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FROM THE FA A 52 APRIL 2017 AIRCRAFT MAINTENANCE TECHNOLOGY THE AUTHOR HAS DELIVERED A LOT OF HUMAN factors training in the United States and worldwide. This article is motivated by some of his observations of the industry-developed maintenance human factors training. It is "good-news" story. "WE ARE STARTING/MODIFYING OUR HF TRAINING" Nearly every week I receive an email that starts with a statement that the writer is developing or modifying their maintenance HF training. Often the request is accompanied by an invitation for me, or a colleague from the FAA, Civil Aerospace Medical Institute, or an FAA Airworthiness Inspector to come and speak to your maintenance workforce. Of course, we are flattered by the invitation to visit your organization, to see your maintenance or manufacturing force at work, and then to deliver a portion or all of your training. If only we had the time and other resources we would be delighted to accept such invitations. We are increasingly convinced that we offer a better alter- native which is our website (www.humanfactorsinfo. com or www.mxfatigue.com) in combination with your experience, creativity, and personal knowledge of organizational requirements and culture. OUR INVITATION COUNTEROFFER I have been responding to the invitations by direct- ing you to our website. Once I get you to our FAA website I steer you to the training HF materials, the Maintenance Human Factors Training Presentation System, the Fatigue Awareness Training, and the fatigue movie titled "Grounded." All of these mate- rials are in usable format and "open source" (code word for free). The Maintenance Human Factors Presentation System is generic legacy HF training. Most users choose to supplement the generic train- ing with discussions about safety culture, voluntary reporting, and other current topics that are organi- zationally relevant. When I suggest these sites I often ask for examples of the training that they've developed. In many cases I get to see the products that are derived from those websites and other places. I am usually positively impressed. You have the ability to select the infor- mation, graphics, and media that work for you. It is especially excellent when you add pictures from your workplace and use data from your safety management system or recent safety-related events. Just last week I asked a respondent for permission to use some of the ideas and graphics that he added to the FAA and CASA materials. I went from being the trainer to being the student. Thank you for that! WHY YOU SHOULD BE THE HF TRAINING DEVELOPER OR TRAINER Adult learning is called "Andragogy." It refers to the training and education practices for adults/mature learners. Most adults, especially aviation maintenance technicians are very practical about what they want to learn and how to learn it most efficiently. Most adult learners seek immediate relevancy. For exam- ple, "tell me about good sleep habits and not about sleep theory;" "show me the fuel system and how to troubleshoot a pump failure or how to service a filter rather than how fuel is refined." Since you know the workplace and organizational challenges you can ensure training that is relevant. You know what is important for your workers. Because you can zoom on specific issues your train- ing can be efficient and, more likely, effective. Since you know the general background of the students you are able to tailor the information to their knowledge and experience level. DR. WILLIAM B. JOHNSON is the FAA Chief Scientific and Technical Advisor for Human Factors in Aircraft Maintenance Systems. His comments are based on nearly 50 years of combined experience as a pilot/mechanic, an airline engineering and MRO consultant, a professor, and an FAA scientific executive. HOMEGROWN HUMAN FACTORS TRAINING: NO FAA SPEAKER REQUIRED Use the FAA human factors websites in combination with your experience, creativity, and personal knowledge of organizational requirements and culture to create the most relevant training By Dr. Bill Johnson