Upset Prevention and Recovery Training (UPRT) is a combination of theoretical and practical training given to

aircraft pilot An aircraft pilot or aviator is a person who controls the flight of an aircraft by operating its directional flight controls. Some other aircrew members, such as navigators or flight engineers, are also considered aviators, because they a ...

s to enable the pilot to prevent, recognise and recover from unusual attitudes and unexpected situations. In

EASA The European Union Aviation Safety Agency (EASA) is an agency of the European Union (EU) with responsibility for civil aviation safety. It carries out certification, regulation and standardisation and also performs investigation and monitori ...

states, all pilots undergoing training for the CPL,

ATPL The airline transport pilot license (ATPL), or in the United States of America, an airline transport pilot (ATP) certificate is the highest level of aircraft pilot certificate. In the United States, those certified as airline transport pilots ...

and MPL (multi-crew pilot licence) are given a basic UPRT course. Advanced UPRT (AUPRT or commonly just UPRT) refers to a regulated course of at least 5 hours theoretical instruction and 3 hours practical instruction. Since December 2019, this course is mandatory for all pilots before their first type rating course in multi-pilot operations. While the AUPRT course may be undertaken in an

aerobatic Aerobatics is the practice of flying maneuvers involving aircraft attitudes that are not used in conventional passenger-carrying flights. The term is a portmanteau of "aerial" and "acrobatics". Aerobatics are performed in aeroplanes and glid ...

aircraft, aerobatic training does not replace a UPRT course. Class- or type-related UPRT addresses a particular class or type of aircraft. In EASA states, airlines must include upset prevention and recovery training as part of their recurrent training, covering the syllabus every three years. In the United States, all Part 121 air carriers have been required to conduct UPRT since March 2019.

Purpose

From 2010 to 2014, loss of control in-flight represented approximately 30% of fatalities in scheduled commercial air transport. UPRT was adopted to address this safety problem. In addition to teaching techniques to recover from unusual attitudes, UPRT is intended to provide initial experience of g-forces that could be encountered in a commercial aeroplane, from approximately -1g to 2.5g, and to help a pilot gain angle-of-attack awareness. The psychological elements of the course include overcoming surprise and startle, developing counter-intuitive recovery skills, and developing self-confidence through upset recovery in a "real-world" environment.

Techniques

One

mnemonic A mnemonic ( ) device, or memory device, is any learning technique that aids information retention or retrieval (remembering) in the human memory for better understanding. Mnemonics make use of elaborative encoding, retrieval cues, and imag ...

for upset recovery is "UPRT": * Upset * Push * Roll * Thrust On noticing an unusual flight condition, the pilot should first reduce the thrust, and push forward on the

yoke A yoke is a wooden beam sometimes used between a pair of oxen or other animals to enable them to pull together on a load when working in pairs, as oxen usually do; some yokes are fitted to individual animals. There are several types of yoke, us ...

to unstall the aircraft. An aircraft cannot be stalled at

zero g Weightlessness is the complete or near-complete absence of the sensation of weight. It is also termed zero gravity, zero G-force, or zero-G. Weight is a measurement of the force on an object at rest in a relatively strong gravitational fie ...

. The pilot should then

roll Roll or Rolls may refer to: Movement about the longitudinal axis * Roll angle (or roll rotation), one of the 3 angular degrees of freedom of any stiff body (for example a vehicle), describing motion about the longitudinal axis ** Roll (aviation), ...

the shortest way to the horizon. Finally thrust can be increased and the aircraft stabilised. Other mnemonics include "power, push, roll, recovered".

Differences from early-stage training

According to the UK Civil Aviation Authority, UPRT recovery techniques should not be used for light aircraft. Light aircraft should be recovered from unusual attitudes with minimum height loss, with the technique "power, roll, pitch". The " power-pitch couple" in light aircraft is usually small, that is, the engine is positioned in line with the centre of gravity, so changes in power do not cause large changes in pitch. UPRT techniques are designed for jet aircraft, particularly with underslung engines where a large increase in thrust can cause the aircraft to pitch up (the "thrust-pitch couple").

References

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External links

ICAO AUPRTA Airplane Upset & Prevention Recovery Training Aid, Revision 3 (February 2017)
Flight training