Rotary-Wing Multi-Crew Training Continuum Sets Company Apart
Virtual training devices have become ubiquitous among the myriad companies displaying their technology at I/ITSEC 2021 in Orlando this week. One, however stands out from the rest – CAE’s rotary-wing virtual reality training solution. CAE is showcasing an evolution of its CAE Trax Academy, originally launched at I/ITSEC 2019, and this year is demonstrating two CAE Sprint VR trainers, linked for multi-crew helicopter training.
“What’s important here is it’s an immersive training continuum — it’s not just the hardware and the physical controls, it is the virtual coaching and the virtual instructor as well,” said Chris Hasler, Training Solutions Integration Lead at CAE. “As a previous Royal Air Force and Royal Canadian Air Force instructor, my daily workload was incredibly busy with instruction during the morning and afternoon, and little time for anything else, and if a student was having problems, that workload would increase even more. Our Trax Academy rotary wing flight crew training continuum decreases the work an instructor has to do. You’ll never replace an instructor, rather the entire training ecosystem augments the instructor and enables more self-paced learning for the student.”
Along with the robust CAE Sprint VR trainers, the amalgamated system provides for data aggregation, which builds over the lifecycle of the training ecosystem.
“Many companies are developing VR trainers these days, but what sets us apart from everyone else is our ability to integrate the virtual trainer with a virtual coach, and also have data aggregation, which is critical information that instructors can use to adapt training for individual students. In fact, that information can also assess the performance of the instructors, and enables them to hone their skills as well,” Hasler explained. “The beauty of the system is the virtual coach will walk students through serials, while on the back end, everything will be monitored and recorded for assessment and that information will ultimately refine our instruction. The other benefit to the system, as one would expect, is repeatability, so there’s nothing stopping a student from redoing serials until they feel competent.”
While oriented for ab-initio students, Hasler believes this type of training will also be useful in the frontline operational environment: “A lot of our customers are procedural driven, so I can really see this coming into play to help them develop and practice procedures in a safe virtual environment.”
Juan Atavega reporting from Orlando
