Embry-Riddle Improved Training Program Yields Promising Results

A group of 58 flight students at Embry-Riddle Aeronautical University were able to reduce the time it took them to complete a first solo flight by more than 30 percent, thanks to the school’s new aviation flight training program, PILOT.

The PILOT, or Pre-flight Immersion Laboratory for Operations Training program, is an evidence-based approach that was launched by Embry-Riddle in fall 2021.

As Embry-Riddle has been faced with heavy demand for its Aeronautical Science degree program, “The idea was to increase capacity by increasing efficiency,” said Dr. Alan Stolzer, dean of the school’s College of Aviation at Daytona Beach. “We also wanted to enhance student learning, improve aviation safety and help industry address a critical shortage of qualified pilots.”

Under the program, incoming flight students spend their first four weeks learning preflight, checklist and flight procedures in virtual reality (VR) environments developed by Embry-Riddle and its industry partners. Students then continue to work with their flight instructor, completing oral and simulator activities.

Using Embry-Riddle’s customized VR platforms, students practice tasks ranging from aircraft checklists and preflight inspection, to takeoffs and landings, flight maneuvers and radio communications with Air Traffic Control (ATC). Students learn the basics of flight maneuvers through a VR flight trainer from True Course Simulations. The VR software helps students leverage what they learned during simulator and oral activities by focusing on a three-step learning process – read, watch and do.

First, the student will read a short pre-flight briefing that gives them the essence of the material they need to know before each “mission,” or flight lesson. As a second step, the student will watch a video with the maneuver or task being performed. In this way, they get a visual on the objective, along with supplemental information on the maneuver or task itself. Third, students put all of their knowledge together in a high-resolution, interactive simulation. The simulation allows them to fly, applying everything they’ve learned until they gain mastery.

Another technology called CAART (Commercial Aviation Augmented Reality Toolkit), developed with Cole Engineering Solutions of Orlando, Florida, lets students learn checklists as well as the aircraft walk-around process and sit in a virtual Cessna 172 training aircraft on a simulated Embry-Riddle flight ramp.

Embry-Riddle’s PILOT program also features a virtual Air Traffic Control (ATC) lab. There, students ride along with a 360-degree video of a real flight with a virtual instructor. The instructor introduces students to a variety of flight scenarios in complex environments such as a busy arrival to Daytona Beach International Airport. Throughout the video flight, the instructor explains what’s being said over the radio and how that corresponds to actions the student must take.

Students can then practice talking on the radio in another VR trainer. The Pilot Phraseology Trainer (PPT) helps students practice radio calls at their own pace, focusing on repetitive listening and speaking accuracy with simulated ATC.

In the final stage of radio training, students enter a VR flight so that they can test their skills in a simulated environment for realistic ATC training (SERA technology, developed by ATSi). As they speak with ATC, the SERA system uses artificial intelligence software to react to what the student pilot is saying as their flight progresses, correcting them when they make mistakes.

While results remain preliminary, reports from instructor pilots have been positive, said Dr. Ken Byrnes, chair of the Flight Department at Embry-Riddle’s Daytona Beach, Florida, campus. “Students who go through our new training program are better prepared when they step into an airplane,” Byrnes reported. “They also have lower anxiety and greater confidence due to their experience and understanding of what to expect in the aircraft.”

Embry-Riddle Flight Training Manager Nicole Hester agreed that the program is paying off. “We have had students who finished and soloed in times that we have never seen before,” Hester said. “We’re also getting feedback from our instructor pilots that students in the new program can immediately control the airplane and understand radio communications very well.”