23rd Flying Training Squadron Trains Helicopter Pilots with VR

The 23rd Flying Training Squadron (FTS), which isresponsible for training helicopter pilots and enlisted aircrews and preparingthem for their next assignments, is using virtual-reality (VR) technology toincrease their numbers.

First Lt. Matthew Gulotta, 23rd Flying Training Squadron student pilot, demonstrates the use of the flight simulation, Oct. 22, 2019, at Fort Rucker, Alabama. (U.S. Air Force photo by Senior Airman Alexa Culbert).

Currently, the squadron produces between 74 and 85 pilots per year. With the arrival of the new Air Force HH-60W “Whiskey” helicopter, however, those numbers need to increase to more than 120 by the year 2023. This is where the “da Vinci” project comes into play. The project, named after famed polymath, Leonardo da Vinci, supplements hours within a flight simulation that translates over into flight hours in an actual aircraft.

The idea for project da Vinci was created during the AFWERX conference in Las Vegas in January. Maj. Gen. Patrick Doherty, the former 19th Air Force commander, invited helicopter training experts to attend the conference to brainstorm new ideas to propel the community forward.

“I was a student (at the 23rd FTS) from 2002 through 2003and I would agree that the way we trained then was pretty similar to the way wetrained our students prior to this virtual-reality class, so this is a reallyexciting time for the community,” said Lt. Col. Jake Brittingham, 23rd FTScommander. “Coming together and addressing this as a vertical-lift community asa whole was really beneficial and it paid off. I think we’re all in agreementthat this is the right thing to do and to assume a little bit of risk toadvance our training mythologies.”

It was at this point the team at the 23rd FTS began thinkingof ways in which VR could be used to increase their numbers and best utilizetheir resources.

“One of the things that makes the Air Force culture sodistinct from the other branches in the U.S. military is that innovation is apart of who we are and it’s what we do,” said Capt. Jarrod Huffman, 23rd FTSchief of future operations. “As new technologies are becoming available, we’rewanting to adapt to those technologies and incorporate them in our trainingprocesses.”

In standard training, student pilots are required to obtain105 in-seat flying hours, with each hour costing the Air Force approximately$1,300. The new class, featuring VR, cuts those flying hours down to about 60,thus cutting the cost per student roughly in half. With an investment of lessthan $30,000, the new training system will save the Air Force more than $5.7million per year.

In addition to cutting down costs, the incorporation of VRalso condenses the course length. The once eight-month course now only takesfive months.

Though they are producing pilots in a radically differentway, Huffman said they are working hard to ensure that the students are able toperform at the same level as the students who go through the original program.

In order to successfully test whether or not the new programis efficient, the pilots responsible for passing and failing the students atthe end of the program were not integrated or exposed to VR training, as to notskew the overall program standards.

Through the new program, the student pilots spendapproximately 23 1/2 hours in the VR simulations before even stepping foot inthe aircraft, ultimately saving fuel, flight hours and maintenance hours.

Capt. Matthew Strick, 23rd FTS innovative flight commander,recalled a student who was able to hover the aircraft and then fly it to astaging field without any assistance from the instructor pilot, all duringtheir first time in the aircraft, adding that this type of progress is unheardof through the original program. Even with the progress this initial class hasshown, the team at the 23rd is aware that there is still a lot to be determinedas the use of virtual reality is further refined.

“It’s important to know that this virtual-reality technology is still very much in its infancy and part of the da Vinci project was to learn if this technology has the potential to be rewarding a payoff for helicopter operations … I think with the speed of technology and what is becoming available, we will see a day where we can really invest in virtual reality and for it to be cost effective,” Brittingham said.

Source: US Air Force