FlightSafety International Looks To The Future

FlightSafety International has announced the introduction of Virtual Reality training for pilots and maintenance technicians who operate business aircraft, and will be displaying the technology at their exhibit (#4231) at the upcoming National Business Aviation Association convention in Orlando, FL.

"Virtual Reality training is a logical extension of FlightSafety’s comprehensive training programs," said Bruce Whitman, President FlightSafety International."We are committed to continue to provide the business aviation community with safety-centered advanced technology training devices and comprehensive training programs."

FlightSafety tells ANN one of the purposes of this demonstration is to conduct market research on this potential addition to FlightSafety’s line of advanced technology learning devices. Aviation professionals who visit FlightSafety during the convention will be able to interact with a full-scale virtual model of a Raytheon Hawker Horizon created by VRSim, Inc. from CAD drawings of the aircraft.

Users, wearing special stereoscopic glasses and data gloves, will be able to perform a virtual walkaround of the aircraft.

Calling the project the "state of the art in training technology," VRSim CEO Matthew Wallace also said "immersive virtual reality" had already demonstrated its worth on the flight sim industry, as well as in Product Lifecycle Management.

Maintenance technicians should eventually have the ability to remove and replace components in the virtual environment without working on an actual aircraft or physical mock up. This will increase the speed and reduce the cost of training pilots, maintenance technicians and ground crews and give FlightSafety the ability to have multiple participants involved in the same training class, even if they are in classrooms hundreds of miles apart.

FMI: www.flightsafety.com