What Upset Prevention Recovery Training means for aviation safety

“None of us is immune to the startle and surprise response and how we will react”

Next year, a new form of training will be mandated in Australia that teaches pilots how to react in the terrifying seconds after an aircraft stalls, and panic sets in. Bella Richards speaks to the key players responsible for the introduction of Upset Prevention Recovery Training to find out what it means for aviation safety

ON 2 January 2006, one of the aircraft flying for Angela Garvey’s skydiving business – a Cessna 206, VH-UYB – experienced a loss of power on take-off. The aircraft was at a low air speed and likely stalled, rolling to the right, clipping a tree and then crashing nose-first into a dam. Seven people were on the flight including the pilot and instructors, and five of them died that day. Despite the horror of the event, Garvey never blamed the pilot. “No one knows how we will react in this critical situation, including myself. None of us is immune to the startle and surprise response and how we will react,” she says.