Virtual Reality in Flight Training: More Than a Fad

If you’re planning to sign up for flight training, you may be handed a virtual reality (VR) headset.

Monday, December 20, 2021 at 10:17 AM ET

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Massachusetts Insitute of Technology Reserve Officer Training Corps Cadet Preston Tower looks behind him at two jets flown by fellow MIT cadets in a mixed reality environment during a flying training session with the 80th Flying Training Wing at Sheppard Air Force Base, Texas. [U.S. Air Force photo by John Ingle]

Key Takeaways:

Virtual Reality (VR) is rapidly becoming a prominent and transformative tool in flight training, with the potential to fundamentally change how new pilots learn their foundational skills.
Early adoption by institutions like Embry-Riddle shows VR effectively teaches flight deck knowledge, controls, and basic maneuvers, leading to quicker initial learning and potential cost savings.
By mastering "hard skills" (cognitive and behavioral knowledge) in VR, students can dedicate valuable actual flight time to refining psychomotor skills and crucial "soft skills" like decision-making, workload management, and teamwork.
This immersive technology offers a more accessible and comprehensive training approach, which is vital for reducing costs, increasing comprehension, and addressing the ongoing shortage of pilots and technicians.

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If you’re planning to sign up for flight training in the near future, there’s a strong chance you may be handed a virtual reality (VR) headset before a pair of David Clarks.

Protecting your hearing is still important, to be clear, but what we mean when we say “put your headset on” might signify something completely different in the near future. I would go as far as to say that VR might be the most prominent training tool in the next decade.