The EASA grading scale: How Many, How Often, TEM and the VENN model
Once you know what CBTA is, the next question is how a competency actually gets a number. Under the EASA framework each competency is graded on a 1–5 scale: 1 is not competent, 2 is competent but below the average, 3 is the average, 4 is above the average and 5 is exemplary. Each operator sets its own norm, the grade a pilot is expected to reach, and 3 is the usual choice. The grade is not a gut feeling: it comes from three dimensions that the evaluator considers together, often drawn as overlapping circles, the VENN model, described in EASA AMC4 ORO.FC.231(d)(1) and, competency by competency, in GM2 ORO.FC.231(d)(1).
The three dimensions
HOW MANY: how many of the competency's observable behaviours (OBs) were demonstrated when they were required: few or hardly any, some, many, most, or all and almost all. Because OBs are concrete and visible, this keeps the assessment grounded in evidence rather than impression.
HOW OFTEN: how consistently those behaviours were demonstrated when required: rarely, occasionally, regularly or always. A behaviour shown once is not the same as one shown reliably throughout the session.
TEM (the outcome): what the performance produced in terms of Threat and Error Management: an unsafe situation, not an unsafe situation, a safe situation, or enhanced safety, effectiveness and efficiency.
The EASA table
| Grade | Outcome | How many | How often |
|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | unsafe situation | few, hardly any | rarely |
| 2 | not an unsafe situation | some | occasionally |
| 3 | safe situation | many | regularly |
| 4 | safe situation | most | regularly |
| 5 | enhanced safety, effectiveness and efficiency | all, almost all | always |
Source: EASA AMC4 ORO.FC.231(d)(1), "Abbreviated word picture VENN model".
Putting them together
Look at grades 3 and 4: both say "regularly" and both say "safe situation". What separates an average performance from one above the average is how many behaviours were shown: many gives a 3, most gives a 4. A practical way to apply the table is to let the weakest dimension cap the grade, with "regularly" and "safe situation" allowing up to a 4. It doesn't matter how many good behaviours you saw if the outcome was an unsafe situation, and one brilliant action shown only once does not make a consistent competency. This is how AviGrade produces a grade in real time.
- 5 — Exemplary: enhanced safety, effectiveness and efficiency.
- 4 — Effective: above the average; a safe operation.
- 3 — Adequate: the average; a safe operation.
- 2 — Minimally acceptable: competent, but below the average; not an unsafe situation.
- 1 — Ineffective: not competent; an unsafe situation.
A worked example
Take Communication (COM) during a busy approach. The pilot demonstrates most of the observable behaviours when they are required, does so regularly, and the result is a safe situation. On the EASA table that is a 4. Had the pilot shown only many of them, it would be a 3; a 5 needs all or almost all of them, always, and an outcome that enhanced safety, effectiveness and efficiency.
Now imagine the same pilot shows plenty of good communication behaviours, but a missed read-back briefly creates an unsafe situation that the crew then recovers. However many behaviours were demonstrated, the outcome caps the grade at 1, because the weakest dimension governs the result.
EASA or IATA?
Some operators grade with the scale in IATA's guidance material, which has five steps in every dimension: it adds "very often" and "safe situation (effective)" at level 4. On that scale "regularly" and "safe situation" count as a 3, so the example above would be a 3, not a 4. AviGrade grades on the EASA scale (VENN model) by default and offers the IATA scale as an option; each session keeps the scale it was created with, and the report states it.
Why this matters for examiners
Grading three dimensions per competency, for up to nine competencies, for two crew members, by hand on paper is slow and error-prone. Structuring it — marking OBs, selecting How Often and the TEM outcome, and letting the grade fall out automatically — keeps evaluations consistent between examiners and frees you to focus on the debrief.
AviGrade calculates the competency grade from How Many, How Often and TEM as you mark each observable behaviour — no spreadsheets.
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