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Pilot Training

Duties of the Board, as provided by the New York Navigation Law include, among other responsibilities, establishing rules and regulations regarding pilot apprenticeships, approval of applications for apprenticeships and the testing of Sandy Hook, Hudson River and Long Island Sound Pilots for original licenses, extensions of route, and annual renewals.

The qualifications for entrance into the State pilot system are rigorous. Sandy Hook apprentice pilots initially work aboard the pilot launches as well as the pilot station boats and are required to ride over 1,000 vessels entering and departing the Port of New York and New Jersey as part of the apprentice training program. Hudson River Pilots-in-Training are required to have a minimum 1,600 gross ton mate or a master’s credential with first class pilotage endorsements for the Hudson River. In the Long Island Sound, Northeast Marine Pilots requires an unlimited master’s credential with first class pilotage endorsements for all ports in the Long Island Sound.

An annual Advanced Pilot Training Program ensures that New York State pilots are among the best trained, equipped and informed professionals in the nation. This training program, which is regularly reviewed and upgraded, provides continuing education seminars and other instruction addressing the following:

  • Emergency ship handling at the Maritime Institute of Technology and Graduate Studies (MITAGS).
  • A Port Security Grant awarded to the Board funded the development of a Pilot Security Training Course at MITAGS addressing an active shooter/hostile event situation aboard a vessel, emergency communications, and vessel security.
  • Ship Pilot Ladder training program for pilots and apprentice pilots.
  • Development of “Best Practices” for harbor pilotage of Ultra-Large and Super Ultra-Large container vessels
    at MITAGS.
  • Bridge Resource Management for Pilots at MITAGS.
  • Manned Model Training at Port Revel, France, the Maritime Pilots Institute in Covington, Louisiana, Marine Safety, Inc. at Newport, Rhode Island, and the Massachusetts Maritime Academy Ship Simulator School.
  • Radar Systems Theory and Use, Electronic Chart Display and Information System (ECDIS), Satellite Navigation (SATNAV), Global Positioning System (GPS), Automatic Identification System (AIS), electronic information and auto pilot systems.
  • Selected case histories and studies of maritime accidents and casualties.
  • Master-Pilot Exchange (MPX) system and protocols.
  • Change of the Conn Policies and Procedures.
  • Role of the Compulsory State Pilot.
  • Human Factors in Marine Operations.
  • Fatigue, Sleep and Medications Program at MITAGS.
  • Tractor tug, azimuth propulsion, podded propulsion and dynamic positioning training at MITAGS and the
    Maritime Pilots Institute.

The Advanced Pilot Training Program ensures that State licensed pilots maintain their high professional standards in the rapidly changing maritime industry. The courses focus on efficient use of personnel, communications, equipment, organizational development and human and technical resources available on the bridge of a modern ship.

The Advanced Pilot Training Program is responsive to, and addresses, the recommendations and/or rules of other recognized safety agencies, such as the National Transportation Safety Board, The National Safety Council, Standards for the Training and Certification of Watch Officers (STCW) and the United States Coast Guard. The goal of the Advanced Pilot Training Program is to heighten communication levels and awareness of the various human and operational factors which affect a state pilot’s work within a State pilotage system that operates twenty-four hours a day in all weather conditions.