Virtual Reality’s Impact on Flight Training Continues to Grow

KLM Airlines and Embry-Riddle Aeronautical University are two entities using this new technology.

Tuesday, April 26, 2022 at 07:41 AM ET

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Jayla Thirtyacre, a senior in the Prescott Campus Cyber Intelligence and Security program, with math and computer science minors, tests the controls in Embry-Riddle’s virtual reality flight simulator. [Photo: David Thirtyacre/Embry-Riddle Aeronautical University]

Key Takeaways:

Virtual reality (VR) is being widely adopted as an essential tool in aviation training by both major airlines (like Air France–KLM) and flight schools (like Embry-Riddle Aeronautical University).
VR training significantly increases efficiency by reducing time for cockpit familiarization, procedural practice, and walkarounds, and enables realistic multi-player crew scenarios.
Embry-Riddle's VR program demonstrated substantial improvements, cutting the time to first solo flight by over 30% and lowering private pilot course costs by 18%, partly through an AI-driven virtual air traffic control lab.
Despite challenges like regulatory certification and data security, VR is crucial for making pilot training more accessible, reducing industry training burdens, and addressing the ongoing pilot shortage.

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VR is here to stay.

In December, I offered a window into how virtual reality was being implemented in flight training and suggested it could be an essential tool in lowering training costs for the next generation of pilots. I couldn’t anticipate the overwhelming interest that I’d receive from readers eager to learn more. It has only expanded my perspective on how critical this technology will be in training moving forward. Since then, two things have caught my attention that merit an update. In February, Chris Koomen, a virtual reality engineer and specialist at Air France–KLM Airlines Group, posted this viral walkaround video that his department produced. A pilot in training would be able to use the Oculus Quest 2 for business headset goggles and module for initial training on the 787.