When my team first proposed making our core training content available for free, to anyone, anywhere, with no conditions attached, there were practical questions to work through. There always are.
The underlying question, though, was not practical. It was philosophical. And the answer to it has shaped everything Osprey has done since we launched: who is responsible for raising the baseline level of knowledge in this industry? Our answer, from day one, has been: we are.
The knowledge gap is not new, but it is getting more dangerous
In July 2014, Malaysia Airlines Flight MH17 was shot down over eastern Ukraine. 298 people died. The investigation that followed revealed something painful: the information needed to understand the risk existed. What failed was the system for translating that information into decisions.
In the years since, the industry has done important work. The International Civil Aviation Organization's (ICAO) Conflict Zone Information Repository went live. New frameworks for threat assessment were developed. Airlines, for the most part, improved. The underlying knowledge gap, however, has never been fully addressed: whether every individual involved in overflight decision-making actually understands what they are looking at, and why it matters.
That gap is our responsibility to close.
Why free?
Giving away expertise that took years to develop is not an obvious commercial decision. But the foundational knowledge of conflict zone risk management is too important to sit behind a paywall.
Every aviation professional who touches overflight decisions should understand what conflict zones are, how risk is assessed, what the regulatory framework requires, and how to make sound decisions when the picture is uncertain. Many do not, and that is not a capability problem. It is an access problem.
The Osprey platform and in-person training programme are commercial products, and we are transparent about that. But making the core curriculum free was a deliberate choice, not a compromise. If the baseline level of knowledge across this industry is going to improve, someone has to take responsibility for raising it. We decided that organisation is us.
The free course carries no trial period, no expiry date, and no obligation to buy anything. It exists because the industry needs it to exist.
What the course contains
We did not want to produce a thin introduction that left participants feeling vaguely informed. We wanted to build the course we would want our own analysts to take in their first week at Osprey.
The result is a self-paced programme covering the full landscape of conflict zone overflight risk management:
- The international regulatory and legal framework: what ICAO requires, how State Notices and Notices to Air Missions (NOTAMs) work, and what your legal obligations are
- Intelligence methodology: how threat information is gathered, assessed, and graded, and why not all sources are equal
- Route planning and decision-making frameworks: the structured approaches used by experienced operators when the picture is unclear
- NOTAM and State Notice interpretation: one of the most misunderstood areas in practice, with direct consequences for operational decisions
- Case studies: including a detailed analysis of MH17 and other incidents, examining the information environment at the time and the lessons each contains
- The Osprey methodology: how we approach conflict zone assessment, and how you can apply the same principles in your own environment
The course takes approximately three to four hours to complete. It is self-paced, accessible on any device, and free, with no credit card required, no trial, and no expiry.
What comes next
The in-person training programme builds directly on the online course. Where the course delivers the principles, frameworks and case studies, the workshops offer something the online format cannot: the experience of applying those principles under pressure, in realistic scenarios with Osprey experts in the room.
We run small cohorts deliberately. We want participants to leave having been genuinely challenged, with their thinking meaningfully changed.
An invitation
If you work in flight operations, safety, aviation security or regulatory affairs, the free course is for you. Enrol, share it with your team and use it.
Enrol in the free course: ospreyflightsolutions.com/our-solutions/our-services-training
To go further, register your interest in the in-person programme at ospreyflightsolutions.com/form-in-person-training-enquiry
The industry is safer when everyone's knowledge is better. That is the only argument we have ever needed.
