virtual collaboration has unquestionable benefits but along with it comes challenges galore. E-learning, for example, can enable aviation organisations to meet regulatory requirements, as well as scale up learning and development of their staff while cutting training costs and increasing their operational efficiencies (Webanywhere, 2012). But it is important to bear in mind the disadvantages in this brave new world.

What follows is a brief overview of the good, the bad and the bottom of the pile in the context of aviation and virtual working.

A scene from the recent RAeS virtual space conference.

The good

There are many obvious advantages in using online collaboration:

1. Anyone can easily access sessions anytime and virtually from anywhere – highly desirable for a global industry like aerospace.
2. No travel, hassle for parking spaces and minimum away time from residence. Formal project meetings with international partners that happen every six months, can be replaced with weekly Skype sessions – boosting communication and agility of the overall enterprise.
3. Time management is easier and more efficient.
4. Virtually anyone can use it – reaching a much larger audience than traditional methods.
5. It generates increased inclusivity and flattening of aviation organisations. Today a student can tweet a rocket company CEO and get a response or pose a question to an Air Marshal via Zoom webinar.
6. Everything eco-friendly – everything electronic. No paper use. Nevertheless, e-learning only saves resources if the training is effective (Kearns, 2010).
7. This results as an opportunity for some to ‘punch above their weight’; for example, the RAeS has taken its lectures online, becoming more accessible to a wider global audience.

The RAeS’ forthcoming Aeroversity platform aims to provide online learned content and courses.

The bad

There are two sides to every coin. With the pros, here are the cons:

1. Decreased ‘mano a mano’ interaction between the participants. This could lead to reduced non-verbal cues available, leading to miscommunication or increased confusion – especially where critical safety concepts are being discussed. For example, Boeing 737 MAX re-certification process faced delays earlier this year since EU and FAA regulators could not meet in person. In an online training environment, a teacher may see a student nod their head in a Zoom lecture but do they really understand it?
2. The speaker is the only one communicating, hence less interaction with other participants and all may become passive attendees. Delegates or students can not communicate with each other, resulting in boredom at times and decreased efficiency. This reduces the possibility of students informally assisting each other in tackling joint projects while in the same class.
3. Possibility of delayed feedback due latency/slowinternet/disconnections from peers is a major hitch. Although this is a rarity nowadays, once it happens, tempers rise rather quickly, especially if there are high stakes involved, like that of a billion dollar deal. With everyone now online, there is added pressure on broadband links to keep up.
4. The participant needs to own a device (laptop, tablet, cell phone) and have access to the internet while specific software is a prerequisite. This is not a common issue in the developed world, however it is in the less fortunate areas, which can prove a challenge. Internet connectivity can be found wanting at times to transfer both voice and video at times. The more remote the region (for example, an aircraft on the ground (AOG) requiring troubleshooting from the OEM) the more critical the need.
5. In a training scenario, a limitation of not having full eye contact compels the trainers/facilitators to alternately or randomly question participants to ensure maximum learning value.
6. The aviator, engineer, etc needs to be somewhat IT technology conversant and the ‘old-skool’ generation (and those ironically perhaps at the top of companies, air arms and organisations) could conceivably have the most difficulties in going digital.
7. It gets even more challenging when using addons like screen-sharing, whiteboards etc. Use of styluses can be a huge enabler, as well as an inhibitor in contemporary times. Even the relatively more experienced lecturers or trainers feel hampered when they opt to use a Smart Board or digital whiteboards.

The digitally ugly

Although online interaction does free up time (sometimes!), it is often promoted as an easy way to learn and collaborate. Which it is, in the sense of not commuting and being more easy to fit into a schedule. However, the fact is that a participant with a family who works online is more than committed. Sometimes electronic interaction is thus conceived as a fix-all solution to lockdown, smart lockdown or curfew but this is not always the case. 

1. It is expensive and time-confusing to train less tech-savvy ‘old skool’ aviation executives for online meetings, when they should be focusing on leading or strategy.
2. Virtual events means that networking opportunities at aviation industry events are missed (coffee breaks in conferences, chalets at Farnborough etc), as well as ‘accidentally’ bumping into the right people at the right time, which cannot be replicated online. Will the aviation industry miss out on a whole year of potential start-ups, business deals, partnerships, job offers, that were facilitated by being in the ‘right place at the right time’.
3. It is difficult to motivate all students or delegates for extended periods of time and it can get boring very quickly. The novelty of ‘Zoom Pub Quizzes’ has already worn off. Online webinars or Zoom video meetings are also more tiring, as they require more focus and effort to concentrate on what is being said.
4. Some students or delegates have a negative attitude toward online technology. This can perhaps be because they are temporarily removed from their comfort zone.
5. In some cases training/workshop facilitators will have to redesign a course to fit online learning objectives. As a result of exposure to poorly designed e-learning courses, many aviation professionals have already developed a negative opinion of e-learning as a whole (Kearns, 2010).
6. While online aerospace events can theoretically reach more people and attract a global audience – they may fall short in inspirational qualities. Lack of the ability to get ‘hands-on’ with technology, sit in an aircraft cockpit and smell aviation grade gasoline at an air show could result in a shortage of up and coming aviators or engineers. Events like the ‘Virtual Air Tattoo’, held in the summer are well-organised but might never replace the visceral experience of watching, hearing and feeling the power of a full afterburner take-off.
7. Information security is of paramount importance for going cyber, especially to aerospace designers and strategic business unit executives where there is now a greater opportunity for hackers to listen in on meetings or steal company secrets. Zoom, for example, has already faced criticism for its cyber security safety. Meanwhile, TikTok a Chinese video sharing app, that some might see as a fun social media tool to promote engagement with young people or perhaps for aviation careers, has been banned by the US military due to how much personal information it collects from the user.
8. Virtual collaboration also asks whether the negative effects of blurring work and home is as sustainable as we think. Are we working from home, or living at work?
9. In an exam scenario, it is can be difficult to stop students from using unfair means during online quizzes or examinations. Hence, some form of AI facial recognition or digital signatures to protect against this menace has to be instituted.
10. Finally, the civil aviation industry depends on big-budget business travellers and its corporate clientele to generate revenue. If this cadre withers due to increased online collaboration and ‘virtual meetings’, it spells longer-term trouble for both airlines and manufacturers. This paradigm shift to video conferencing has, of course been predicted before, after 9/11, and never came to pass, however the Covid-19 crisis is on a whole different level. Has technology now caught up?

Conclusion ​

What is remarkable about this global paradigm shift is how all aviation functions have now absorbed it in their system of work. However, it is too early to say without credible research how effective these changes have been for aviation and aerospace organisations. With my personal experience I can vouch that ‘online’ is here to stay, no questions asked. However, past mistakes, including poorly designed e-training courses, that resulted in many pilots and aviation professionals having a negative opinion of online learning needs to be avoided at all costs.