Helicopter Flight Training Through Serious Aviation Gaming
Michael D. Proctor
Department of Industrial Engineering and Management Systems
University of Central Florida
mproctor@mail.ucf.edu
Maria Bauer
US Army RDECOM Simulation and Training Technology Center
Thomas Lucario
Aviation Officer, US Army Simulation Operations
The notion of Serious Games dates to at least 1970. More recently leaders also identified
gaming technology as a possible disruptive technology. If off-the-shelf PC-based aviation
games and the vast library of related civilian developed databases and models can be
leveraged for serious training use, then existing flight training paradigms from
familiarization training to mission rehearsal might be disrupted and provide the military
financial, safety, quality, and time benefits for even less cost. This research investigates the
contribution that an off-the-shelf, PC-based, aviation game makes to learning using three
inexpensive interface configurations. The simulator performance improvement
methodology is used to measure the contribution. The research considers interface usability,
model fidelity, and simulation sufficiency for task learning. The research also investigates
the difference in performance of pilots with and without turbulence with increased load in
these configurations. The specific task chosen for research was combat search and rescue
with turbulent weather conditions. All forty-five participants in the research were in
training to become licensed helicopter pilots. Results of their subjective assessments are
also included.
Keywords: aviation, training, personal computers
1. Introduction
The notion of Serious Games goes back to at least Abt in 1970 [1]. More recently Smith
identified computer games as technology that could potentially disrupt current industrial
paradigms in the manner described by Christensen [2, 3]. Off-the-shelf, Personal Computer
(PC)-based, aviation games may be posed as a potential disruptive technology in the area of
aviation flight simulation training.
A number of hurdles must be crossed before current paradigms of simulation flight training
might be disrupted. Current flight simulators meet specific training requirements and comply
with either FAA guidance for civilian applications or meet DoD acquisition requirements
prescribed by the funding program [4, 5, 6]. Current flight simulators and training devices are
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