Definition
A training method in which the instructor uses realistic, real-world flight situations to teach and assess a student's aeronautical knowledge, skills, judgment, and decision-making. Instead of practicing maneuvers in isolation, the student flies a scripted mission with specific objectives, conditions, and complications, and must apply learning to handle whatever comes up.
Plain English
Training built around realistic flight scenarios — like a real trip with weather, traffic, or a problem to solve — so the student learns to think and decide, not just perform maneuvers.
Context Anchor
Seen in flight instructor training, lesson planning, and FAA discussions of how people learn and apply pilot skills.
Derivation
Scenario comes from the Italian 'scenario,' meaning the outline of a play — the setup that tells actors what is happening. In training, a scenario is the flight situation set up for the student to fly through and respond to.
Why Pilots Care
It builds the ability to make safe decisions when conditions are not textbook, directly reducing the risk of accidents caused by poor judgment.
Intuition Check
SBT does not mean making up a story just to make a lesson more interesting. It means using a realistic flight situation to train practical decisions and actions.
Example Sentence 1
For today's lesson, the instructor used scenario-based training: a cross-country to a nearby airport with a deteriorating weather forecast, requiring the student to decide whether to divert.
Example Sentence 2
Using scenario-based training, the student practiced deciding whether to continue or divert when the simulated destination airport closed.