CH-47F Training Tools Highlighted at I/ITSEC

Engineering & Computer Simulations (ECS) will demonstrate version 2.5 of its CH-47F Block II Aviation Training Suite at Booth 1949 during this year’s Interservice/Industry Training, Simulation and Education Conference (I/ITSEC) in Orlando, Florida, from 2-5 December.

This training program provides adaptive, customized learning for rated and nonrated CH-47F Chinook crew members, as well as maintenance personnel. It supports the U.S Army Program Executive Office – Aviation (PEO Aviation), specifically its Project Manager Cargo (PM Cargo) CH-47F Block II New Equipment Training (NET) Program.

ECS’ training suite identifies changes between current aircraft and future models, both in physical components and software upgrades, to ensure that warfighters understand the changes made to their equipment and how those changes impact daily operations. This is necessary to ensure the target training audience can safely operate and maintain newly fielded aircraft and upgraded avionics.

“We’ve reworked the IMI interface to provide the end user with better flexibility for their desired use case, in addition to many other ‘under the hood’ upgrades that have greatly improved the software’s performance while reducing the system requirements to run it,” said Tyler Jones, ECS aviation subject matter expert. “This training has received high praise from test groups within the target audience. Soldiers have told us that they are excited to receive the training in the future and think this IMI is the best they’ve ever seen.”

The training suite consists of three products: the CH-47F Block II Differences interactive multimedia instruction (IMI), a cockpit desktop trainer that integrates with the CH-47F Block II CAAS Aircraft Avionics Procedural Software (AAPS), and a Free Flight Instructor Tool. Since ECS demonstrated this suite at last year’s I/ITSEC, its main upgrade efforts have focused on improvements to the IMI lessons to better support instructor-led training. The updated features and interface give instructors more control to present the content on a screen or a projector in a classroom setting, which is currently how trainers plan to present the content.

ECS’ IMI involves the use of a high-fidelity, 3D model of the aircraft that ECS created. This allows for immersive instruction on equipment that would not be possible otherwise. This application can also deploy across multiple delivery platforms, such as PC, Android, and WebGL.

“It has a consistent record of maintaining warfighter readiness for about six years now. We’re confident that the value proposition it provides in prepping crew members – particularly in terms of saved resources, time and money – will keep it relevant as a training platform for several years to come,” said Waymon Armstrong, CEO for ECS.

While ECS created the IMI specifically for the CH-47F Chinook, instructors have used the framework for a wide variety of training. The content can be replaced by reusing the framework and interface to save significant engineering costs in production for new customers, who can modify almost all aspects of the IMI to meet their specific needs.