Elusive Immersion

The recent breakthrough of using virtual reality to provide flight training with regulatory-approved credit has reinvigorated the discussion on the ideal formula for developing competent airline pilots. Its importance is underscored by the recent EASA event on Immersive Technologies in Aviation Training.

VR (AR, MR, XR) technologies offer a different twist on immersion in flight scenarios, what we used to term “suspension of disbelief” to the point that the pilot forgets he or she is not in a real airplane in the real world. I’m skeptical that happens, except possibly for a few seconds during panic mode, but that’s the goal.

So the rush is on to determine what elements in the training curricula can be replaced by the new faux-realities (FR): the classroom? AATD? FNPT? FTD? Perhaps even the full-flight simulator? The instructor too? EASA Director of Flight Standards Jesper Rasmussen said, “We are in a situation where there is no new harmonised approach or guidance for the development, use, or approval of these tools.”

EASA notes that currently as much as 77% of flight training is done in an FFS. Advocates of VR and other so-called lower-end devices argue this could be reduced to as little as 5%… or even zero. At significantly reduced cost, and maybe in less time.

These debates have been ongoing for some time, well before the surprise advent of VR. A manufacturer or an academic lab develops an innovative device, and then seeks regulatory approval for how the new thing might fit into the training scheme. The new EASA proposed regulation NPA 2020-15, updating flight simulation training device requirements by applying the “task to tool” approach developed for ICAO Doc 9625 4th Edition, should improve the device approval process.

But the fact is, no single technology will ever provide a complete, total immersion solution for flight training. Virtual/mixed reality may better prepare the student for the FFS, and may even enable some things the full-flight simulator cannot do, but it’s still an artifice. The FFS has limitations, such as lack of realistic G-forces, and in the back of the crews’ minds is always the comfort that they’re bolted to the ground. Even flying the aircraft lacks full immersion, as it is too dangerous to attempt certain manoeuvres which need to be trained somehow.

At the moment, the airline industry is in turmoil: chaotic national quarantine, vaccination and testing rules bewildering would-be travellers; resistance to vax mandates; high rates of retirements and furloughs radically altering the experience levels of flight crews; skills decay from long-grounded pilots continuing to cause concern; hundreds of new startup airlines seeking airworthiness approvals, long-parked aircraft, and eager-to-fly personnel; cargo drones and flying taxis complicating the local airspace; the return of supersonic, maybe.

Pre-pandemic training industry issues have not been resolved such as the high cost of training, unacceptable rates of unqualified graduates, adapting to the preferred learning styles of the new generation, implementing UPRT (on aircraft or not), and the melange of training methodologies: ABLE, ATPL, AQP, CBTA, EBT, KSA, MPL …

What’s needed, in my view across nearly four decades in the industry, is a systemic re-think of the pilot training pipeline, leading to a global consensus standard. Not just which technology device fits which day of the syllabus.

It’s encouraging to see the accelerating emphasis on research into human factors – the psychological and physiological processes that underly the pilot’s capability to absorb and apply learning, and especially their individual reactions in stressful situations. Some of the studies of eye/gaze-track patterns, speech/communication analysis for CRM, startle effect, and other biometrics – aided by AI and Big Data – could prove significant in the quest for adaptive individualised training.

Just as there is no ideal technology device for training, there is no ideal pilot. But there could be an ideal training framework which enables each pilot to become their best under any flight circumstance.

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