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 poised to become a leading training tool in aviation, fundamentally changing how future pilots learn.
Early implementations demonstrate VR's effectiveness in quickly building foundational flying skills and procedures, potentially reducing training time and costs.
By mastering "hard skills" (cognitive and behavioral knowledge) virtually, students can dedicate in-aircraft time to developing advanced "soft skills" like decision-making and situational awareness.
Immersive technologies like VR/AR offer a scalable, accessible, and cost-effective solution to address the aviation industry's pilot and technician shortages.

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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.