Training Virtually with PlaneSense

PlaneSense, the Pilatus PC-12 and PC-24 fractional operator, implemented VR technology in the fall of 2024 for their PC-12 new-hires. After the first half year of using VR for flight deck familiarization, SOPs, and emergency procedures training, PlaneSense shares some of their operational experience with the technology.

Tim Cloutier, Assistant Director of Flight Training at PlaneSense: "Our students have reported being well-prepared after they use VRflow and our instructors have remarked they have seen a solid improvement in student knowledge and performance. VRpilot has been great to work with and they have done an incredible job of integrating our cockpit, procedures, and checklists into the virtual world!”

The pilots at PlaneSense have also given VR a warm welcome. New PC-12 first officer Dustin Berlin commented: “Things like having the QRH and In flight guide at your fingertips, the prompts, exam mode, specific directions to complete a task and not allowing folks to learn it incorrectly during initial familiarization when primacy is so important, integration of callouts, directing attention to visual cues with color coding, being able to repositioning in the seat, opportunity to see gauges moving, locating items and developing muscle memory....It’s all been so helpful in getting hands on directed experience and overcoming that hesitation and feeling of being in an unfamiliar place. It even made the preflight cockpit tasks much easier. I felt like I could go out to the plane and just repeat what I'd practiced on VRflow,” he said after using VR for his initial PC-12 training. He adds: “…I don't know that I've seen a more thoughtful or better executed example of integrating technology into training.”

VRpilot is the supplier of the VR technology used by PlaneSense. Partner in VRpilot, Thor P. Andersen, shares his thoughts on PlaneSense’s successful implementation of VR: “Creating engaging, immersive, and cost-effective training experiences required a close collaboration with the end-user as well as subject matter knowledge. Our close collaboration with PlaneSense on this project has provided their pilots with a precise training tool that prepares them better for the cockpit than ever before. Repetitive training of how exactly to perform the procedures in a two-pilot crew helps the pilots reach PlaneSense’s high standard of training faster and with more confidence.”

Training flexibility is another advantage of VR training: the headsets are portable, and pilots can share a cockpit across physical distances – a flexibility that benefits both pilots and instructors.