A4.2.5 Conduct of Debriefing

#Debriefing - General

#Step 1: Pre-debrief reflection (5 minutes)

At the conclusion of the simulator session, refer to your notes and give yourself 5 minutes to think carefully about your training objectives and the major themes from your observations. Ensure that you have something praiseworthy to say about each trainee. Think about how you will relate your observations to specific competencies and performance indicators. Determine one good example to associate with each competency below level 2.

#Step 2: Provide a brief introduction and the result

#Step 3: List any competencies below level 2 with a verbatim factual explanation

List any competencies below level 2 and say accurately why you assessed this. For example, during the (pick an example from the EVAL) and say:

"I have given you a grade of 1 because you didn't demonstrate the performance indicators, which resulted in an unsafe situation. The relevant performance indicators that I did not observe were that you did not seem to be aware of where the aircraft was and were unprepared for what might happen. An example of this is when you decided to level off after the engine failure and maintained a course towards high ground, which triggered the EGPWS."

The example phrasing is the operational template: factual statement of the grade, explicit reference to the performance indicators that were not observed, and a specific example from the session that illustrates the missing indicators. Each of the three components is required; a debrief that gives a grade without performance-indicator reference is opinion; a debrief that names indicators without an example is abstract; an example without an indicator-reference is anecdote.

#Step 4: Confirm understanding without dwelling

Ensure that the trainee(s) understand your assessment, but do not dwell on it.

#Step 5: Open the floor to trainee discussion topics

Once the result of the assessment has been given, say:

"Let's talk about the session. Are there any elements or events you would like to discuss?"

Keep this short and don't get into an in-depth discussion: just a list of anything they would like to talk about.

#Step 6: Trainee self-analysis (the "What did you do well?" loop)

Once this is done, ask the trainees to think back over the last 4 hours and ask each trainee:

"What did you do well?"

Then say:

"When you reflect on the session, if you were to do it again, what would you most like to improve and why?"

Again, reference the competencies. Repeat this for the other trainee.

#Step 7: Continue facilitation focused on the crew, with 2-3 learning outcomes

Once this is complete, continue to facilitate the debrief, this time focusing on the crew. Ensure the areas you wish to discuss are included.

The 2-3 learning outcome target is the operational mechanism for keeping the debrief focused. A debrief that surfaces 7 or 8 learning points has not done root-cause analysis; it has done symptom-cataloguing. Two or three competency-anchored learning outcomes per session will, over the recurrent training cycle, produce more durable behavioural change than 8 surface observations per session.

#Step 8: Summarise key learning by asking each trainee what they learned

Summarise the key learning points at the end of the debrief by asking each trainee to tell you what he / she learnt. Summarise the learning for both trainees.

The trainee-led summary at this step is the load-bearing pedagogy of the EBT debrief: a learning point the trainee can articulate in their own words at the end of the debrief is more likely to transfer to the line than the same point the instructor has stated. The instructor's summary follows the trainee's summary, not the other way around.

#Step 9: Ask the crew for feedback on your performance

The feedback step is not optional. It is the reciprocity that converts the debrief from an instructor-graded session into a two-way professional conversation. An instructor who never invites feedback on their own performance has signalled that the debrief was an inspection, not a development conversation.

#The 9-step sequence at a glance

The complete sequence, treated as one continuous flow:

#Why this sequence is load-bearing

The 9-step sequence operationalises three pedagogical principles that any EBT debrief depends on:

1. Outcome first, analysis second. Step 2 front-loads the result so that the trainee can hear the rest of the debrief without silently wondering what their grade is. A debrief that withholds the outcome until the end produces a trainee who heard nothing in the middle.
2. Trainee analysis precedes instructor analysis. Steps 5 and 6 invite the trainee to surface what they noticed before the instructor adds anything. A behaviour the trainee surfaces about themselves, by reflecting on their own performance, is more durable than a behaviour pointed out by the instructor.
3. The debrief closes with reciprocity. Step 9 reframes the debrief as a two-way professional conversation. An instructor who invites feedback signals that the development is mutual; an instructor who closes the debrief at Step 8 signals that the debrief was an inspection.

The sequence below the headline numbers is also load-bearing. The "do not accept a negative answer" rule at Step 6 is the operational mechanism that prevents the trainee from short-circuiting the self-analysis ("I didn't do anything well") and forcing the instructor back into instructor-led mode. The "2-3 learning outcomes" guide at Step 7 is the operational mechanism that keeps root-cause analysis from sliding into symptom-cataloguing. The 5-minute pre-debrief reflection at Step 1 is the operational mechanism that keeps the instructor's praiseworthy items factual rather than generic.

#Connections

• A4.2.1 Guidance for Examiners. Step 12 of the examiner's 14-step sequence is "debrief the trainees" using the 9-step sequence below.
• A4.2.2 Guidance for Instructors. Step 7 of the instructor's 9-step sequence is the same: debrief the trainees using the 9-step sequence below.
• A4.2.4 Grading Methodology for Recurrent Training and Checking. Produces the result the debrief delivers at Step 2 (COMPETENT vs ADDITIONAL TRAINING REQUIRED) and the per-competency grades the debrief explains at Step 3.
• A4.E Performance Grades. The 9-competency × 5-grade word-picture rubric the verbatim factual explanation at Step 3 references for the level-1 / level-2 competencies.
• A4.D Core Competencies. The 9 competencies and performance indicators the Step 3 explanation cites for any below-level-2 grade.
• 7.1 Introduction. The general debrief-discipline framework the EBT-specific 9-step sequence here operationalises for the EBT module context.
• 7.3 General Debrief Techniques. The general toolkit (questions, silence, active listening, video) the 9-step sequence draws from at Steps 5, 6, and 7.
• A1.3 The C-A-L Debriefing Model. The CRM / Analysis / Line-operations frame that complements the 9-step sequence's structural discipline with a content-organising frame for the Step 7 facilitated discussion.
• Facilitation. The primary instructional technique deployed throughout Steps 5 to 8 of the sequence.
• VENN grading. The grading lens that produced the per-competency rating delivered at Step 3.