Although flight programs have started implementing flight simulation in their curriculum, ab-initio pilots are currently trained mainly in a real aircraft, leading to increased fuel consumption, cost, and incidents and accidents. At the same time, the looming international pilot shortage requires us to increase the number of pilots without sacrificing safety and quality. Enabling the use of VR simulation in the realm of flight training will allow programs worldwide to use high fidelity, low footprint simulators and pre-designed flight scenarios in their curriculum, decreasing the cost of training and increasing its efficiency in terms of total time taken to obtain a certificate.

This research follows pilots over the course of their training and provides them with opportunities to prepare and practice their flights in both FAA-approved, physical, flight simulators and experimental VR flight simulators. We aim to compare the performance and outcomes of the two groups to make recommendations for the design and use of VR equipment in aviation. The research will advance our understanding of how humans learn in complex VR environments, validating VR as a training device option and therefore reducing the cost and time of highly advanced training requiring the use of multiple skills simultaneously.

This research is funded by the National Science Foundation through a CAREER award entitled "CAREER: Using virtual reality to advance research and learning and promote positive skill transfer in complex environments with applications in enhanced flight training."

Federal Aviation Administration (FAA) regulations limit flight training to 8 hours in any 24 hours. However, such restrictions do not apply to non-flying instructor duties. Certified Flight Instructors (CFI) often face long hours, irregular schedules, and low pay, which contributes to the transient nature of flight instruction as a stepping stone to an airline pilot career. The resulting fatigue and burnout jeopardize the quality of training and flight safety.

This research employs a unique survey methodology, combining original and validated questionnaires, to identify factors contributing to fatigue and burnout among CFIs. The survey evaluation extends to assessing the impact on CFI and student perspectives regarding the quality and safety of flight training. Focus groups with a representative sample of CFIs and flight students will capture the context of the insights identified through the surveys. It will also allow the survey results to be generalized for the USA.

The research aims to challenge the conventional treatment of CFIs as trainees and proposes recommendations to enhance their work-life quality by addressing fatigue-inducing factors. Notably, this study expands previous research by including collegiate and fixed-based operator environments, potentially impacting around 125,000 CFIs in the United States.

Funding for this pilot project was provided by Grant No. T42OH008421 from the National Institute for Occupational and Environmental Health (NIOSH)/Centers for Disease Control and Prevention to the Southwest Center for Occupational and Environmental Health (SWCOEH), a NIOSH Education and Research Center, part of UTHealth Houston School of Public Health.

Traditionally, lessons learned from prior accidents have been the primary driver of advancements in aviation safety. However, with recent technological advancements and the resulting availability of flight data, the approach to analyzing trends has shifted from reactive and proactive to predictive. This shift allows us to identify potential risks before they become hazards and take preventive measures to enhance flight safety. We employ machine learning techniques to assess how effectively student pilots execute their assigned tasks. By analyzing flight parameters, we can provide semi-real-time feedback on the pilot’s performance as well as on flight safety and quality. This digital twin approach to flight assessment provides an objective and comprehensive evaluation of flights and an opportunity for students to understand their current progress, performance, and plan of action for future progress and performance and safety improvements. It increases standardization in debrief feedback without adding to the instructor’s workload. This approach also improves the pilot certification process, ensuring that pilots meet the required standards for safe operations, reducing accidents.

With our transition to Advanced Air Mobility (AAM), we expect new stakeholders to operate in the national airspace. This transition presents challenges but also opportunities for the entire system. One challenge is the lack of weather information products for operators of vehicles at lower altitudes, such as Urban Air Mobility (UAM) vehiles and Uncrewed Aerial Systems (UAS). At the same time, the increased number of operations at lower altitudes can provide access to unprecedented data.

Our research on weather information aims to use weather data from UAS low-altitude operations through "flying weather stations" fully instrumented for weather data collection or through more traditional missions in platforms equipped with weather sensors to communicate information with other airspace users.

This project is funded under a NASA University Leadership Initiative Award entitled " WINDMAP: Weather-Intelligent Navigation Data and Models for Aviation Planning."