Virtual Reality is now being used to train pilots
Traditional pilot training is expensive and it requires costly equipment, too.
But a startup named Loft Dynamics is changing that, with a Virtual Reality training setup that’s more realistic and less expensive.
Recently, they opened up a training facility in Santa Monica and I got to test out the same training equipment that’s now being used by helicopter pilots around the world to hone their stills.
The equipment looks like a video game setup, but I can assure you it’s not.
You put on a VR headset and buckle into a chair that is suspended above the floor using a hydraulic system that can move in various directions.
From the moment I put on the headset, I felt like I was in the cockpit of a helicopter.
After a bit of instruction, I was flying high above the streets of Los Angeles.
It felt so real I asked the instructor if I could just rip off the headset if the sensation got to be too much.
“We create safer pilots,” explained Fabi Riesen, CEO & Founder Loft Dynamics.
“It’s a very easy thing. Bring a pilot who is super skeptical, get them on the device and the product we sell itself,” he said.
It’s pretty easy to see the advantages of their system. It’s small, flexible, easily updatable with software and a fraction of the cost of traditional flight simulators.
I’ve been in both and the experience inside the VR setup is indeed more realistic.
Now, they just need to convince the world of their breakthrough. So far, they have about 30 setups in the field.
Loft Dynamics announced that the LAPD Air Support Division – one of the biggest law enforcement agencies in the world – bought one of their systems.
Since we’re talking about pilots and regulations, you can’t just swap traditional training out with these machines. They must be vetted by the appropriate flight regulation agencies, which is happening in various places around the world but it’s a slow process.
The big advantage is that pilots can train for dangerous situations in VR that you can’t safely train for in real life.
“Here in the United States and around the world, we’re facing a major pilot shortage,” said Sky Dayon entrepreneur and founder of Earthlink. He’s a lead investor and a pilot himself.
“This has incredible implications for making aviation even safer,” said Dayton.
Since it’s more affordable, it can be placed in more locations, which means pilots could be trained faster since they don’t have to travel as far to a flight simulator. The software can be quickly updated with new training techniques
“You want to train them over and over and over in the simulator so that you have the muscle memory and it’s just second nature when something goes wrong,” said Dayton.
Right now the system is only being used to train helicopter pilots, but the company believes the same technology can also be applied to commercial aircraft training, too.
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